EU VS NA FPL

The new Faceit Pro League (FPL) has been blowing up our social media for the last month. Combined with the recurring notion of NA vs EU CS, what are the differences between the European and American Faceit pro league?

First and foremost, it is worth mentioning that EU FPL has been around longer than NA FPL making the former more stable than the latter at this point. Despite this, there are other differences that have arisen due to the varying commitment of Faceit in these continents and the social landscapes inherent to them.

Because the country with the most Twitch viewers is North American, more media attention has been given NA FPL since its conception. Many of the viewers who were following EU FPL have diverted their attention to NA FPL streamers because of the more suitable streaming times: late night after people come home from work. Also, NA FPL has more dedicated full time streamers than EU. DaZeD, Steel, M0e, Summit vs Randomrambo. I think the difference in exposure between the two sections is evidenced by large influx of registered players since the release of NA FPL.

EU council has less social media attention and a more active engagement in upholding the quality of the league. For example, in the first month of EU FPL the Master League qualified players (RR, 16k etc.) were kicked in order to prevent a dilution of skill. A massive Reddit outbreak managed to reinstate the players, demonstrating yet again the active involvement of the EU council and their commitment not only to the quality of play, but also the satisfaction of its active viewership. The recent kick of the qualified player 16k for having a VAC ban on his account emphasizes this point. NA FPL council on the other hand has shown us that some of its members are not very active (Hiko and Fallen) and the one who is (Hazed) wields the title somewhat immaturely by jokingly calling himself ‘the law’.

Another difference between the two league divisions is their approach to team communication. EU FPL involves very minimal (yet succinct) comms. This is most likely the direct consequence of English as a communication standard despite it being a foreign language to most EU players. It is hard to give detailed descriptions in a secondary language the same way it is hard to banter or troll. NA is on the complete opposite of the spectrum, seeing as every one of its members (besides Fifflaren and the LG players) are native English speakers. Consequently, a lot of joking (like the DaZeD impressions by Roca and Shaffer) and complaining goes on (like M0e, Dazed and Steel ranting to their streams). This makes for an extremely entertaining viewing experience, albeit at the cost of less serious gameplay.

It is worth noting that the queue dodging issue only occurred in NA. Although I wish there was a clear cut explanation for this difference, I am unable to think of a good reason. It either implies a difference in competitive spirit or common decency. Fortunately, the Reddit posts earlier this month put an end to the issue.

Lastly, it is worth noting that the infrastructure dedicated to EU FPL is more extensive than its NA counterpart. The Europeans enjoy five different server locations consisting of Sweden, England, Germany, Holland, and England. NA, on the other hand only has access to three (Chicago, Dallas, Denver) even though the players are arguably spread over longer distances. The result? Some players can’t play games without pinging 80 ms to the server, which can be detrimental to gameplay at such a high skill level.

All in all, there are plenty of differences between the two FPL sections that account for a diverse viewing experience. It should be interesting to see whether these differences converge while the league ensues for some more months. Personally, I think that without server adjustments by the Faceit staff, NA players will move to the rumored ESEA equivalent that is supposed to be released in the near future.

Contact me at @martinstuessy. I love to be corrected.