Ropz - from zero to hero!

10 years ago, I found out what the professional e-sports is. During this period, I was writing, reading, watching and listening to many different interviews. The most popular question, still actual to this day, is "How to get into eSports?". It seems that the answer is always one – to play a lot, participate in online leagues, tournaments, etc. But my attention was drawn to the fact that last few years we got many new pro-players from FACEIT Pro League.

For example, month ago team Mousesports signed 17yo Estonian player Ropz. I haven’t heard about him till that time. It was shocking to the community, and a lot of tweets and topics on forums about him proves that. And for all of my questions I got the only answer “He is FPL star”. That’s why I’ve decided to make my own research and figure out something about this guy and how unknown players get on PRO scene from FPL.



Ropz’s name was mentioned for the first time on 1st January 2017. Dennis "dennis" Edman, who took 20th place in TOP-20, said that if Robin would join professional team and would play as good as he plays at FPL, he would get in TOP-20 list next year. Later Nikola "NiKo" Kovač (11th place) confirmed it as well.

It’s likely their words inspired young Ropz. Next month he won EU FPL January. He wrote in his twitter: “I won FPL January:D Hopefully some nice team offers soon!”. And got the reply from his future teammate Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný, who had won 2 previous seasons and took 2nd place in January: “congratz, if I had time then u know what :>”

Oskar is also well known as FPL star. Thanks to his phenomenal game on FACEIT, he got his offer to join Hellraisers 2 years ago. Tomáš answered few my questions:

-Tommy, could you imagine 4 months ago, when Robin beat you on FPL, that this kid will be your new teammate?

-Oskar: Why not, sometimes u need to take risk to reach your goals and picking up ropz without experiences was a risky move. But i like the way he is playing and his gamesense. Im happy that we get him before some other organisations.

-Can you say that your professional career also started thanks to FPL?

-Oskar: maybe yes, maybe not. We were good with Slovakians players, but we couldn’t afford to be full pro players but anytime soon i think we would also make it to the tops if we had stable five lineup, but im not saying that fpl doesnt gave me more experiences to fight within the best players out there.

-Is it possible to call the FPL a springboard for young players? What is the probability of getting into professional e-sports in this way?

-Oskar: could be but the guy has to be really talented, needs to communicate well and of course need to have that gift from god what is gamesense for me otherwise he is lost without chance. i know some failed adepts.

It became obvious, that young Ropz started to get attract more attention. Team captains in FPL started to pick him before well-known pro players. It began to cause suspicion in the community. People started to accuse him of cheating. Next HYPE around him started when Jesper 'JW' Wecksell, while losing to ropz’s team 14-3, said, “Fuck this ropz retard. I don’t know why the fuck we don’t just ban him. He never gonna show up at the LAN. He doesn’t even want join any team”. Later, Jesper said that he was just in a bad mood and didn’t mean anything bad. A similar story had happened to Oskar:

-Why does JW accuse everyone of cheating? You also had a similar story with him, did not you?

-Oskar: i dont care what is he saying, everyone can say everything they want and from what ive heard, this is some kind of his humor so i dont really mind

Nevertheless, all these stories around Robin alerted the FACÉIT administration and they decided to check whether the Estonian was really cheating? April 2, 2017 he was invited to the head office in London, where he, on a completely new computer, with limited access to the Internet, had to prove that he was just a talented and hardworking player.

And... He passed it! The test is over and he can go back home...

But nobody knew that when Ropz was in London, he had already been on trial period in MOUSESPORTS! I decided to ask the coach of the team Sergey LMBT Bezhanov, who was responsible for the selection and, in fact, conducted this test, why they chose Robin and how it affected their game processes:

-First Oskar, now Ropz. Do you pick players from FPL due to lack of players on the pro scene? Or are you just giving a chance to the young ones?

-LMBT: I would not call it a lack of players. Oskar got into HR after really playing cool on the FPL, but I knew him since the time of 1.6 and was aware that he was not a young player. I took an experienced warrior and he passed his test as well, like Robin.

-Was it scary to take a 17 y.o. kid who had absolutely no experience playing in the team? Why the choice fell on him?

-LMBT: When it was decided that Timo needs to rest, we began to select candidates. Ropz was the first on the list and the decision was not made fast. He played over 30 maps with us before we decided to sign him. And he will gain experience of playing in the team pretty quickly because of the richness of the schedule.

The choice fell on him, as he approached most of the roles and seemed to be a calm and confident player.

-How did the new player affect your gameplay?

-LMBT: We have not changed much in the game since we are in a search of the perfect setup and style. But ChrisJ suffers the most from this, because he got many new roles, half of which he did not play in his career + he is IGL

-Many people call Robin new Niko and saying that he will reach TOP-20 best players next year. You worked with both guys, can you compare them?

-LMBT: I would not compare him to Niko, simple or anyone else, they are completely different people and players. All of them are good in their own way.

The test period, apparently, was not the easiest, but Ropz lived up to expectations and proved that he deserves a place in the team.



Then the day X came. The young Estonian began his professional career. But not anywhere, but in the ESL Pro League match against Team EnVyUs! In the league, which not all best teams can attend. The clash ended with a score 2-0 in favor of the mouz, and Ropz proved to be a true fighter!

-Were you nervous about the match with EnVyUs?

-ROPZ: Absolutely, I was trying my best to do my best. I hate to be criticized for my performance and it’s something I focus the most on.

How team accepted you? Quickly adapted?

ROPZ: My teammates are really humble and nice. I’m fitting in quite good because the things I prefer fill in a lot of the missing spots for them. There’s a lot for me to learn but I’m a quick learner and I’m adapting pretty quickly.

-How can you characterize your teammates?

-ROPZ: oskar: one of the best awpers but he’s tired most of the time

denis: true german and funny guy

chrisJ: chris is really helpful and outgoing, he should change his nationality to german though

loWel: also nice and helpful, speaks way too fast

lmbt: really good at what he does, he helps me out in certain situations to avoid my mistakes, it’s good to have someone with a lot of experience

-You're playing for a month in Mouz. What are the main differences between the game in the FPL and in the professional team?

-ROPZ: FPL is more about having fun and just doing whatever you want. In a team your objective is to play the team game and win so the playstyles differ a lot. Of course we still have fun inside the team but we take every game serious and try our best.

-Was it offensive to hear accusations in cheating? What did you feel when you were invited to the FACEIT office?

-ROPZ: Accusations gave me some confidence but it was getting bad when a lot of pros started accusing me. They have the power to ruin someones reputation with a couple words and then everyone will think that you are what the person said. When I was invited, I took the offer immediately since it was the best way to clear my name. I played really good there in my opinion at least.

-You reached EPL S5 lan finals, after beating HR and Navi 2-0. What did you feel, when understood, that you will play on a tournament with 1million prize fond?

-ROPZ: I still don’t think it’s real that I’ll play on a tournament like this. One year ago I was just a regular viewer and trying to maybe get some recognition with my game but I had no clue it would end up like this. It’s really amazing.

-Your professional career started extremely fast. Can you give any advice to other young talents, how to reach that?

-ROPZ: Focus on your game and take every opportunity. Young talents like me don’t have that many opportunities so it’s important to do your best whenever something like that arises.



As we see, Robin completely uses his chance. The story of Estonian boy has already inspired a huge number of young gamers. And his determination and confidence forced to respect him among professionals. And now, if someone asks me: "Who is Ropz?", I will answer that this is a boy that could!

Reply · Report Post