Image from Esports Today podcast 9/15/2015

While Poland may not be the first country that comes to mind when thinking of sport powerhouses, the Polish have a strong history when it comes to traditional sports. Poland has been very successful in football, volleyball, and various other sports in the past. The strength in traditional sports has carried over to the new age of esports. Though not the biggest country to compete, Poland has produced some of the best teams and players that esports has seen in its relatively short history.

Poland has had competitors in the major esports titles; Counter Strike, League of Legends, Dota 2, Starcraft 2, and Hearthstone. Counter Strike and League of Legends are the most popular games for Polish esport athletes. In Hearthstone the most notable players are Jakub “Lothar” Szygulski and Marcin “Gnimish” Filipowicz, both of which have had some success in the game; Gnimish as a caster/player and Lothar as a player competing on one of the most notable Hearthstone teams, G2. In Dota 2, the team Alternate Attax features a full Polish roster and has had some success in premier tournaments though they are not one of the top ten teams. In Starcraft 2 the most accomplished players are Grzegorz “MaNa” Komincz and Artur “Nerchio” Bloch. MaNa won Dreamhack Summer in 2012 and the Electronic Sports World Cup in 2012. Nerchio has won HomeStory Cup in 2012, Dreamhack Bucharest in 2012, and Dreamhack Valencia this most recent year.

When it comes to Poland and esports, there is one team that comes to many peoples minds. The players, in that team, have stuck together for a very long time and continue to win large-scale offline events, even as some players are approaching thirty years of age. Virtus.pro is a team that features five Polish players that are the most famous players in Polish esports history.

Image from Liquidpedia.net

Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas, Paweł “byali” Bieliński, Jarosław “pasha” Jarzabkowski, Janusz “Snax” Pogorezelski, and Filip “NEO” Kubski have played together for many years, almost as long as Counter Strike: Global Offensive has been played competitively. TaZ and Neo began their competitive careers together playing Counter Strike 1.6 in 2004 playing for Pentagram G-Shock. The two players played alongside other Polish players; Jakub “kuben” Gurczyński, Łukasz “LUq” Wnek, and Mariusz “Loord” Cybulski. The Polish line-up had great success in CS 1.6 and won many offline events, staying together as a team for most of the games competitive history.

When CS 1.6 began dropping off as a competitive esport, the original Polish roster broke up. Valve was releasing the new version of Counter Strike titled Counter Strike:Global Offensive. CS:GO took over for CS 1.6 as the CS competitive esports title. As CS:GO replaced CS 1.6; Snax, Byali, and, Pasha joined TaZ and NEO on ESC Gaming.

Kuben would go on to become the coach of Virtus.pro, LUq and Loord retired from the scene. Loord eventually returned to CS:GO and became the coach for a new Polish team, Team Kinguin.

The new Polish line-up joined Virtus.pro in 2014 and cemented themselves as legends in CS:GO. Along with the V.P squad, there have been other famous Polish teams. Currently Team Kinguin is the second largest Polish CS:GO team. The team features Michał “MICHU” Müller, Grzegorz “SZPERO” Dziamełek, Mikołaj “mouz” Karolewski, Karol “rallen” Rodowicz, and Damian “Furlan” Kisłowski with Loord as their coach.

While the Polish history in Counter Strike is expansive and filled with success, Polish history in League of Legends is not as rich. Just as in Counter Strike, the early League of Legends Polish teams were comprised solely of Polish players. The most recognizable of these teams was Kiedyś Miałem Team (KMT). KMT was first founded in 2012 before Season 3 started. Mateusz “Kiks” Szkudlarek was the most famous of the players in the original team. The team went through multiple iterations as the roster would often perform well and be acquired by another organization.

The most successful team the organization fielded included Marcin “Xaxus” Majkut, Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski, Remigiusz “Overpow” Pusch, Paweł “Celaver” Koprianiuk, and Oskar “VandeR” Bogdan. This team would go on to qualify for the European LCS in the Spring Split of Season 4, beating prominent esports organization Ninjas in Pyjamas in the promotion tournament. This roster would be acquired by ROCCAT and move on to compete in the EU LCS. The team has competed in every split of the EU LCS since they qualified but have gone through many changes and currently do not feature any Polish players.

The Polish roster’s best result was a third place finish in the playoffs of the Season 4 Spring Split. Besides the third place finish, ROCCAT would finish fourth in the next split and in the only competition they played outside of the LCS, the team finished 3–4th at IEM Cologne in 2014.

The team went through changes as multiple members would leave and new ones would be picked up. Celaver and Xaxus were the first to go, with Polish player Paweł “Woolite” Pruski replacing Celevar. After that; Overpow, Woolite, Jankos, and Vander would leave by the end of 2015. VandeR and Jankos joined H2K Gaming together and were the only two members to join top tier teams. No other players from that roster have competed in the LCS since.

