The story of Acend's 2021 roster.

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)

zeek - Zeek's destination after Acend was TH, playing with them for part of the 2023 season. LOCK//IN didn't go well for them, losing in the first round against the eventual world Champions EG. Split 1 was also a bit of a disaster, but Zeek didn't even make it through all of Split 1, after only playing 6 regular season games for TH, Zeek was dropped, only winning one game against KC, who were widely regarded as one of the worst teams of 2023. His quick departure from TH is rumoured to be a significant personality clash with Boo. Late in to 2023 after hopping around a few teams Zeek joined GoNext Esports, a tier 2 team competing in VCL East in 2024. Here he would play against his old organisation, Acend quite often. Split 1 of the regular season went off to a rough start, dropping 3 series with one being to Acend, however things started looking up fast with them winning every single game in Split 1 afterwards, this continued through playoffs where they beat Chipi Chapa's 3-1. Zeek was also able to get his revenge on Acend in the First stage of Playoffs.
Split 2 was also quite easy for GoNext and Zeek, only dropping one game against Acend in the regular season. In playoffs they were again able to get their revenge on Acend in the upper bracket finals, and they comfortably won Split 2 3-1 against Diamant Esports in the GF. They were easily locked in to represent the East at EMEA Ascension. GoNext started ascension off very strong with a 2-1 victory over Apeks, the eventual winners, and a 2-1 against Barça, the Spanish representative, however it was all downhill from there, after losing 2-0 to both CGN and DYS their playoff run came to an end. GoNext have announced their frustration with Riot and the VCL system, and will not be competing in the 2025 season, meaning Zeek is now a F/A for 2025.

starxo - Starxo stayed on Acend through the 2022 off season, competing in the Superdome, losing to the Fnatic superteam in the GF. For 2023 he was picked up by KOI, he would join one of his former GMB rivals Sheydos. At LOCK//IN KOI lost 0-2 to NRG, who'd go on to make it to the semi-finals of the single elim stage. The start of the regular season was quite promising, with a 2-0 against NAVI, a team which harboured his former teammate, cNed. This series was also quite notable as map 2 (Lotus) went to a whopping 7 rounds of OT. The rest of the regular season was quite disappointing, with only a win against a weakened TH. The next chance they would get to play would be in the 2023 EMEA LCQ, where they made a decent run. They were placed in one of the single elim games as they seeded 9th in the regular season. They beat TH in the single elim round, to advance to the upper semi-finals, here they shocked everyone by upsetting NAVI in 2-0 fashion. Their next match against the eventual winners of LCQ, Giants. Map 1 was quite close with an OT but map 2 was a 13-5 stomp, with them losing 0-2. Now knocked in to a lowers, a NAVI looking for revenge swept them 0-3, ending KOI's 2023 season.
With a few changes and a merger with Mad Lions, KOI looked to have a better year in 2024, which they did... not. At the kickoff group stage they initially lost to Liquid, but beat BBL and won a rematch against TL to qualify to the Play-ins. Here they fell short against KC and VIT, losing to both teams. Stage 1 was tough, with them losing to everyone but VIT, leading them to place 11th. Stage 2 wasn't much better either, only winning against a GIANTX in crisis and a beat down NAVI. Starxo has announced F/A and is looking for a team in EU/NA/APAC

cNed - The star of the Acend roster, the original Turkish Jett. Just like starxo, cNed competed in the Superdome before leaving Acend. For 2023 he looked to join NAVI, the former FPX roster without ardiis. cNed had a great LOCK//IN with them besting KRU, TS and LEV in the main stage, and only losing to Fnatic, the eventual winners in Playoffs. Despite an early loss to KOI, the regular season went swimmingly, the only other game they lost was against Fnatic. In the playoffs upper finals they would face TL, who would get the best of them. At this point many people started to question the leadership of NAVI, especially because of the roles they had cNed playing. Despite all of the negative attention they were getting they beat Giants in the lowers to secure themselves a spot at Masters Tokyo, a spot that was granted by EMEA winning LOCK//IN. However their run at Tokyo was quite short, losing 1-2 to NRG in the uppers and 0-2 (VERY close maps) against EDG in the lowers of their group. At LCQ NAVI again immediately lost to KOI, and all was looking lost, however they found it in them to run through the lowers against Giants and KOI. They lost in the GF to GiantX but because of Fnatic winning Tokyo, EMEA were granted another extra slot at Champs. Regrettably, they lost 0-2 to TL in the group stage, which meant they likely had little to no chance against the behemoths of DRX or LOUD (The other teams in their group), to their credit they did play DRX and LOUD to map 3 (and close ones at that) but they just barely fell short at the end. That was it for cNed and NAVI.
In the 2023 offseason FUT picked up cNed for RBHG, where he immediately looked like he felt more at home. However FUT as a team struggled to find their footing at kickoff, losing to TH in some close maps (10/11-13), winning against GX 2-1 but then losing to KC 1-2 after a bizarre 18-20 OT in map 1. In the stage 1 regular season they fared quite a bit better, only losing 1-2 to VIT and 0-2 to TH, which is very respectable considering the calibre of the teams they played against. In playoffs they were instantly knocked in to lowers by a 0-2 from TH, in the lowers they bested KC with a 2-0 of their own. They had made it to the lower final which meant that they had now qualified for Masters Shanghai as 3rd seed. Shanghai went pretty decently for FUT. After losing their pretty close opening series against FPX (7-13, 14-12, 10-13) They faced off against DRG, again playing a close series (13-10, 14-12) except this time winning. Which led them to play their last team in Groups which was LEV. LEV at Shanghai looked... mediocre at best, but that shouldn't take too much away from FUT's 2-1 series against them, with a jaw dropping 13-1 on map 1 (which was LEV's pick). Now in Playoffs FUT faced another Americas representative, 100T. This series was... ugly. 100T decimated them 13-2 on Icebox and 13-5 on Bind, slamming FUT down to the lowers. Here FUT commit the most frustrating upset (for me, see flair) of 2024, against Fnatic, the series went 5-13, 13-8 and 13-3. Their next match in the lower bracket was against TH, one of the eventual Grand Finalists, FUT put on a respectable fight on map 1, losing 7-13, but map 2 swayed even further in TH's direction (4-13), this meant FUT were now out of Shanghai after achieving a respectable 5th-6th. Stage 2's regular season was pretty easy for FUT, only losing to the dominant TH. In playoffs Fnatic got their revenge for Shanghai by knocking FUT into the lowers in a 0-2 series, where they again faced a Heretics who had now beat them 2-0 for a 4th time. However as Champions has 4 slots per region FUT still managed to qualify for Champions. Champions however... was quite tough, in a group with EDG (The eventual winners), PRX and G2 the odds were heavily against FUT, and it showed. FUT went out instantly 0-2 to both EDG and PRX, ending their year in a slightly disappointing fashion. It was also the end of FUT cNed, as FUT look to dip their foot in to the rich tier 2 talent pool of Türkiye. cNed now is rumoured to be joining Apeks, the EMEA 2024 Ascension winner for the 2025 season. (2/2)
If you actually read to the end 1. I respect you a shit ton 2. Would anyone be interested in me doing something like this for LOUD's 2022 roster. 3. Did I make any mistakes? I wrote this and I didn't really proof read this much so there might be mistakes

Fluke ahh roster

Lovely Jubbly post

Where does TMV and CanadaMan come up in this story?

allat

I think adding that purp0 subbed for zeek during 2022 stage 1 challengers where they would be upset by BBL and fail to qualify for playoffs

Even fluke word is ashamed seeing Acend winning champs but these fans

Kekw

vivo keyd robbed.