What makes the TFT Community so different from other games?
As a former League of Legends player, I’ve seen my fair share of toxic teammates. (I once had a top laner who ran it down in my last promo game to D4 because I played Lulu and he didn’t think I deserved my rank.)
While experiences like that didn’t happen every game, even the occasional toxic teammate was enough to sour my mood. Eventually, I moved over to playing VALORANT where I encountered the same toxicity, but in a new medium of chat. It didn’t matter if I was top fragging or had 0 kills, I’d make a call out and occasionally have someone insult me just because of my gender.
TFT was my saving grace — people rarely typed in all chat and when they did it was usually a “GLHF” or “GG.” Plus, it’s fun climbing because there’s so much content out there that helps you learn about the best comps, game basics, and how things have changed from patch to patch. In that way, the TFT community is welcoming, on top of friendly. There are a lot of creators and competitors who make content to help you catch up and keep up.
Team Liquid wanted to know just what made the TFT community so chill and friendly — so they asked me to help them figure it out. To dive deeper into the TFT community, I interviewed three Team Liquid content creators about their experiences and how it’s different from other games. Each of these three creators came from other games but found themselves staying in and enjoying TFT for a lot of the same reasons I did.
Karagii: Going from FPS to Auto Chess
Karagii is a content creator for Team Liquid who came from the Valorant world initially. She’s still a part of that community and she often reaches Immortal, the second highest rank in the game! But once she started playing TFT during the BoxBox Bootcamp last year, she’s been quietly addicted ever since. Even if she isn’t always streaming it, she’s climbing up the TFT ranked ladder — and a big part of what’s kept her in the game is the “refreshing and welcoming” community.
What’s your experience as a content creator in the VALORANT community vs. the TFT community?
My friend introduced me to TFT. He wanted to climb to Challenger and I wanted to keep up with him to achieve it. I decided to try it out during the BoxBox Bootcamp.
I like that every ranked game is different since it depends on what the game gives you in your shop or how contested a build is. While the game has an RNG element, I found it simultaneously being strategic as you climb the ranks. For example, scouting the enemies, positioning against your opponent, and knowing when to roll for your champions.
While TFT and VALORANT are different genres, I found similarities such as fast pace decision-making under high pressure especially when you're fighting for Top 4 placement similar to clutching in Valorant.
How was participating in the BoxBox boot camp for the first time?
Being my first auto-chess game and TFT-ranked experience, I decided I wanted to challenge myself and participate in the BoxBox Bootcamp which was vastly different from the Valorant/FPS genre.
My community and I loved checking on our progress on the ladder. I remember watching my brother play Hearthstone while I was younger but never found any interest. Being able to see myself climb to Emerald was a very proud moment for me.
What’s your favorite thing about the TFT community?
I found the TFT community to be very refreshing and welcoming, especially to helping beginners like myself. Chat taught me terminology like econ management or when to pivot. I got a lot of help with guides and recommendations for high-level TFT streamers to watch such as Emily Wang, Soju, and Setsuko. I often discuss recent patches with my chat and a lot of my community that came from Valorant also decided to try out TFT and are addicted!
We regularly post updates in my Discord about rank progress or strong builds.
Kurmux and Saintvicious: Going from LoL to TFT
Kurumx and Saintvicious are content creators and professional TFT players for Team Liquid. They’ve both also played League a good deal in past lives. If you know competitive LoL well, you probably already knew that about Saintvicious, who was the longtime jungler for our team and one of the best junglers in NA for years.
Saint is an old school League player and in the old school days, League wasn’t just toxic — it was very toxic. Speaking with Saint, he’s quick to admit that he was one of those toxic players in LoL, but that in TFT, it’s much easier to be chill. Kurum, one of the most competitively decorated players in TFT, agrees. They point to the fabric of TFT as being part of that reason. It’s a solo game where you almost fight the game itself — the luck of the draw, the lay of the meta, these things often form up an even environment within TFT and the game becomes player vs. nature. In that setting, maybe everyone is more eager to band together to beat Mortdog the weather.
What’s the TFT community like compared to other games you’ve played?
Saint: Less toxic.
Kurum: Yeah, way less toxic. Everyone isn’t friends with each other but everyone’s at least chill with each other. In League, people hate each other. It runs deep in League.
Saint: I feel like people hate themselves, they hate the game. It’s a toxic cycle thing.
Kurum: Yeah, there’s a lot of hatred in League for sure. TFT’s not really like that. It’s kinda the opposite.
Has everyone you’ve encountered in high elo positive? Even people you don’t know personally.
Kurum: Every so often there’s some toxic guy or attention seeker but they’re gonna be in every game. For the vast majority, it’s pretty chill. Everyone does their own thing.
It’s not a team game - you can either blame luck or you can blame yourself. Or you can blame both. You can’t blame others unless you’re delusional.
Yeah, makes it easier to be toxic when you’ve got a teammate running it down or not playing well.
