Jarge nuevo analista de Team Liquid

Ken Serra: First tell me a bit about yourself, where you're from, and what drew you into esports.

Jarge: My name's Josh "Jarge" Smith and I'm from Leicester, United Kingdom. I kind of accidentally fell into esports more than I actively pursued it. I would play LoL with friends but ended up having to get a night job for personal reasons so I couldn't play ranked 5s with my friends anymore. I ended up helping them improve because I was considered to have the best understanding of the game, this was more around season 2.

I was an avid watcher of the pro scene having played and followed the game since beta. As I was helping my team improve I was told that I should pursue coaching as they thought I was good at it and the team had started to play less and less so I tried that ended up coaching some random plat-level ranked 5s teams and slowly building them up.

Eventually I landed a coaching position in a diamond-ranked 5v5 team and they liked me as a coach so I stayed with them. Eventually we hit rank 1 on the 5v5 ladder and we qualified into the very first challenger series in EUW, since then I've been bouncing around teams, slowly improving, so it kind of happened accidentally more than me actively looking to get into esports.

Ken Serra: Very cool. So you've sort of built up this progression, starting at the plat level and then eventually landing a gig on a pro team. What sort of experiences did you bring from your own life that made you suitable for this sort of role?

Jarge: I'm not sure much from my life has really helped in my esports career. A lot of the skills and knowledge have been developed on the job. I'm as grass roots as it gets in terms of esports coaching in league but I've always been a big gamer.

I'm competitive because I have a younger brother and we always competed, pretty similar story to most competitive people. I actually used to play guild wars 1 competively, but there was no esports for that game and this is like 10 years ago

Ken Serra: Ah I see! Well, being able to adapt is important and you embody that well. And you have that gaming experience which is incredibly important. Ok, so you've kept climbing, and I believe you eventually landed a gig at Fnatic then eventually TSM, top teams and two of our rivals in the space. Can you tell us a bit about how that came to be, what you did, and what you learned from that experience?

Jarge: Okay.

So the CS team I was on did pretty well in EUCS. We hit the Ro8 knockouts and we got knocked out by MYM. Oh, one of the players on that team was PowerofEvil; formally UoL, OG, and now on Misfits. So we go way back. And we're pretty good friends still.

I tried following PowerOfEvil to other teams but there was some stuff going around that stopped me, so I started coaching other teams in CS. Eventually PoE joined UoL and when they qualified for LCS they also got invited to IEM San Jose 2014. PoE asked me to do some scouting for UoL so I did some scouting.

They ended up beating TSM, so that was good.

That experience gave me confidence to pursue LCS so I applied to be Fnatic's Head Coach when they advertised. Carn tells me I was in the final 2 candidates, me and Deilor.

Deilor got the job but he saw my application and offered me the job as his analyst so that's how I ended up on Fnatic

Ken Serra: Oh very cool!

Jarge: In terms of what I learned, a lot of it was just how a team functions on the inside. I'd coached before and done analysis but it was always remote. Since gaming houses for CS was not a thing in season 3 or 4, or really season 5 tbh, but working with fnatic helped me learn how a team functions, how they structure scrims and review, how they scout, how they learn, how they improve, what aspects of the game are important.

I got to learn strategic concepts, and talking to the players I got to understand how pro players think which allowed me to adapt my work to them. This is something I think still lacks in the scene. A lot of people talk about the game in an almost utopian system where they talk about optimal decisions and stuff but they often don't account for the fact that players are human beings with emotions and thinking patterns, habits and flaws and it's super important to recognize that.

Ken Serra: Yep, it was something we lacked last season, that we forgot our players were not only really young, but they were human.

Jarge: Yeah, that was probably the most important thing I learned. Then obviously I moved to TSM. That was an unmitigated disaster. I've reflected a lot on what happened in TSM. I certainly wasn't ready to be in that sort of position. I went in super cocky and thought I was the smartest guy ever but it turns out that while I understood the strategic concepts going on I still couldn't apply them and it took me the split with TSM to learn that.

