The first time 17-year old rookie Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett stepped onto the NA LCS stage in Santa Monica it became clear a star had taken its place in the proverbial sky. Dardoch had just became eligible to play, exhibited star power in a utility role and was a native player in a region slowly being swallowed by imports. These traits quickly made it apparent that he was one of the most valuable players in the NA LCS and incidentally, the first native player to strike stardom during the import era (2015-2017). If you treated the NA League scene as an environment and applied natural selection then the ‘fittest’ traits for surviving the NA LCS as a native player would align closely to those that Dardoch exudes. In many ways his immediate transition to dominating LCS in addition to only being a rookie seemed to good to be true and as the curtain was pulled back our suspicions were confirmed. Though the community was only now seeing his immense value, Dardoch had known for years he was destined for this and carried an abrasive attitude as a result. Why shouldn’t he? The previous Outstanding Rookies before his breakout Spring 2016 season were Move and Santorin; two conservative, utility style junglers. As his burden to carry the young bilingual 10-man Team Liquid roster grew, his abrasive, frustrated side of Dardoch began to outshine his prodigal play. From the outside it can be difficult to rationalize the motives of troubled stars that lash out and bluntly speak their frustrations, but examining Dardoch’s environment can reveal the inner workings of his character.

Every sports prodigy gives up certain aspects of their life to refine their craft to go pro and risk their futures on it, but professional athletes have the luxury of making 10-fold the average LoL star does. Dardoch, though, has taken an even bigger risk and feels the that pressure every day as he expresses in Breaking Point:

“I want this more than anyone, I put forth way more effort. I put all my life into this; I sacrificed so much. I left my normal life for this, I dropped out of fucking High School to move out here and play this video game professionally.”

The deep seeded roots of Dardoch’s passion and frustration — the solo queue outbursts and passive-aggressive remarks towards teammates — are revealed in that statement. The double-edged sword of a young star being shoved into the spotlight with so much at risk is that they’ll be buckwild without a teammate to mentor them and a coaching staff to give proper guidance. A prodigy can quickly be lost to the system if they don’t have  this type of  infrastructure that can handle their individual quirks and act as a guiding hand to keep character flaws in check.

Liquidation

Both Dardoch’s success and failure on Team Liquid were in full view of the public eye because of their YouTube series and later documentary with HTC Esports. Not only that, but the system and environment of Team Liquid during his tenor was exposed for the community to see. As Rookie of the Year he was suspended for the first 3 games of Summer because of behavioral issues by TL, until it was realized they couldn’t leave his talent unused. However, that short suspension would change nothing about the causes of Dardoch’s frustration and the dysfunction within the team. The coaching staff and young, inexperienced Locodoco were still unequipped to handle such a polarizing personality. Dardoch was still without a mentor he could have a full, genuine connection with because of the language barrier between him and the one veteran on the roster, Chae “Piglet” Gwang-Jin.

This language barrier combined with the fact that the other two native players were also rookies meant Liquid was predisposed to having communication breakdowns. Subsequently, Dardoch became the main shotcaller which resulted in communication breakdowns being a constant point of contention. Not having a veteran, leading presence in-game to balance this and take the shotcalling load of Dardoch ultimately drove the team into the ground.

In the closing remarks of Breaking Point, Dardoch reminisces on what Piglet meant to him: “I saw him as like my older brother and he looked out for me all the time. He tried to make the best player I could be.” In those words, it seems Dardoch may have been too lost in the moment — in the pressure of cashing in on his talent — to realize he had a mentor and merely shut him out.

Nearly a year and half later, we can see that Dardoch learned his hardest lesson and made the biggest mistakes in his career during those days of hardship on Team Liquid. For a star though, those are the most important days of your career and the ones that influence you the most when you face future challenges.

Familiar Faults

Dardoch’s experience as a leader on Team Liquid would benefit him during his transition to the 2017 Spring Immortal roster where Flame and Olleh had language barriers to overcome. Learning from his mistake with Piglet, Dardoch made strides to form an immediate bond with the new Korean veteran he was paired with, Flame. Even though Dardoch was more receptive toward his teammates  at first, it wouldn’t change the fact that the second we saw them at IEM Katowice familiar cracks began to show. While the team gained synergy and Cody Sun got experience, Dardoch filled the same role as he did on Liquid: A star that’s meant to lead a team to victories while the organization rebuilds their roster. You can’t fault Immortals or Liquid for banking Dardoch’s potential to be the key player on a championship roster, but neither team presented him with the right conditions to reach that level. Dardoch needs an English speaking veteran that can keep him grounded and a roster that’s been integrated, not one that’s being built from the ground up.

Noah Winston, IMT CEO, spoke to this dysfunction in the team environment being why Dardoch and the team couldn’t reach their potential during IMT farewell video:

“At his high points, Dardoch is a top 10 player in the world already and can aim for top 2 or 3 within his career lifetime. We wanted to make sure our priority was on making a healthier team environment rather than necessarily optimizing for the most mechanically skilled player.”

Without exactly saying it Noah expresses that he wants the best for the players he works with, and for Dardoch to be the best he can be, he needs a change of environment. Neither TL or IMT were able to provide Dardoch with the support structure he needed to correct his rigid, frustrated outlook and I believe there’s a reason for that.

Molding a Star

In sports, it can take a special coach to get through to a young prodigy and in many cases it’s a combination of the right manager with the right veterans on the team. Similar to Dardoch, Major League Baseball’s biggest star Bryce Harper dropped out of High School (the only MLB player to ever do so) to go pro and had the same attitude problems during his original rise to stardom. Harper’s current head coach, Dusty Baker, who also coached Barry Bonds in his prime when speaking of stars, said “There’s always conflict at some point in time. You handle it like men and you talk about it and you get it out there and discuss it.” Part of incorporating a star into your roster is accepting the fact they’ll be conflict as a result of the pressure they carry on their shoulders. Neither IMT or TL were fully prepared for taking on this task as is evident by their lack of an English speaking veteran teammate for Dardoch and a coaching staff that was prepared to truly confront conflict. Without these counterbalances, a personality like Dardoch won’t be able to thrive and make the most out of his prime. If an organization wants Dardoch to take the next step then they need to be an established team with a coaching staff that’s used to managing conflicts and disciplining effectively. Coming into his 4th LCS split, this is about the time we’ll know exactly what Dardoch is capable of as a player on a consistent basis. If he can’t correct his flaws, then it could be safe to assume he’ll be a troubled star his entire career, but with the proper environment, he could flip the tables. Simply put, Dardoch's flaws are a product of the compounding pressure built up from risking his future by dropping out of school, being the only real recent NA breakout star and being forced to become a leader for his team.

However, his competitive fire, passion and skill are born of that same compounding pressure. Without the sacrifice and mistakes leading up to this Summer Split, Dardoch wouldn’t be in the position he is — poised to prove us wrong and finally prove his championship pedigree.

If you enjoyed this article  or the occasional meme, you can follow the author on Twitter @lolTJae. Sources: lolesports flickr,  eswiki, HTC’s Breaking Point