Scout and Thug Highlight the Role of Luck in Esports

Renowned Indian gaming personalities Animesh “Thug” Agarwal and Tanmay “Scout” Singh were recently featured on a podcast called “Figuring Out,” hosted by Raj Shamani, an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and content creator. The podcast episode covered an insightful conversation between Raj, Thug, and Scout, where they discussed the significance of luck in esports and emphasized that while skills are undoubtedly crucial, luck can play a crucial role in attaining success in the industry.

Scout and Thug believe luck is as important as skills to excel in esports

Scout highlighted a common notion that successful players have become successful only because of their skills. However, he argued that all prominent players had reached such heights because they were in the right place at the right time. He added that if someone plays a game for six months, that player becomes equally skilled as other prominent players but can only become a star player if the player gets to the right place at the right time. “People don’t know about this. Some people think they are something different. No, that’s not the case. You are not god gifted or special. You were just at the right spot at the right time. You can be replaced in a click,” he added.

Thug stated that the competition in Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) is fierce. He stated that earlier, 2 lakh teams used to register for tournaments, which has decreased now, but 1.25 Lakh teams still do register. However, only 16 teams from them make it to the grand finals.

Both Scout and Thug explained that the 16 teams that qualified for the grand finals were not necessarily the best, as some better teams might have been eliminated in the early stages. They added that some teams might not have a good device, some might not have good ping, some might have gotten unlucky, someone might have gotten disconnected, and no one would know what happened.

Scout gave an example of how luck can make or break a team’s success. He put forth a hypothetical scenario where three teams of varying skill levels were playing - Raj’s, Thug’s, and his own team. Raj’s team being the best, Scout’s team being normal, and Thug’s team being the worst. He explained that despite being the best team and having good devices, Raj’s team got unlucky and could not find a vehicle and died as it could not rotate to the play zone. On the other hand, despite being the worst team, Thug’s team got lucky and qualified. “Now, after reaching such a high stage, he was provided with such things that despite being an average gamer, he became a pro. The one who was pro, despite having a good device, he was left behind for years because of bad luck. His timing was bad, luck was bad,” he added.

To explain it in a more general sense, Scout put forth an example of football. He explained that in sports, when a team is being selected, a few people sit together and watch players play, and the player that outshines here is called for tryouts. However, he added that what if someone who is a good player wasn’t given much attention? 

Raj added that even the mindset could be different - some might think they want to select a defender, and some might think they want to pick an attacker.

“What if someone is an extremely good defender, but the selector is looking for an attacker, while that defender has the potential to become the world’s best defender? If no one had picked Ronaldo or Messi, we wouldn’t have seen them. A lot of people say luck is nothing and everything depends on your skill. No, I believe a lot in luck; I believe a lot in timing,” Scout added.