NRG - Comprised primarily of the former members of OpTic Gaming, the legendary team that stood alone amongst the best teams in the world in an era where no other NA team was capable of doing so. Their two new members, s0m and ardiis had big shoes to fill, needing to replace the two superstars that defined OpTic's firepower last year: Marved and Yay. Their gameplay displays an incredible strategic outlook on the game, but they struggle at times when they can't shoot back against mechanically gifted opponents.
Cloud9 - Ridiculed for signing then immediately dropping the best player of 2022, Former OpTic superstar Yay, as well as their IGL Vanity, they earned even more ridicule by replacing them with two players who couldn't even qualify to NA's tier 2 scene. Everyone had forgotten, however, that the one coaching them was the genius behind the success of The Guard's insane cindarella run last year: mCe. To everyone's surprise, this team blazed through the group stages of the Americas VCT circuit, railing every team they played against except for LOUD and instantly cemented themselves alongside NRG and EG as one of the 3 teams to beat.
Sentinels - An org plagued by misfortune after misfortune. Since winning the very first international masters trophy, they can't seem to win anything no matter how much money they throw at the best players. After multiple roster iterations, the team is now an unlikely mix between former enemies Marved, Sacy, and Pancada, whose former teams OpTic and LOUD were sworn rivals all throughout 2022 (taking from each other a trophy each in two separate grand finals), former XSET hard-carry Zekken, and the only remaining member of Sentinel's original 2021 lineup: TenZ.
Evil Geniuses - The main characters. Laughed at for their decisions in the off-season, and keeping what were once considered some of the worst players in NA last year. Despite all of that, they became world class players almost-overnight, beating every team that had demolished them previously and making it to the grand finals at the most recent masters, losing only to the final boss that is Fnatic.
The Guard - Fallen heroes. Once a team of nobodies picked up by mCe, they came out of nowhere and started shitting on NA's best teams, and went on a miracle run to 3-2 OpTic Gaming in the grand finals of the NA qualifier for Master's Reykjavik, making them the #1 NA Seed. They were meant to have the same happy ending as EG, the same storyline, but it was taken away from them. Riot, their coach, and even their org abandoned them in some way at the start of the franchising era. But that didn't stop them, and they clawed their way out of hell to the big leagues once again to show everyone that they never left.
100 Thieves - There were many high hopes for this team. Their core of players had shown that they could stand up against the best teams in the world last year, and with the signing of former XSET superstar duelist Cryo, everyone thought they would be unstoppable this year. Losing their first game against Sentinels, things went downhill from there, with occasional moments of brilliance. Ever since the departure of Seangares from their coaching staff, this team has not felt like the team everyone expected to be dominating NA. But who knows, they might get out of their slump and prove everyone wrong...
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