Macrogame theory - Bonus article

The art of shotcalling

The underrated team role

What is a shotcaller?
He or she is a person who has the duty and responsability of leading the team during a game. In this scenario a coach can't (in a normal situation) help, so the shotcaller has to become the strategist of the team and adapt the coach's strategy to the real situation, which often varies from the prepared scenario.

Image rights to "www.stepfeed.com"

What does a player need to be a shotcaler?
Many factors determine whether you're a good shotcaller or not, yet often how good you are is underpinned by the outcome of your shotcalls, which in part is fair, but is not the only thing to take in consideration.

- Knowledge: A shotcaller has to understand the team strategy perfectly and always have in mind the strenghts of the composition and how to capitalize on them.
- Awareness: Often players get "lost" in the fray, and look for fights constantly, since fighting is what gives you a sensation of moving towards victory, of making things happen. A shotcaller has to be constantly analyzing the situation and take every fight on eggshells.
- Speaking consistency: You can't stay shut when you're the shotcaller, there always has to be an order, an objective, a path to follow for the rest of the team, otherwise you're a bad shotcaller.
- Speaking clarity: Sometimes you have time to think and discuss the call, but sometimes you don't so speaking loud and clear, even if your call seems bad, will give your team the trust to follow it. If it goes bad, then you can discuss it after, but a call has to be clear and concise so everyone can follow.
A bad call, done propperly, can lead you to a propicious situation, even if the call itself was bad.
- Speak decissively: Your calls can't project doubt, you can't use words such as "I think we could", or "Maybe", or ask questions in critical situations like "Do we go? do we?", or "Can we engage?", because this will create chaos among your teammates, they will not if that's a rethorical question, or they have to answer it, a call has to be something like "Engage at count of 3", or "Give up objective, push top, ward defensive in this side".

Bora "Yellowstar" Kim - Image rights to Riot Games

Resuming, a shotcaller routine has to have the following characteristics;
- Consistency: Make calls all the time, after the action happens, there has to be another call.
- Clarity: Talk with loud and understandable voice, be clear about what you want the team to do.
- Decissiveness: Be decissive when making a call, making a half-call or doubting will not make it better, if you fail making the call, then let it be, but the worst you can do is confusing your team.
- Knowledge & Awareness: The calls need foundation, paying attention to what is going on and knowing the best you could do in the situation are the base of your ability to shotcall.


How do I get better shotcalling?
To shotcall to others, first you have to be able to shotcall yourself, this exercise is simple and will help you to improve your comunicating skills and adaptability, and you don't even need to play with others.

Play a game and constantly say what you're going to do 5-10 seconds before doing so, do not think it, say it loud and clear to yourself.

"I'm going to push mid and then roam" - Then do it
"I'm going to smite the blue buff and then I'm ganking top" - Then do it
"I'm going to ping the engage then I'm engaging on the carries" - Then do it
"I'm going to trade against Trundle after I hit level 3" - Then do it

That simple, you just have to constantly speak out what you're going to do in every single moment. When you've mastered the art of preventing your own actions and planning a fast strategy then execute it, you'll be able to make the same decissions in a team oriented environment.