L1NK joins Acend in time for EMEA LCQ

Acend has acquired Travis “L1NK” Mendoza to fill the void left by Aleksander “zeek” Zygmunt, who was relegated to the bench at the end of June 2022. With just one week left before the EMEA Last Chance Qualifiers, the reigning world champions have completed their roster.

After winning the inaugural Valorant Champions 2021, the European team Acend garnered massive popularity. However, since then, the team’s performance has drastically declined, prompting the organization to change its roster in order to achieve better results. After going through a number of transitions, Mehmet Yaz ‘cNed’ Pek and Patryk Starxo’ Kopczynski are the only two players left from the world champions team. Santeri “BONECOLD” Sassi left Acend in March to join Vitality, while Giants acquired Vladyslav “Kiles” Shvets after being benched from Acend. 

Having competed in many VCT tournaments with Team Liquid since its inception in 2020, L1NK has been much more than a player for Team Liquid. Popular for his work with Breach and Sage, L1NK was a seasoned veteran for the team throughout the 2021 and 2022 VCT seasons. Besides helping Liquid to reach the playoffs of Masters Reykjavik 2021 and Valorant Champions 2021, the 23-year-old also helped the team win VCT EMEA Stage 3 Challengers 2021 and Red Bull Home Ground 2.

However, L1NK was replaced with stand-in player Aurimas “Dreamas” Zablocki in the middle of the EMEA Stage 2 Challengers group stage. Despite the move, the team was knocked out of the league before the playoffs, and Zablock’s short tenure with Liquid came to an end just over a month later. Although L1NK’s role in European organizations hasn’t been confirmed yet, his responsibility is to assist the reigning world champions in getting a berth at Valorant Champions 2022.

EMEA LCQ

In the EMEA LCQ, scheduled to run from August 7 to August 14, eight of the best European teams will square off for a spot at Champions. Acend will compete against other top-tier teams including G2 Esports, Natus Vincere, OG LDN UTD, Guild Esports, M3 Champions, BBL Esports, and L1NK’s last team Liquid. Acend will play M3C3 in their opening game in the double-elimination LCQ bracket. M3C3 trounced Acend in their previous encounter, ending their run in the VCT EMEA Stage 2 Challengers.

Valorant Champions 2022 Qualified teams

• OpTic Gaming (NA Circuit Points)
• XSET (NA Circuit Points)
• DRX (Korea Circuit Points)
• Paper Rex (Asia-Pacific Circuit Points)
• Xerxia (Asia-Pacific Circuit Points)
• LOUD (Brazil Circuit Points)
• Zeta Division (Japan Circuit Points)
• FPX (EMEA Circuit Points)
• Fnatic (EMEA Circuit Points)
• Leviatan (LATAM Circuit Points)
• TBD through NA LCQ
• TBD through EMEA LCQ
• TBD through APAC  LCQ
• TBD through SA LCQ
• TBD through SA LCQ
• TBD through East Asia LCQ

Header: Riot Games