Dardoch's Ambition

Those words struck me. I asked about a Plan B should a gaming career fall under, but he said those words and paused. That was it. Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett may be young—an 18-year old with many years ahead of him--but he exudes confidence and drive, like James Bond fused with Rocky Balboa. He unpauses, and with his strikingly deep voice, something like a maskless Vader, he tells me more.

“I’m sacrificing a lot to do this. I started in NACS basically for absolutely nothing other than maybe some exposure but I enjoyed it. I really liked it and kept going. College will always be there, but how often can you say you played video games professionally?”

That's something everyone with a big dream says. Opportunity first, college later as you will. But for Dardoch, professional gaming really is the career path of choice. In fact, the drive was already there. "I come from traditional sports, so when I was younger, I wanted to do professional sports. Play football, maybe get a full ride. I played in school too for a bit. That's what I wanted before pro gaming."

But that life would be short lived, as he'd give it up at the age of 15 for something quite a bit less physical.

"My brother first got me into video games, like I just played whatever he did and eventually League was one of them," he says, moments after telling me how close he is with his brother. "I wasn't always a gamer. My older brother was always the gamer and we hung out more and more as I grew up. We had a lot of similarities."

But what was once something he did leisurely, turned into something a bit more serious. He played League of Legends a lot during his school year and improved exponentially, eventually landing Challenger. But there was no balance. His grades began to suffer, he wasn’t getting enough sleep, and his parents began to worry. Convincing them became a heated task.

“I stayed up all night playing League and my grades suffered," he says, laughing. "Convincing my parents I can be a pro gamer was quite the process. But I knew I wanted to (go pro) even before all the offers started happening. So I talked about the problem with my mom. I had a solution and she let me do it.”

The solution? Drop typical High School altogether to pursue online classes in cyber school. In that moment, a career in traditional sports was over, and put simply, his future rode on the chance of going pro in video games.

"After that, I did school for 5-6 hours on the computer, and then I played League for 14 or so hours to get better," he says. "It wasn't easy with my parents. They didn't really grow up with computers but it did eventually get better. It still wasn't easy."

Eventually, all that hard work paid off.

The Pro Life

I’ve talked to plenty of young pro players, and many want this—that’s a given. But with Dardoch, it’s different. He visibly acts his age; the hugs, the waving, and the hearts with his hands are a dime a dozen when you cross paths with the young lad at an event, but when it comes time to be serious, there’s a special kind of conviction in the way he presents himself. Perhaps that’s why he comes off as darker—or "toxic", as they say. He just tells it like it is.

“When I started on NACS and eventually joined TLA (Team Liquid Academy), it was honestly not what I expected,” he says. “I was expecting a ton of practice, Solo Queue, and the same schedule as the top 5 LCS teams, essentially. But I felt like my teammates were sort of lazy at times.”

I asked him to re-iterate. Team Liquid Academy was a great team at the time and calling the team lazy seemed bold. Dardoch also seemed to have a very Piglet-esque practice regiment. It's easier said than done.

“It’s a different perspective. The other players, they spent more time going out on scrim days, or playing other games like CS:GO. But they had college, or took a break from college and whatever, and had a fall back. I was always the one staying in to play the game. The people that worked hard were Matt and me. We’re flying out, we don’t have college. It’s a much bigger risk. This is everything, but we essentially got the Challenger Vacation treatment. Not what I had in mind.”

What he did have in mind, however, was to go pro in gaming, and not be left behind in Challenger. He takes the skill-side of the pro aspect very seriously. He talks to me about how Worlds is not far-fetched, and how his goal is to just keep winning. Gradually, you can see how much he wants to be the best that no one ever was, or at least seen as one of the greats. Not just another player. And he says it all with such confidence. No maybes.

“How I actually made it onto Liquid was because Dom knew me from Solo Queue,” he tells me, recalling his past a touch. “I actually did have a lot of offers at the time. TLA was definitely not the only offer but TLA seemed like the best option, and luckily I ended up on TLA. I don’t think I would be as good as I am now if it weren’t for that.”

And I believe him. Dardoch received great exposure in the Challenger scene, and was really good during his tenure. A good player on top of a good structure can do wonders, but he even admits to browsing around, seeing where he could go.

"At first, I was just going to ride my contract and see where it took me," he admits. "I got offers that were better money-wise. Almost 3 or 4 times what I made on TLA with my short contract. I was just a Challenger player, they didn't think I was going to get that much better. But in the end, I ended up staying with TL."

And that wouldn't be the last time he'd gravitate around.

Korea and Suspendoch

Just as Rio de Janeiro is considered the heart of football, Korea is the mecca of esports. Team Liquid was given an opportunity to boot camp at the capital of competitive gaming during the off season before the Summer Split. It's also the first time Dardoch has flown out of the USA.

"Korea overall was really, really good. I actually did not expect to enjoy Korea itself," he says. "I loved the food, the weather, I just loved being there. I was expecting to be inside all day thinking I'd just only want to play the game."

And while it's nice to visit other places for a change of pace, the point of going to Korea was ultimately for business-purposes. To scrim better teams, to play in a better Solo Queue environment, and to bond more. But when others seemed to put those goals as a second priority, Dardoch became agitated.

"I came in with expectations that weren't necessarily met," he tells me. "It didn't make me upset immediately, but it made it easier for me to get irritated with how things happened. Then over time, when things went wrong, it was much easier for me to get more upset than normal. Then a lot of arguments were had, back and forth. The immediate solution that management and I came to is to just remove me from that."

Before their sojourn, most of the players went home and enjoyed a well-deserved 2 week break. It took a bit of time for the team to switch back into the mentality of work after going home then immediately going to Korea. This prompted Dardoch to work with management to consider all possible options.

"When they asked me if we could fix the problems, I said no. I just asked to be removed from the roster."

Most speculation made the situation appear really bad. Even I didn't know, nor did I ask. But everyone knew Dardoch was a hot head. To me, it's normal for teenagers to get a bit frustrated, so I chuckled a bit inside. After all, in the end, he chose Team Liquid again.

"It definitely wasn't bad," he tells me. "There were a lot of yelling battles between me and management. But it was nothing severe. In all honesty, after we had issues, I really wanted to join a new team. And I got offers. But after I talked with Big Steve about my options, I ended up staying with TL again."

Forward with Liquid

The whole Suspendoch bit is a thing of the past. Team Liquid is a few weeks into the Summer Split and it does not look like Dardoch will be going anywhere. Despite how the team has been in matches, currently 4-4 after Week 4, Dardoch still wants to aim high.

“I want to win as much as possible," he says. "I don't care who it's against. Worlds isn't too far-fetched, but at this point, getting past Groups is a stretch. Honestly, I just want to make it to play-offs. And make it past fourth. Then we can discuss what happens next season and see what's best for the team. But next season, I want to make it deep into Worlds.”

	Dardoch League of Legends