I started to suspect talent beat hard work when I started following esports again, most pros had more or less the same story: they got to a high rank (>98th percentile) after 6-24 months of playing and thought about going pro after they got good. If they started playing before the age of 16, they got better as they matured, and entered the highest rank by the time they were 20. Some players who took breaks, even long ones, could get to the top 200 of the ladder within a few weeks of playing.
