dont jinx it
imma have an aneurysm if gx falls through too

Oh makes sense, for sure someone as good at scouting as Happy would want to get Li- get shot

A ton of good t2 duelists still left so Im interested in what Happy is looking for, but not too worried about them finding a good one to fit their vision

Oh no the Dach curse got another one
f for click

Dang Ucam just losing all their players

Very nice to see them officially announce roster changes during this public trial process though, liquipedia admins gonna be celebrating xD

Yup definitely had some good games. Also had some bad ones. Just consistency now (and being able to manage a team with so many [allegedly] strong personalities) so that we get more of the good ones.

eeeeh I think mada is great
They have Bonkar as a coach who has done incredibly well with developing younger players (whereas we dont really know how he stacks up vs t1 coaches when it comes to improving established players) so I much prefer this.

They have enough veterans on NRG that they can afford 2 rookies.

But ye Derke staying in EMEA is huge for the region and LA is EMEAs best friend for bringing all the talent to us ;3
Also IGL thing might be more of a challenge than you think. I havent really heard any rumors of t2 igls being tiraled, the t1 market doesnt have any top tier ones looking for a team rn, so Id expect they stay with Cender and try to keep developing him.
Imo gonna be a race against time to get ceNder to a super team level before the team breaks up.

I dont think the comms issues are based on anything concrete
All CGN players have been alleged to have comms issues due to their time on cgn

The team is the meme team in DACH so things do just get blown out proportions a tad bit. Its fun to make fun of them for their play-style and its easy to call them out since the comms videos were laughably bad (from a comms standpoint), without ever having to worry about it getting personal since they win anyways

But that just ignores that ascension ever happened. CGN grew so much by the time groups rolled around and ended as one of the most effective anti teams. Theyre not exactly the same team we were making fun about for the past 2 years anymore.

I always struggle with changes on fut
yes turkey has a ton of talent but... well so does fut

qRaxs and AtaKaptan are the two you could possibly upgrade but... well it really isnt as easy
I personally dont think theres many teams like Fnatic or TH who can turn t2 players into gods right away, so a gamble like that could backfire pretty badly (especially in a full Turkish team where fut is just miles above anything we've ever had)

Fut in its current form isnt bad, but I definitely see where the concern comes from, because it does feel like they hit their peak a while back and have sorta stagnated since
Just gotta trust them that they can improve ig

well fut isnt exactly recycling players considering theyre 80% t2 players
except for Cned, no one on the roster has been in t1 before Fut

never!
looks like ill be dying on the lime hype train this year though x.x

Ok Koi can be the savior and go for Lime now, right?
not desperate at all here.... SOMEONE SIGN LIME FFS

oh yea actually forgot about kamo
Didnt count kicks since he got exiled from the league by out TO before he got picked up. I aint giving dach credits for him after that shitshow of a ruling

probably buyouts
dach players pretty much never get picked up
whether thats because DACH is a meme (deserved reputation tbh) or buyouts, we've had 0 players go from DACH to t1 since the start of franchising afaik

click better change that I swear to god

m8 was trialing sociablEE iirc
since they have an IGL I wouldnt be surprised if hes getting consideration for the duelist role

dangit
guess my keyboard gotta last a couple more years

do they have proper switch options in other countries?
cause I looked at them a couple times but in germany they only have a single switch, except for when you assemble them yourself, but at that point theyre way too overpriced

(unless with customization you mean software)

Lime - Duelist
Nats - Sentinel
Keiko - Smokes (assuming he actually wants to)
musashi - Flex
Br0die - Initiator IGL

all from FA players (ofc could mix a couple signed players in there)
idk dont think theyll really struggle to make a cheap, yet competent, roster without going for (currently) content creators

ye I was talking about the NA teams since those are just.... stupid high when competing for players
not surprised emea can keep up with the rest of americas

what is surprising for me that they'd be willing to move to another region (and thats its not just one person but 3 I think?)

