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Spirit (official announcement). The acquisition marks NAVI's reentry into StarCraft II after it closed its SC2 division (partnered with FXOpen) in 2013.
NAVI Signs Spirit
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Spirit (official announcement). The acquisition marks NAVI's reentry into StarCraft II after it closed its SC2 division (partnered with FXOpen) in 2013.
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Nakajin
Canada8989 Posts
Hopefully there's a way for Spirit to end the WTL season with Psistorm | ||
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Philippe
354 Posts
On December 02 2023 01:26 Nakajin wrote: First C9, now NAVI, didn't expect the late 2023 surge of big org in SC2. Hopefully there's a way for Spirit to end the WTL season with Psistorm High chance that it's a no, the player probably needs to strictly be on the roster of PSIS, not "loaned" by NAVI for that purpose. EDIT : One team owner just confirmed me it's a 100 percent NO. | ||
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lechatnoir
392 Posts
But great for Spirit, gl! | ||
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Balnazza
Germany1262 Posts
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Waxangel
United States33559 Posts
On December 02 2023 02:56 Balnazza wrote: That definetly and 100% confirms that SC2 will be on Gamers8. Curious to see who else will start signing players soon. FaZe? Astralis? fnatic? Yeah, I'd be interested in hearing from people who follow esports at large, about what orgs are starting to ramp up acquisitions in the various G8 categories. | ||
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Balnazza
Germany1262 Posts
Lastly for FIFA (or whatever it is now called) there is a chance, but it feels like the entire game is strictly in the hands of Football Clubs, so there might not be anything going on. | ||
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tigera6
3465 Posts
Also, I guess the big esport team was looking at what Classic did and want to get those extra points next year. Wonder if they will go the S-tier guys at some point. | ||
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Balnazza
Germany1262 Posts
On December 02 2023 10:29 tigera6 wrote: How can PsiStorm let this happen, either they suck at making contract with players or they just dont care about WTL. This will be another wasted season for MaxPax and his team might just miss the playoff. Also, I guess the big esport team was looking at what Classic did and want to get those extra points next year. Wonder if they will go the S-tier guys at some point. The more interesting question is "why is NaVi signing him now?" If they had to buy him out of his contract, they definetly could have waited. So I guess the most reasonable explanation would be that his contract was up and he was free right now. Which ofc begs the question "how did that happen?". Answer could be that Psistorm contracted Spirit for six month, since they didn't knew at that point when the next WTL season would be up. So now his contract was up, he didn't sign a new one, done. Honestly: If that is what happened, it might suck, but I don't think you can blame Psistorm for that. Sadly you can't really align contracts with WTL, since we never know when the next one will be (actually, we don't even know for sure IF there is a next one). | ||
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Light_VIP
Australia108 Posts
On December 02 2023 11:01 Balnazza wrote: The more interesting question is "why is NaVi signing him now?" If they had to buy him out of his contract, they definetly could have waited. So I guess the most reasonable explanation would be that his contract was up and he was free right now. Which ofc begs the question "how did that happen?". Answer could be that Psistorm contracted Spirit for six month, since they didn't knew at that point when the next WTL season would be up. So now his contract was up, he didn't sign a new one, done. Honestly: If that is what happened, it might suck, but I don't think you can blame Psistorm for that. Sadly you can't really align contracts with WTL, since we never know when the next one will be (actually, we don't even know for sure IF there is a next one). PSISTORM signed Spirit specifically for WTL. I have to assume Spirit was bought out / poached with a much higher salary otherwise PSISTORM would've made a departure post (which they have done for their previous players, GuMiho, SpeCial, Has). Ironically this is similar to what happened during WTL summer, when PSISTORM took Spirit from Starlight Twinkle mid season. | ||
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Philippe
354 Posts
On December 02 2023 11:01 Balnazza wrote: The more interesting question is "why is NaVi signing him now?" If they had to buy him out of his contract, they definetly could have waited. So I guess the most reasonable explanation would be that his contract was up and he was free right now. Which ofc begs the question "how did that happen?". Answer could be that Psistorm contracted Spirit for six month, since they didn't knew at that point when the next WTL season would be up. So now his contract was up, he didn't sign a new one, done. Honestly: If that is what happened, it might suck, but I don't think you can blame Psistorm for that. Sadly you can't really align contracts with WTL, since we never know when the next one will be (actually, we don't even know for sure IF there is a next one). Likely didn't matter much for the purposes of playoff qualification. Worst case scenario that could happen only if MYG wins 11 maps/loses 1 and Psistorm loses all of them, because of the map difference clause. (given the head-to-head only enters into account after) What does matter is whether PSIS chooses to roll with the team they still have for the event, or if they panic recruit. | ||
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Balnazza
Germany1262 Posts