Currently the only Polish players competing in the LCS are Kikis (top laner for Fnatic), Marcin “Selfie” Wolski (mid laner for Misfits), Jankos (jungler for H2K), and VandeR (support for H2K). While these are the only Polish players currently, Polish players have achieved some success in the past.

The biggest success for a Polish player was back in Season 1. Fnatic were the winners of the World Championship in Season 1. Although competitive League of Legends was not as popular back in Season 1, winning the World Championship was still a great accomplishment for any player. In the Fnatic team that won the championship, their mid laner was Maciej “Shushei” Ratuszniak, a Polish player. After Shushei’s World Championship, the next highest placing Polish players would be Jankos and VandeR.

Currently Jankos and VandeR are participating in the 2016 World Championship. They recently beat Albus Nox Luna to advance to the semifinal stage where they will play Korean team Samsung Galaxy. I had the opportunity to speak with VandeR about Polish representation in esports and how he feels as a Polish player.

Image from VandeR’s twitter

VandeR said that both him and Jankos are honored to be playing on the international stage as Polish players and hope to not disappoint their fans. He paid respect to Shushei who was the first to accomplish this task and actually win the World Championship. The quarterfinal stage of the 2016 World Championship took place in Chicago, which has a very large Polish population and proud Polish history. VandeR was disappointed he could not visit the Polish areas of Chicago because he was not staying close enough to those parts of the city. He was also a bit sad that he did not see any Polish flags in the audience during his games; although the fans were rooting for the team he did not see a lot of Polish supporters in the crowd.

When asked about where he sees Poland in the future in relation to esports, he talked about the current status of Polish players. He believes there are not many top tier Polish players but Kikis, Selfie, and the CS: GO team Virtus.pro represents Poland well on the grand stage. “I think the problem is that all the Polish players choose to play in European, or let’s say, American organizations because the salaries in the Polish gaming are much lower (than that of other regions).” He also believes that no big football organization will sponsor a team like we’ve seen in Germany and Spain as evidenced by the sport clubs FC Schalke 04 and Valencia acquiring an LCS spot and creating an esport branch of their organization.. He believes that Selfie would be the next Polish player to succeed like him and Jankos have done. But he only sees a Polish player succeeding in a European team with mixed nationalities, not a full Polish line-up.

Before Vander competed on H2K, he was a member of the Polish team Kiedyś Miałem Team and later ROCCAT. I asked him about the transition from an all-Polish team to a team of mixed nationalities. He said that in a Polish team it is harder to make changes or swap out players because the language barrier would be too high for a non-Polish player to join in. He and Jankos played on ROCCAT when they brought on new nationalities and later joined H2K to push themselves and put more pressure on their performances. It did not work out the first year for the ROCCAT team but he is now starting to see some success. He attributes some of the success, in H2K, due to the fact that he plays with Yoo “Ryu” Sang-ook. Ryu is a Korean player and the team speaks in simple english so that Ryu can understand. VandeR said that this helps both him and Jankos in communicating with the team.

VandeR thanked his fans for their support and continued dedication despite the poor results in the first week of groups. He hopes they will continue rooting for him and Jankos. If both of these Polish players can keep up their performances, they will gain more fans and potentially open the door to more Polish players in the future if they are motivated by Jankos and Vander to succeed in Poland.

Alongside some of the famous Polish teams and players, Poland does play host to one of the biggest tournaments in esports. IEM Katowice takes place every year and features competitions for each of the big esport titles. It is highly regarded but does remain the only large-scale event that takes place in Poland.

There are a couple things that are holding the Polish players back. The infrastructure in Poland is weak and does not have the same support for players as other top regions do (ex. Russia, Brazil, Japan). Also, there are not many top Polish players or teams in the scene currently to promote growth in Poland. For now, the best way to grow the esports scene in Poland is for the best Polish players to play on top teams around the world. As they succeed the scene in Poland will grow because of the money they win and the notoriety they earn.

Just like in traditional sports, Poland has a large presence in esports but is not one of the premier powerhouse countries. However, Virtus.pro has been continuing their success winning large tournaments in CS:GO and will remain a top team in the foreseeable future. Jankos and VandeR are reaching some of the highest points in League of Legends and have many years of competition ahead of them. With Overwatch becoming the next big esport, it will remain to be seen if any Polish players or teams will rise to the top. The future of Polish esports looks bright and Polish representation in esports has been growing larger over the years. It is encouraging to see the success of current players and hopefully it will inspire a new generation of Polish players to carry the torch for the country in future years and in future esports titles. As long as Virtus.pro and players like Jankos and VandeR succeed, Poland succeeds as well.