theres this city in America thats rather unpopular
so to escape they came to Berlin... bros are fucked

idk probs just very good offers this year, but definitely unusual to take the lower EMEA offers over the NA ones

a few weeks of offseason and hes already turning to cannibalism smh

false advertisement, at the time of the original post he wasnt cooking yet

If it gives me access to all leagues, and some new features current viewing cant offer (#3 or demos and stuff like that for example) sure
I do spend more time watching Valorant than I do netflix for example

Free tier is a must though, otherwise community is dead and then it wont be any fun anymore

the claims that xeus' trials (in general, not with a specific team) werent going as well (some claiming he was trolling, but I think thats more the internet over-exaggerating) as people expected came first
ofc could still be the buyout, but might not be the only reason

ye from Riot side theres no difference
However a couple of EMEA regions had t3 leagues that would qualify you into t2 (see the invited teams in https://www.vlr.gg/event/1943/challengers-league-2024-northern-europe-polaris-split-1/closed-qualifier, who won https://www.vlr.gg/event/1917/beacon-2023-open-split-2-finals for example)

so in EMEA even if t2 merges and absolutely flopps there would at least be some sort of existing structure to fall back on

yup has a huge chance to collapse t2 this year

worst thing is Apac doesnt even have a t3 scene to fall back on like EMEA does
its all in for them

yea Acend has close ties to https://x.com/raiseyouredge (bio: "Nr. 1 Poker Training Site, having helped 100k+ people.")
https://www.vlr.gg/team/2577/raise-your-edge Acend was originally tied to that site, but Riot said no so we got the Acend brand instead

Its hard to judge how it'd impact the region

At least from how I see it this push for a single league comes more from a place of (almost) every league being fucked beyond belief.
An easy example is always the prize money. Its already low in emea, but there are a whole lot more leagues except east who have not paid this years split 1. There are some who havent even paid last years.

The combined league would at least have the potential to be "profitable" (in an esports sense - you aint gonna make money) for the orgs involved, since viewers would be way higher.

yea its part of the change that gives a chance for teams to extend their stay if they make it to champs (and also them reducing the amount of slots in tier 1, but dont say that part out loud)

Ye it aint pretty

Ill be watching Apac closely the next 2 years
I think their model is a huge risk right now (lots of downsides of essentially losing t2 in a lot of countries), however it might be the way forward for other regions too

Tweet in text form:

Holy yap ik. I found the answers interested so thought Id share them here and maybe someone else does too^^

Yesterday Acends CEO, Bencb, has made a sort of "farewell" post, talking about the current state of t2.
https://x.com/bencb789/status/1839249370824261989

I strongly recommend reading the original tweet.
Huge thanks to both him, and their Head of Esports Krimson, for openly talking with us about these issues from their viewpoint.

They also have a Youtube channel "Inside Esports" (https://www.youtube.com/@InsideEsports-n5v), where they will be, for example, discussing tier 2 Valorant in the future.

This post will add some more insights based on answers Bencb gave on Discord, as well as parts from Acends latest video "Why Acend Club is Leaving Valorant".

--------------

"We asked: What are the reasons for staying in valorant tier 2 and [...] we had one or two, but I think we had ten reasons speaking against staying in tier 2 Valorant [...]. Its very disheartening." (Bencb - 2)

spending $700,000 on our Valorant Team in 2 years to compete in T2

When asked if this was a reasonable investment, Bencb responded that in hindsight it was not. "We expected a better T2 system but looking back, I wouldn't pay more than 2k per player anymore.
Since it is 1-year franchise only anyway, no matter how skilled or experienced, I wouldn't even pay 500$ per player per month anymore" (3)

The drop in salaries is something noticeable across all of t2, across all regions, and is bound to continue in the current landscape.
"Orgs are forced to pay min salaries. Imo we overpaird in some cases because we wanted to support the players and have them focused on the competitive scene.
In Riots case, it already forced us this year to decrease tremendously and reject salary increases because it was not possible and justifable with the state of the system." (3)

When Riot reduced the 2 - year franchise slot to just one year, it felt like a slap in the face.

