MAD Lions releases its VALORANT lineup

After a disappointing season, OverActive Media-owned MAD Lions has decided to release its VLAORANT lineup of players and coaching staff. In addition to showing a very poor performance during the season, the team lost its place in the VALORAN Challengers League NA for the next season.

MAD Lios decided to let go of the entire squad, i.e., the five players and the team’s two coaches. The team ended the season last June 5, 2023, when they lost to OREsports in the NA Challengers Relegation Bracket. As a result, the team joins Disguised and loses their spots for the next edition of the NA VCL.

MAD Lions releases its entire team from VALORANT

MAD Lions announced through a statement on its Twitter account that it is releasing all five players in the lineup and its two coaches.

With our relegation from #ChallengersNA, we are releasing @Bjorlulu, @N4RRATE, @Ange_AMIL, @TrickAIM, and @BlackHeartVAL. We thank the players for the efforts and wish them the best in their futures. pic.twitter.com/oSYVkvbUnf

— MAD Lions English (@MADLions_EN) June 8, 2023

While it is true that the season was extremely complicated for MAD Lions in every game they played, there is no doubt that these problems carried over outside of the servers.

The team’s first controversial decision was to send William “Will” Cheng to the team’s bench after he was, by the team’s admission, one of the cornerstones of this lineup. Then, the organization made several changes to the lineup of players after poor results up to that point.

However, the icing on the cake was placed by Justin “Trick” Sears and Anthony “ZexRow” Colandro, who had a public fight via Twitter, demonstrating the serious problems that existed internally in the team.

Uncertainty in the Challengers NA

The top teams in the VCL NA are currently fighting for their spot for the upcoming VALORANT Ascension Americas 2023. Only one of the eight qualifiers can get the coveted direct ticket to the VCT Americas League for two seasons.

However, there is currently a lot of uncertainty regarding the VALORANT Challengers scene in NA. The community is worried about what might happen in the Tier 2 scene, as there is no clarity about whether the big organizations will stay there.

The main reason for the concerns is the lull until the start of the 2024 season. Ian “Immi” Harding, coach of G2 Esports, posted a Tweet stating that there is no chance that more than half of the big organizations will stay in the VALORANT Challengers scene.

There no chance over half these orgs stay in. Challengers with a 6 month break. Makes 0 business sense. What are riot gonna do when orgless teams start qualifying for franchise? The whole system needs re doing https://t.co/C49RGNp23K

— G2 Immi (@IanImmi) June 4, 2023

On the other hand, Moist Head Coach Tanishq “Tanizhq” Sabharwal said that organizations are not incentivized to invest money. Remember that the teams that get promoted to the VCT Americas League will only do so for two seasons.

Riot Games seeks to calm the waters

To all this, Leo Faria, head of esports for VALORANT at Riot Games, said they are fully committed to the Tier 2 competitive scene. In addition, he also promised that in 2024, there would be a remodeling of the season. Finally, according to Faria, there would be tournaments throughout the year.

Details on the 2023 offseason are coming, but the big change comes next year with an overhaul of the tier 2 ecosystem with year-round competitions and a strong connection with Premier. I acknowledge this year is a bit tough, but we’re very committed to making tier 2 thrive.

— Leo Faria (@lhfaria) June 6, 2023

Header: MAD Lions