On December 02 2023 12:00 Light_VIP wrote: PSISTORM signed Spirit specifically for WTL. I have to assume Spirit was bought out / poached with a much higher salary otherwise PSISTORM would've made a departure post (which they have done for their previous players, GuMiho, SpeCial, Has). Ironically this is similar to what happened during WTL summer, when PSISTORM took Spirit from Starlight Twinkle mid season. I usually would totally agree, but it feels weird for NaVi to buy out a player right now. Even IF they wanted to form a team for WTL (which I doubt) they would have had time for that. I get why C9 wanted to sign GuMiho as fast as possible, but this one doesn't seem as urgent to me tbh. | ||
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Riner1212
United States337 Posts
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oneill12
Romania1222 Posts
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Light_VIP
Australia108 Posts
On December 02 2023 13:00 Balnazza wrote: I usually would totally agree, but it feels weird for NaVi to buy out a player right now. Even IF they wanted to form a team for WTL (which I doubt) they would have had time for that. I get why C9 wanted to sign GuMiho as fast as possible, but this one doesn't seem as urgent to me tbh. I think it's safe to assume just like C9 they are looking to have a presence in StarCraft leading into Gamers 8 for the bonus they receive for competing in multiple esports. Especially if the rumours about gamers 8 being the new world finals for starcraft are true, its important for these teams to invest early to support players going into Atlanta and IEM Katowice. Most people expect big teams like this to invest looking for individual players that are at the top of their regions. We already have C9 and now NaVi, wouldn't be surprised if we get a few more teams come in for single pick ups. | ||
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zalem95
Peru185 Posts
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Balnazza
Germany1262 Posts
On December 02 2023 17:30 Light_VIP wrote: I think it's safe to assume just like C9 they are looking to have a presence in StarCraft leading into Gamers 8 for the bonus they receive for competing in multiple esports. Especially if the rumours about gamers 8 being the new world finals for starcraft are true, its important for these teams to invest early to support players going into Atlanta and IEM Katowice. Most people expect big teams like this to invest looking for individual players that are at the top of their regions. We already have C9 and now NaVi, wouldn't be surprised if we get a few more teams come in for single pick ups. We talked about that right above your comment  But you made a fair point with Atlanta. If Psistorm would not have been able to send Spirit to Atlanta, it makes sense that NaVi scoops him up now to improve his chances for the potential Gamers 8 Championship | ||
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Poopi
France12909 Posts
Hopefully « traditional » esports team that didn’t give a damn about sc2 won’t try to get top players like Maru for the Saudi gamers8 though. | ||
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Light_VIP
Australia108 Posts
On December 03 2023 07:16 Poopi wrote: Congrats to Spirit. Hopefully « traditional » esports team that didn’t give a damn about sc2 won’t try to get top players like Maru for the Saudi gamers8 though. Yeah, I think it's going to be difficult to take players away from the top established SC2 teams likes ONSYDE, DKZ, Shopify, BASILISK and Team Liquid. I'm sure those teams will be holding on to their players hard. | ||
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duckTemplar
United States202 Posts
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Graphex
United States123 Posts
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antoniomoreni
United States1 Post
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JavierDixon
1 Post
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inermis
353 Posts
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lestye
United States4186 Posts
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26264 Posts
On December 08 2023 01:57 lestye wrote: Yeah great news! Especially as the e-sports industry is kind of downsizing right now, these pickups are graet but puzzling. Yeah it’s very much ‘cool but I don’t really get it’ for me too. Neat for Spirit perhaps but I’m not sure what Navi are gaining here | ||
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Balnazza
Germany1262 Posts
On December 08 2023 06:33 WombaT wrote: Yeah it’s very much ‘cool but I don’t really get it’ for me too. Neat for Spirit perhaps but I’m not sure what Navi are gaining here While the timing is a bit odd, NaVi is gearing up (same as C9) for next years Gamers8 event, which will be basically an olympic event throughout multiple Esports titles. So the more games you are present in, the better your chances and the more money you gain. | ||
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tigera6
3465 Posts
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26264 Posts
On December 08 2023 08:04 Balnazza wrote: While the timing is a bit odd, NaVi is gearing up (same as C9) for next years Gamers8 event, which will be basically an olympic event throughout multiple Esports titles. So the more games you are present in, the better your chances and the more money you gain. If the Saudis want to throw money away guess it’s up to them. I don’t really see how the SC2 scene particularly benefits from teams picking up players for that reason and removing their eligibility for WTL but it is what it is. SC2 hasn’t really been about actual teams for quite some time, minus that so hey, go for it. Not throwing shade at the likes of WTL either just the rotation of personnel is so frequent now that it’s hard to really get invested in the team aspect of the game in this era, for me anyway. | ||
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Philippe
354 Posts
On December 08 2023 17:56 WombaT wrote: removing their eligibility for WTL but it is what it is. I don't think any team should really care about timings, it is not even lacking morals. It is also on PSIS to do their best to prevent getting poached. | ||
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AaronHunter
2 Posts
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