slight allat warning
Acend (cNed, BONECOLD, starxo, Kiles, zeek)
After winning Champions the Acend roster had decided to stay together for the 2022 season.
The team was invited to Stage 1 Challengers after their performance in the year prior. Going up against some now familiar faces such as: Leo, Sayf, trexx, AvovA, Mistic, Derke, Boaster, Magnum, pAura and QuitionerX. They struggled in the group stage, having a 2-3 record in their group which placed them at 9-10th overall, just barely saving them selves from being relegated.
As Stage 2 rolled around, some roster changes were made, BONECOLD and Kiles were leaving the line-up in favour of MONSTEERR and vakk, which brought them a 4-1 record in their group, they even beat the eventual winners of the next Masters (FPX), punching their ticket to playoffs. In their first game of playoffs the new Acend faced a familiar foe, M3C (Previously Gambit). On Map 1 (Bind) the game was relatively close (ACE 7-8 M3C), but on round 16 M3C went on a streak to win 5 rounds which won them the map, on map 2 (Breeze) the close fashion of the series continued, with the map going into triple OT, unfortunately for Acend, they were on the wrong side of it, which now meant they were knocked in to the lower bracket. In their second game of playoffs they played a rematch against the eventual Masters winner, FPX. Map 1 (Haven) was a stomp for Acend, crushing FPX 13-3 on FPX's map pick. The next map (Icebox) was much closer, with Acend battling themselves to an 11-8 lead, FPX however had other plans, winning 5 rounds in a row to win the map 13-11. Map 3 (Breeze) was again a stomp, except this time in the favour of FPX. Acend were now out of Stage 2 Playoffs.
Their last tournament of the year was LCQ (Liquid Champions Qualifier) where they made one last change with this roster, where L1NK would come in for zeek.
Unfortunately they drew M3C for their first game. The maps were Split (13-9), Breeze (10-13) and Fracture (13-6), knocking Acend in to the lowers. Their next and last game was against G2, which also did not go in their favour, the maps were: Fracture (13-8), Haven (11-13) and Bind (5-13). Thus concluding the 2022 main season for Acend.
For 2023 Riot introduced partnership, which Acend was rejected for. By this time cNed and starxo, the last remaining members from the 2021 Championship winning roster were dropped.
BONECOLD - After being dropped for Stage 2, he went on to play in the French VRL (tier 2) for Vitality, where he had success. VIT battled their way through the regular season, playing 18 BO1's over 7 weeks, only dropping 4 games, this easily put them in playoffs. In playoffs they first played against Karmine Corp, which had some notable players such as: TakaS, sh1n and Newzera. VIT took the series 3-2 and faced MAD Lions in the Grand Finals. 2 of the 4 regular season losses that VIT had were against Mad Lions, so they were a force to be reckoned with. The series was a relatively clean 3-0 sweep for Vitality and Bonecold, with only map 1 being close (16-14). VIT were now the representative for France at the VRL finals (Which is pretty much Ascension without the ascending part). VIT beat FUT 2-0 in their first match looking strong, then went 2-1 against CASE esports to put them selves in a BO5 rematch against FUT in the Grand Finals. FUT, who had just come up from the lower bracket had taken VIT to their limit, closing out the series 3-2.
In 2023 VIT were announced as one of the EMEA partner teams. One of the players VIT decided to keep from their 2022 roster was BONECOLD. BONECOLD's debut in franchising was at LOCK//IN where he first played against GE, going 2-1, VIT then went out in a 0-2 series against LEV, after a very close map 1 (14-16). In the regular season VIT looked very shaky, barely clinching 6th place with a 4-5 record to make playoffs, where they went 1-2 against both TL and FUT. This was the end for BONECOLD, who soon announced his retirement.
Kiles - Kiles took a similar path to Bonecold, opting to play in tier 2. He joined Giants Gaming who were competing in the Spanish VRL, Giants breezed through the group stage, playing 18 BO1's and only dropping 6 maps. In Playoffs Giants' first opponent was UCAM Esports, where they played two very close maps, both of which went in to OT, Unfortunately Giants were on the losing side both times, as the Playoffs were single elim, Giants' year was over.
As partnership rolled around Giants announced that they would not be continuing with Kiles, forcing him to look elsewhere for a team in 2023. CASE Esports picked him up (interesting fact: MiniBoo was on this team), this resulted in CASE having a very successful split 1, going 13-5 in groups and winning playoffs. CASE again breezed through the regular season in Split 2, going 13-5 again, and again winning Playoffs, which very easily made them the Spanish representative for Spain in EMEA Ascension 2023. Ascension however was a different story, CASE had a very difficult time in their group, having to play against the two grand finalists GM8 and APK. By the end they were 0-4 in series and 0-8 in maps, they took an absolute beating and there's no way to sugar coat it. Even then Kiles was consistently near or at the top of the leaderboard, showing just how valuable of a player he can be.
CASE knew this, and kept him around for the 2024 season. This time around CASE had a very unsteady Split 1, only just barely escaping relegation and making their way in to playoffs with a 5-9 record. This was seemingly a wakeup call for the team, as they made a run in playoffs all the way to the grand finals, only to lose to 2-3 to KPI. By now Kiles' stint on CASE was up, with him joining the team he had just lost to, KPI for Split 2. KPI were relatively successful in the Split 2 regular season, ending with a 9-5 record. In playoffs they won their first game but went out in the Semifinals 2-3 to Barça eSports. However due to the points system KPI still qualified to the Play-Ins of Ascension EMEA. KPI were top of their group in the Play-Ins group stage, giving them a bye in to the Play-Ins Playoffs (confusing, ik) bypassing the last chance games. They won 2-1 against Valiant in the semi-finals, where Kiles played against an old enemy in d3ffo. In the Grand finals of the Play-ins KPI fell short against CGN, losing in a 0-3 fashion. Kiles has been released by KPI and is LFT for the 2025 season. (1/2)