Kurum: It’s pretty easy to be toxic in League. I wasn’t toxic but–
Saint: –I was definitely toxic.
Kurum: I had moments of being toxic. I’m pretty sure everyone has had moments of being toxic in League.
How do you feel about the competitive community?
Saint: TFT is a solo game. When I was a pro League player we’d have everybody in a team house and you’d scrim and you’d look over the game when you were done. It’s like you’re in it together.
A game like this, it’s a solo game. I wouldn’t say it’s an isolating experience but it’s all on you at the end of the day. It’s nice to have people that you can talk about the game with or bitch about when something goes wrong. It creates a community. I think community is very important for games and [for] trying to get better at anything.
Kurum: The hardest part for me at a competitive level is [when] you’re just going Bot 4 over and over again and you have no idea why. You’re too bad to figure it yourself and that’s when having friends and people you can talk to helps a lot. To help you figure that kind of stuff out.
Lately, I’ve been talking to Aesah and he’s been helping me. Having people like that is nice in TFT. You can prep as much as you want but at the end of the day, it’s if you can execute. Like Saint said, it can get pretty isolating sometimes cause there’s no one to blame but yourself. It’s nice having other people [to talk to]. Otherwise, you’re gonna go insane.
Who’s someone that you admire in the TFT community?
Kurum: Setsuko. His results are way better than any other player and it’s not even close. In the last three Sets, it’s not even close. Even on ladder - I think he’s Rank 1 right now. He just pulls Rank 1 out of his ass on the daily.
TFT is way too high variance for there to ever be a Faker of TFT. He [Setsuko] could have a super low variance day and not have played as well as he could have. That doesn’t mean he’s not still the best player out of the last three Sets. He’s the closet thing.
Saint: Frodan for the community. He’s a very wholesome person and works hard on content. He was part of the Hearthstone community. He’s trying to do a lot for the scene.
Kurum: That guy is a pro content creator. I don’t know how to do the stuff that he does.
Saint: He’s actually trying to make content instead of–
Kurum: –Going live and spamming TFT games like everybody else.
Saint: It’s respectable.
There you have it. Why is TFT just about the chillest community in esports? Well, it’s a mix of how the game plays and how the community has built itself around that. It’s a simple answer, but maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe TFT can be a blueprint for making more chill competitive games — and if not, at least it’s there if you need a reprieve from your favorite MOBA or FPS.
Now I'm feeling like some TFT...
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Why is the TFT Community so friendly?
What makes the TFT Community so different from other games?
As a former League of Legends player, I’ve seen my fair share of toxic teammates. (I once had a top laner who ran it down in my last promo game to D4 because I played Lulu and he didn’t think I deserved my rank.)
While experiences like that didn’t happen every game, even the occasional toxic teammate was enough to sour my mood. Eventually, I moved over to playing VALORANT where I encountered the same toxicity, but in a new medium of chat. It didn’t matter if I was top fragging or had 0 kills, I’d make a call out and occasionally have someone insult me just because of my gender.
TFT was my saving grace — people rarely typed in all chat and when they did it was usually a “GLHF” or “GG.” Plus, it’s fun climbing because there’s so much content out there that helps you learn about the best comps, game basics, and how things have changed from patch to patch. In that way, the TFT community is welcoming, on top of friendly. There are a lot of creators and competitors who make content to help you catch up and keep up.
Team Liquid wanted to know just what made the TFT community so chill and friendly — so they asked me to help them figure it out. To dive deeper into the TFT community, I interviewed three Team Liquid content creators about their experiences and how it’s different from other games. Each of these three creators came from other games but found themselves staying in and enjoying TFT for a lot of the same reasons I did.
Karagii: Going from FPS to Auto Chess
Karagii is a content creator for Team Liquid who came from the Valorant world initially. She’s still a part of that community and she often reaches Immortal, the second highest rank in the game! But once she started playing TFT during the BoxBox Bootcamp last year, she’s been quietly addicted ever since. Even if she isn’t always streaming it, she’s climbing up the TFT ranked ladder — and a big part of what’s kept her in the game is the “refreshing and welcoming” community.
What’s your experience as a content creator in the VALORANT community vs. the TFT community?
My friend introduced me to TFT. He wanted to climb to Challenger and I wanted to keep up with him to achieve it. I decided to try it out during the BoxBox Bootcamp.
I like that every ranked game is different since it depends on what the game gives you in your shop or how contested a build is. While the game has an RNG element, I found it simultaneously being strategic as you climb the ranks. For example, scouting the enemies, positioning against your opponent, and knowing when to roll for your champions.
While TFT and VALORANT are different genres, I found similarities such as fast pace decision-making under high pressure especially when you're fighting for Top 4 placement similar to clutching in Valorant.
How was participating in the BoxBox boot camp for the first time?
