“I’m ready for it.”
Brandon “Josedeodo” Villegas was talking to his coach, Eduardo “Skin” Saldaña, back when he was on the Latin American League of Legends team, Rainbow7. After speaking with several teams from the League of Legends European Championship league and League of Legends Championship Series, he finally decided to leave the Liga Latinoamérica to pursue a better future.
“I just want you to be ready for it,” Skin said, “Be yourself, strive every day as if there’s no tomorrow. And don’t go back to the LLA.”
Josedeodo said he considered this advice as he replied to a Twitter message from FlyQuest’s general manager, Nick Phan, offering him a spot in the LCS. He agreed to leave the LLA to start a career in the United States, an unfamiliar territory he was ready to face. But to understand how Josedeodo found himself in a position to play in the LCS, it’s important to understand how he reached the 2020 World Championship with Rainbow7.
Resisting the call
Before becoming a famed League of Legends player, the young Argentinian native spent his childhood searching for bugs, taking swimming lessons, playing basketball and skateboarding, according to his mother, Nelly Romero. As an English teacher, she encouraged her son to follow his dreams while studying and earning good grades for a promising future. Romero said she stressed the importance of putting school work before play time, and Josedeodo did whatever he needed to focus on what he cared about.
After finding video games at 10-years-old, he would wake up as early as 4 a.m. to do some last-minute studying with his eyes set on gaming afterward. Not knowing what path her son would take, Romero could only cheer him on as he found his way.
“I didn’t have any career plans for him,” she said, “but according to how he behaved and his interests, I thought that he was going to be a biologist, doctor, or accountant. If it were up to me, I would have liked for him to be an airplane pilot or a ballet dancer.”
Instead, Josedeodo came home one day from secondary school and found one of his two sisters had downloaded League of Legends on his computer. He said he had no interest in opening it until his schoolmate suggested he try it out.
“I didn’t like the idea of the game,” said Josedeodo, “and I was really not open to playing it.”
He started with casual scrims in the mid and bot lane alongside his best friend, but that soon turned into 10-hour sessions. He said that made him discover his passion for League of Legends, and he turned to pro play to improve.
“I remember watching the 2014 Worlds Championship, and I felt like I could be there,” he shared. “I told myself I really wanted to be there. I kept playing until I reached Challenger with a 71% win rate at 14-years-old. At that point, I told myself ‘yeah, I can make it to Worlds.'”
And while Romero said she was far from an expert on a career in esports, she supported her son’s dreams and committed to learning what she needed to.
“It’s a lot of learning to do, but I am more than willing to learn and discover more,” Romero said. “Times change and we have to change as well.”
