100 Thieves has announced its new program for amateur League of Legends players on Twitter. With this program, the team is “dedicated to developing the next generation of North American League of Legends talent.”
What's Next for North American League of Legends and the #LCS? Glad you asked ~ https://t.co/iibiIqxWy4
— Chris Smith (@PapaSmithy) January 27, 2020
Chris “PapaSmithy” Smith has posted a detailed video on their upcoming program. Referring back to his previous video featuring 100 Thieves founder Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, Smith says, “we talked about a pretty essential topic that we know is on the mind of [the] League of Legends community, and that’s North American talent development.” The goal of the program is to take unknown or rejected talent and help them improve their games. Doing this will result in great players with the skills to achieve success in the NA LCS.
100X talent development
100 Thieves Next, also known as 100X, is part of their talent-producing programs list. This includes their LCS program, 100T, and their Academy program, 100A. Additionally, the program will feature younger players. Three out of five 100X players are still in high school. This gives them a chance to play League of Legends professionally early since they don’t qualify for collegiate teams. Smith says “looking up to those players and coming up with a program that can work parallel with their studies … to get them into the ecosystem of competitive League of Legends is what we designed the 100 Next program around.”
Team X definitely STOLE our curiosity with their identity.
No need for a heist to figure out who the team is…🔎We're proud to reveal that Team X competing in the UPL is @100Thieves Next!
🗓️You can catch 100 Thieves Next and the rest of the UPL teams every Tuesdays @ 8PM EST pic.twitter.com/8bADZB2RD2
— Unified Premier (@UnifiedPremier) January 27, 2020
The best move forward
This is a great step moving forward for NA League of Legends. Part of the reason 100 Thieves is creating this system is to get new talent into the game from the ground up. Moreover, they are going to train and teach these young players everything they need to know to compete against other tough teams.
Over time, the LCS has imported foreign players to participate in the NA games. The existence of this program can bring back NA talent without relying on other players from different regions. Hopefully, this new pipeline of NA talent development brings out some legendary players at the end.