Being my first auto-chess game and TFT-ranked experience, I decided I wanted to challenge myself and participate in the BoxBox Bootcamp which was vastly different from the Valorant/FPS genre.
My community and I loved checking on our progress on the ladder. I remember watching my brother play Hearthstone while I was younger but never found any interest. Being able to see myself climb to Emerald was a very proud moment for me.
What’s your favorite thing about the TFT community?
I found the TFT community to be very refreshing and welcoming, especially to helping beginners like myself. Chat taught me terminology like econ management or when to pivot. I got a lot of help with guides and recommendations for high-level TFT streamers to watch such as Emily Wang, Soju, and Setsuko. I often discuss recent patches with my chat and a lot of my community that came from Valorant also decided to try out TFT and are addicted!
We regularly post updates in my Discord about rank progress or strong builds.
Kurmux and Saintvicious: Going from LoL to TFT
Kurumx and Saintvicious are content creators and professional TFT players for Team Liquid. They’ve both also played League a good deal in past lives. If you know competitive LoL well, you probably already knew that about Saintvicious, who was the longtime jungler for our team and one of the best junglers in NA for years.
Saint is an old school League player and in the old school days, League wasn’t just toxic — it was very toxic. Speaking with Saint, he’s quick to admit that he was one of those toxic players in LoL, but that in TFT, it’s much easier to be chill. Kurum, one of the most competitively decorated players in TFT, agrees. They point to the fabric of TFT as being part of that reason. It’s a solo game where you almost fight the game itself — the luck of the draw, the lay of the meta, these things often form up an even environment within TFT and the game becomes player vs. nature. In that setting, maybe everyone is more eager to band together to beat Mortdog the weather.
What’s the TFT community like compared to other games you’ve played?
Saint: Less toxic.
Kurum: Yeah, way less toxic. Everyone isn’t friends with each other but everyone’s at least chill with each other. In League, people hate each other. It runs deep in League.
Saint: I feel like people hate themselves, they hate the game. It’s a toxic cycle thing.
Kurum: Yeah, there’s a lot of hatred in League for sure. TFT’s not really like that. It’s kinda the opposite.
Has everyone you’ve encountered in high elo positive? Even people you don’t know personally.
Kurum: Every so often there’s some toxic guy or attention seeker but they’re gonna be in every game. For the vast majority, it’s pretty chill. Everyone does their own thing.
It’s not a team game - you can either blame luck or you can blame yourself. Or you can blame both. You can’t blame others unless you’re delusional.
Yeah, makes it easier to be toxic when you’ve got a teammate running it down or not playing well.
Kurum: It’s pretty easy to be toxic in League. I wasn’t toxic but–
Saint: –I was definitely toxic.
Kurum: I had moments of being toxic. I’m pretty sure everyone has had moments of being toxic in League.
How do you feel about the competitive community?
Saint: TFT is a solo game. When I was a pro League player we’d have everybody in a team house and you’d scrim and you’d look over the game when you were done. It’s like you’re in it together.
A game like this, it’s a solo game. I wouldn’t say it’s an isolating experience but it’s all on you at the end of the day. It’s nice to have people that you can talk about the game with or bitch about when something goes wrong. It creates a community. I think community is very important for games and [for] trying to get better at anything.
Kurum: The hardest part for me at a competitive level is [when] you’re just going Bot 4 over and over again and you have no idea why. You’re too bad to figure it yourself and that’s when having friends and people you can talk to helps a lot. To help you figure that kind of stuff out.
Lately, I’ve been talking to Aesah and he’s been helping me. Having people like that is nice in TFT. You can prep as much as you want but at the end of the day, it’s if you can execute. Like Saint said, it can get pretty isolating sometimes cause there’s no one to blame but yourself. It’s nice having other people [to talk to]. Otherwise, you’re gonna go insane.
Who’s someone that you admire in the TFT community?
Kurum: Setsuko. His results are way better than any other player and it’s not even close. In the last three Sets, it’s not even close. Even on ladder - I think he’s Rank 1 right now. He just pulls Rank 1 out of his ass on the daily.
TFT is way too high variance for there to ever be a Faker of TFT. He [Setsuko] could have a super low variance day and not have played as well as he could have. That doesn’t mean he’s not still the best player out of the last three Sets. He’s the closet thing.
Saint: Frodan for the community. He’s a very wholesome person and works hard on content. He was part of the Hearthstone community. He’s trying to do a lot for the scene.
Kurum: That guy is a pro content creator. I don’t know how to do the stuff that he does.
Saint: He’s actually trying to make content instead of–
Kurum: –Going live and spamming TFT games like everybody else.
Saint: It’s respectable.
There you have it. Why is TFT just about the chillest community in esports? Well, it’s a mix of how the game plays and how the community has built itself around that. It’s a simple answer, but maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe TFT can be a blueprint for making more chill competitive games — and if not, at least it’s there if you need a reprieve from your favorite MOBA or FPS.
