Number 7 Player of Year 4: Beaulo

In his first year in competition, Beaulo has transitioned from one of the game's most popular content creators to one of its best players. For years, there had been speculation about Beaulo's entry into the professional scene. He had long been one viewed as a top talent in the game but was unable to prove it against the world's best players due to the 18+ age restriction on competitive play. There was frequent speculation if he would even want to play professionally when he already made a good living from YouTube videos and streaming. There were also critics who said he would perform poorly when dealing with a more structured team environment rather than the chaos of ranked play. All these questions were answered when he joined TSM (Pojo's Dojo at the time) just prior to his eighteenth birthday.

At first, the critics would be proven right. He struggled in his first competitive showing, earning just a 0.89 rating through the first split of Pro League Season 10. He did manage a strong performance in the Raleigh Qualifiers, but upon reaching the Major itself he really struggled on LAN, posting a 0.83 rating, lowest on his team. Nothing seemed to be going right for the young talent, perhaps the competitive world was not cut out for him after all. 

After this, however, everything changed. TSM's next event, DreamHack Montreal, would prove to be Beaulo's breakout performance, leading his team through the event to claim a championship and an MVP award for himself. 

After this, everything seemed to come much more easily for the young talent. He helped pull TSM out of the relegation zone with a 1.30-rated tear through the second split of Season 10. His final significant event of the year would come at the Six Invitational, where he would lead TSM to an impressive third-place finish and earn his second award of the year, an EVP.

Here are each of Beaulo's performances this year:

Tournament	Rating	K-D (+/-)	Misc.
DH Valencia*	1.12	16-13 (+3)	5-2 OK-OD
Raleigh Quals NA	1.05	107-97 (+10)	5 1vX Clutches
Raleigh Major	0.83	57-75 (-18)	Zofia/Bandit Main
DH Montreal	1.27	144-90 (+54)	22-8 OK-OD
PL S10 NA	1.11	115-100 (+15)	3 1vX Clutches
USN Finals	0.94	35-38 (-3)	0.71 KPR
PL S11a NA	1.01	46-47 (-1)	73% KOST
SI 2020	1.18	169-126 (+43)	70% KOST

*Partial stats due to off-stream games.

You faced a lot of criticism when you first transitioned into professional play, with a lot of veterans saying you wouldn’t transition well from content creation to competitive. Were you ever discouraged by your critics and did you ever doubt your own abilities?

I was definitely discouraged and doubtful at times in the early stages of my pro career. With a rocky start to my first season alongside a tremendous amount of pressure due to the hype behind me and the brand new presence of TSM in the scene...it made me wonder if I made the wrong choice by going pro.

Your first few months in Pro League you struggled, but have since proven that you can compete with the game’s best. What was the transition like and how have you adapted individually?

Near the second split of my first season, I finally found comfort playing in PL right around the time we won Dreamhack Montreal. At that point, I just started to not think about anything else other than the game I was playing...blocking out all pressure/expectations and made a PL match just like any other game of Siege.

You remain one of the most popular and widely-known players (when does Beaulo play?) in the circuit. Is this something you keep in mind and do you think it affects your play?

In the very beginning, I was nervous every game day to the point where I stopped going on social media for 24 hours prior to games just so I didn't have to think about everyone talking about me and all the criticism behind my early game performances; saying that I wasn't fit for Pro League and was just another content creator. Over time, I just decided to block it out and entirely separate Pro play to content creation mentally.

How are you feeling about the future of Siege as an esport?

The future of Siege is looking as bright as it ever has. Back when I started playing the game, no one thought it would last 3 years. Now...it can be a strong competitor as a top tier esport for years to come. As bad as people hate on Ubi, they're slowly but surely making the right choices to extend the life of our amazing game.

What are you going to work on to improve your success next year?

As I'm still a newcomer when it comes to Pro League, I just need to continue to evolve my gameplay to the best that it can be along with my team's.

Is there anything you would like to say to your fans and the wider Siege community?

As always, Beaulo wouldn't be a thing without the fans and the entirety of the community. I credit everything to the longtime supporters throughout all the good and even the bad in my career. And to even the doubters, nothing would ever be fun if there wasn't some fuel to the fire. I appreciate every single one of you.

You can also watch Beaulo's best plays of the year in the fragmovie below:

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Stay tuned for more of the top ten players, you can check out the full list in the awards hub and make sure to let us know what you think about each one on social media!