I had no idea how to build a learning structure and there were also serious issues with player synergy and communication. A lot of it could've been avoided if i was just more qualified or more experienced but it was too much too fast for me and I asked to step back to do more analytical things since I knew I wasn't ready. Luckily Parth stepped in and the rest is history. I took the summer split off

My confidence was at record low levels and I needed to spend time re-learning the game.
So I spent some time doing content and dedicated myself to studying the game and then here I am at TL

Ken Serra: And does that reflection play in part as a reason for dialing back to join TL as more of the analyst role, as opposed to a more refined head coaching role? Or was this the opportunity that was presented to you?

Jarge: I actually wasn't planning on coming back to esports. I spent some time living in LA after I left TSM. Then initially offered me a coaching position for a proposed challenger series team but when Yellowstar left that plan was axed in favour of scouting another support which took priority.

Because I didn't want to stay on as an analyst because I felt like I'd let the team down with my inadequacies - again referring back to my low confidence at the point, I figured it was best to move on.

Anyway so I stayed in LA for a bit because I was living with Parth and the TSM video crew, but when I got back to the UK I started looking for work back in my old field, which was working as a barista. But then worlds came around and I got hit with the buzz again and I started doing content and really studied the game.

I decided I wanted to join another team. I got quite a few good offers. I think like 4 NALCS teams offered me a position of some sort, but what I wanted to do was get in a team at the ground floor and work myself back up. I wanted to work with someone experienced and skilled and David Lim fit the bill.

I agreed to join the team without even knowing the roster. I joined for David because I know his work and I respect him a lot and I know I can learn a lot from him.

Ken Serra: Aw, you shouldn't feel to down on yourself! Esports really blew up in the last few years, so the workloads of the analyst/coaching positions really became a serious factor in the success of the team. I believe you'll do good since you have great self reflection!

So a lot of people don't know, but what exactly do you do as an analyst? Being that there are 3-4 of you, what do you do differently from the others?

Jarge: So my job is to be the head analyst and without going too much into specifics, my best description of what good analysts do is mostly fill in the gaps.

Coaches will decide the direction of the team. Well, good coaches will, unless you're TSM Jarge! But yeah, coaches will decide the direction of the team, and set goals and be responsible for the improvement of the team in a direct sense

The analysts' jobs are mostly to fill in around that system and provide information and resources to the coach, so you're talking stuff like scouting enemy teams, meta research, helping with review if necessary, providing extra opinions, and giving information the coach would otherwise have no access to. Like data analytics, and things like that.

Ken Serra: Nice! OK wrapping up-- I know the organization really wants to push our new, larger infrastructure. How has this new structure meshed; is it too big? And do you think, budget a non-factor, that a system like this is the x-factor for team improvement that all teams should try to employ (perhaps compare this to your roots as a 1-man support staff)? Because in esports, what we're doing is still considered 'luxury' but Steve really likes to push new ideas.

Jarge: The structure is definitely not anything new as a concept teams have had multiple coaches and multiple analysts way before, but as far as I know, this is the highest "budget" staff that's been assembled on any LCS team before. Again, I could be wrong. I'm not privy to much inside information, as for how it works, it's too early to tell obviously I am hopeful and a lot of my job will be to marry the needs of the coaches with the skills and knowledge of the analytical team.

I am expected to manage the other analysts and since I'll be in-house I'll have an opportunity to work closely with David and Saint and get a better feel for what they need as they need it rather than them having to remember what they need and ask for it at a later date. I think in-house analytical staff is going to fast become a necessity, not only for the benefit of the team since they have 24 hour access, but also for the growth of the staff. It's hard to learn if you're not inside the room.

In fact I'd say it's close to impossible you get table scraps of information and knowledge but being in the room as the conversation happens is necessary for the strategic growth of any staff member

Ken Serra: Does our entire support staff live in the facilities?

Jarge: No, well, I have no idea where David lives, and the other analysts are remote. I'm currently remote as we're waiting on my VISA to be approved, but once that happens I'll be flying out to live in LA either close by or physically in the house with the players , that's TBD. Depends on circumstances and what not but I'm/they're flexible.

As long as I'm present for the scrims, reviews and important conversations then that's all that matters for what I'm looking to get out of this.