In the podcast, Krimson explains that they began reevaluating their investment in t2 after the changes for the minimum Ascension duration were announced.
Elaborating, Bencb explained that "its pointless winning Ascension and spend[ing] 700k+ to setup all the business structure in Berlin with players, teams, staff, content, facility just to leave after 1 year. Way to risky.
Esports is about sustainibility. It should be 3 years, 2 years is already a stretch and min 2 slots." (3)
This isn't an isolated case with other org owners, such as Ucams CEO Marco Mourão publicly criticizing the lack of security for Ascending orgs. (4)

What happened to the T2 scene? Is Riot understaffed? Do they not care? Or are the wrong people in charge? Any of these possibilities would spell disaster for building a sustainable T2 ecosystem. And trust me, it wouldn’t take much to fix, definitely not a lot of money.

He criticized Riot for "trying to build the franchise model from top to bottom." Specifically, he points out that he "believe[s] some people try to copy franchise because it works in other spots in America. [...] But what they forget, they have a very good T2 and T3 system." (3)

"There are obviously other systemic issues in Tier 2 that we have seen, with various newsposts that are coming out, where it appears that in a number of [...] [cases], offseason tournaments that have been canceled already. [...] There have been no, and there will be no games until February [for Acend]." (Krimson - 2)
Additionally, Bencb also points out that the current format has an additional 2 months of offseason for teams that don't make it to ascension. During this time it is nonviable to start building next year's roster, as teams don't know what player will be signed in t1/FA/RFA. (2)

Another worrying criticism that also gets brought up frequently is Riots unwillingness to talk to the organizations. "Start talking to Orgs. Right now, there is 0 communication." (3)
"I think we have a lot of good ideas, potentially, for fixing tier 2 and I hope that Riot sees the problems organizations are having." (Krimson - 2)

This leaves all the pressure on the underfunded, understaffed, and oftentimes seemingly overwhelmed TOs, to try and figure out how to fix their region while still in the bounds of Riots system.

In a side comment Bencb mentioned a more ideal t2, in his opinion, would be "one emea challenger league. 20 teams, can be 10 direct invites, 10 qualifiyng teams, Only 1 league, much bigger viewership, more competitive, play ins and play offs in nov/dec. Ascension winner crowned in early december."
He also voiced his support for an Open League with more slots for teams.

While not brought up as a reason for their departure, when asked what games Acend would be looking towards in the future, Bencb explained that Acend will "only compete in Games where we dont have restrictions with sponsors as we do have it in LOL, Valorant or other Riot Games [as Acend pivots into better monetization models]."
This once again brings up the concern that Riot's restriction on sponsors makes it even harder for t2 orgs to be sustainable, despite Riot being largely unwilling to support t2 (in both Val and LoL).

(1) https://x.com/bencb789/status/1839249370824261989
(2) "Why Acend Club is Leaving Valorant" https://youtu.be/SXG77L0782Q
(3) Acend Discord Q&A
(4) https://x.com/marco_esports/status/1804278976124191076

welcome to the club

you can use pcpartpicker.com to check compatibility easily

this was just an error the never got fixed
Spin confirmed it a couple of times that he was an import and that it just never got fixed (and more importantly that Polvi can return to emea and play as a non import)

id say try out some of the mods but pretty sure we got no modders left after I quit x.x
wish the main devs would be more open to custom modes cause classic is fun for a while but dang you can do so much more with the engine + roguelite concept

Second (and last) set of games are live^^

Blaze Black 2 Redux is very nice (the plat one too)
Emerald Rogue 2 just released and is fun af if you havent played it already
Radical Red on the harder difficulties is a standard one if you wanna burn weeks of your life
Unbound is cool af too

thats the best Rom Hacks I can think of from the top of my head

nah thats the neat thing about Polaris (and some other t2 regions in emea)
They had a t3 system to qual them into t2 before premier was a thing so they get to keep using it
So its premier AND a t3 league, giving people more options

its great for the region since it actually builds a community^^
(and the beacon guys are just great in general since they do fun stuff like the console cups for example)

well its beacon, but no one knows what beacon is
so I use polaris as referring to the region (even though it is technically incorrect) since its more iconic that "Northern Europe"

Beacon has a couple games with stream today, imma drop links in case anyone wants to watch

UK:
https://www.twitch.tv/valukcommunity EAim 8 - 13 Exo || Exo 6 - 13 TSE <--- "Official" stream
https://www.twitch.tv/ardilya_vlr CUA 13 - 11 Jorblers || CUA ??? - 13 Ailurus eSports (cant remember)
https://www.twitch.tv/infesportsgg INF Esports 13 - 10 Synergize Esports

Sweden:
https://www.twitch.tv/eliteklangg Elite 13 - 10 || 10 - 13 TNS (https://www.vlr.gg/404917/elite-klan-vs-the-nordic-stars-sweden-national-league-2024-division-1-group-stage-r4)
https://www.twitch.tv/svenskaonlineligan Elite vs TNS <-- Official stream

Apeks chants clear
https://x.com/ApeksValorant/status/1834204500841701541

funny af to read through them 10/10
also dont open the M.12 (BOOM BOOM BOOM) link

feel free to check the stats during both splits he played^^

Given that Lime isnt rumored with any team yet he'd be an easy replacement

best duelist in both Spain and Dach this year (might not have the same high end potential, since hes already a more mature player, but the chance that he just flops is pretty much 0)

No. There have been no rumors surrounding him and emea atm.

Not only is he an IGL (gl getting into t1 as a t2 IGL in emea) but CN ascension just ended far too late.
Pretty much no ascension player will be getting signed to t1 unless they were already in talks before and/or during the ascension run.
Since we havent heard anything surrounding him before its highly unlikely that an org would scrap all their plans to sign and build a roster around him.

clearly coach diff
jtay just the goat

Haven comeback was fun, ggs

what a game
absolute great clash of styles on the last maps, both showing great defenses, playing to their comps strength
(unlucky for dsg that you cant use 2 ops in OT)

o7 DSG

Riot will find them a suitable org in t2 to replace the existing org if they deem them unsuitable, but yea its a really rough one for the moral of t2 orgs in general

knowing you need to basically go all in financially for a 1 year spot is rough
also as we learn more of the vetting process its gonna eliminate a lot of orgs in general, that find out that they wont be accepted anyways (hopefully its lenient enough as to avoid this)

https://x.com/marco_esports/status/1804278976124191076
heres ucams CEO talking about it. I distinctly remember a DACH Ceo also talking about it 1+ years ago so the numbers seem in the right ballpark.

"The business expense of complying with all the legal requirements in Germany and minimum league conditions, plus the taxes in Germany, mean that the cost of promotion is NEVER less than a million euros in the first year"
and
"it is true that there are grants from the Riot program that will be paid at the end of the year"

So huge investment, but you will be paid back parts of it eventually (you do need the funds upfront though)

they might not be
Im looking for the thread atm (been over a year so gl trying to find a random org owner talking about how expensive ascending is with twitters shit search x.x), but iirc he did talk about Riot paying part of the investment back eventually

if that is the case then taking a loan wouldnt be unreasonable allowing 2g to make it

well heres a first pointer that it happend at least https://www.vlr.gg/post/3936951/franchising-updates (though the thing I remember was from a dach org owner)

Ok guys look at actual numbers
idk how they are financially, but a bootcamp in emea isnt going to be anywhere near the money you need
If that is your main proof that theyre doing well then its not enough.

An EMEA team needs to (allegedly) invest at minimum a million dollars to set up the company in Germany to meet Riots regulations for example.
So we are talking a considerable hurdle here. We also dont know Riots guidelines (however I would hope they are lenient enough to actually let t2 orgs ascend rather than picking their favorite t2 orgs as a replacement every year)