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United States33146 Posts
June 13
All Gamers signs Coffee - Twitter/X
June 11
HeroMarine to play for OFFSYDE Esports as mercenary player in WTL: Twitter/X
June 9th
Weibo Gaming partners with Dragon KaiZi Gaming, DKZ to change name to Weibo Gaming - Weibo
June 5
Blacklist International signs Creator - Twitter/X
May 30
Falcons Esports sign Rogue and Bunny: Twitter/X
May 17
Twisted Minds signs Stats: Twitter/X
May 16
BLEED Esports signs NightMare: Twitter/X
May 15
Virtus Pro signs Astrea: Twitter/X
April 25
Trap completes military service and returns to competitive play - Twitter/X
April 23
WTL Rosters revealed
Notable mercenaries
BASILISK: ShoWTimE PSISTORM: Spirit Platinum Heroes: Kelazhur
April 17
soO joins Dragon KaiZi Gaming - Weibo
March 7
Bunny joins Team Falcons - per Kenzi (KR journalist) on Twitter/X
February 28
SHIN (RagnaroK) joins Gaimin Gladiator - Twitter/X
February 15
PartinG joins afterMath Esports - Twitter/X
February 13
Bunny and SHIN leave Mystery Gaming - Twitter/X (1) - (2)
Astrea leaves Matcherino - Twitter/X
February 5
ONSYDE launch sister team OFFSYDE. Rex, Firefly, and Control join OFFSYDE - Twitter/X
World Team League hints at easing of loan/partnership rules due to off-season roster movements - Twitter/X
February 1
Vitality partners with ONSYDE - Vitality.gg
January 30
Dark joins TALON Esports - Twitter/X
January 29
Kelazhur joins R8 Esports - Twitter/X
January 14th
Dark leaves Dragon KaiZi Gaming - Twitter/X
Coffee, Moukou, BreakingGG, DyyS, Shameless, Psycho loan/transfer(?) to Twisted Minds - SCBOY.cc
January 11th
DnS joins Berserker eSports - TL.net
January 1st
Armani Retires - Instagram (Korean)
DnS leaves Platinum Heroes - Twitter/X
NightMare leaves Matcherino - Twitter/X
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Canada8988 Posts
The NightMare one has me a bit worried, it doesn't seem to make sense for either Nightmare or Matcherino to end their partnership with a WTL spot in hand unless either one is considering taking a step back from Starcraft.
Hopefully, we'll learn that Nightmare is transferring to another team soon.
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Go well into the future Armani!
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China6327 Posts
Word from today's WTL cast is that several prominent orgs are also getting to SC2 with one of them already signing a top level player.
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Canada8988 Posts
On January 08 2024 03:10 digmouse wrote: Word from today's WTL cast is that several prominent orgs are also getting to SC2 with one of them already signing a top level player.
Cloud 9, Na'vi and now more teams joining SC2 in 2024. It feels like the longer I follow esport the less it makes sense to me.
But hey, I'll for sure take it!
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United States33146 Posts
On January 08 2024 03:10 digmouse wrote: Word from today's WTL cast is that several prominent orgs are also getting to SC2 with one of them already signing a top level player.
It would suck if Gamers8 causes a bunch of "tier 1" esports orgs to sign 1~2 players each, but not enough so that they can field a real WTL roster. Really hope that the orgs getting into SC2 are also signing some of the mid-tier players alongside the stars and thinking seriously about WTL.
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China6327 Posts
Yeah I'm not really sure this is a "great" thing necessarily. If all this does was to take top level players away from WTL, for the league the competition is only going to suffer. The worse part is I don't think any of the big orgs are doing this with WTL in mind. They are only doing this for the Saudi thing.
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The fact we have big organizations signing SC2 players is a great thing. Who cares whether it is for the Saudi money or for more? The players are comfortably being supported in the short term and this gives the organizations an opportunity to learn this "dead game" and hopefully invest more in the future.
It's jokes how the Internet is angry at the Saudi money yet turns a blind eye on the atrocities committed by other countries, present or past. If our politicians are OK with dealing these countries, what are you going to do as a resident of your respective country? Boycott the game? Talk shit on the Internet? Cool, go ahead. Life (and the e-sport) carries on with or without you.
It's like how people are protesting the Israel-Palestine war right now. I'm all for protesting and voicing yourself, but to put others in danger is a big no-no. I remember 2 weeks ago, these protestors blocked off an overpass and were dangling flags on the overpass down onto the highway. Traffic slowed to a crawl on the pass and highway. It was dangerous.
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On January 08 2024 11:59 geokilla wrote: The fact we have big organizations signing SC2 players is a great thing. Who cares whether it is for the Saudi money or for more? The players are comfortably being supported in the short term and this gives the organizations an opportunity to learn this "dead game" and hopefully invest more in the future.
It's jokes how the Internet is angry at the Saudi money yet turns a blind eye on the atrocities committed by other countries, present or past. If our politicians are OK with dealing these countries, what are you going to do as a resident of your respective country? Boycott the game? Talk shit on the Internet? Cool, go ahead. Life (and the e-sport) carries on with or without you.
It's like how people are protesting the Israel-Palestine war right now. I'm all for protesting and voicing yourself, but to put others in danger is a big no-no. I remember 2 weeks ago, these protestors blocked off an overpass and were dangling flags on the overpass down onto the highway. Traffic slowed to a crawl on the pass and highway. It was dangerous.
I like how you jumped fully enraged into the conversation, but completly missed the point everyone was making. No, big orgs signing SC2 players isn't a "great thing", atleast not how it is now. Yes, for Spirit and GuMiho it surely is great, no doubt. And for the selected few that might also get signed aswell. But none of them would have quit the game (probably) if this didn't happen in the next year. So it is good but not necessarily necessary for some few player, but leaves a bad impact on the scene, since it takes out these good players from WTL. THAT was the point here. This year, WTL basically had every great name in SC2 in it, with very few exceptions (GuMiho, Heromarine and Showtime are the three that come to mind). Would be a shame if more and more players get bought out next year only for the Saudi-thing. Because that does basically nothing for SC2 as a scene, neither short- nor long-term.
And if you seriously think all of this will jump-start a trend that orgs like C9 and NaVi sign more players "in the future"...yeah, no.
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United States33146 Posts
On January 08 2024 11:59 geokilla wrote: The fact we have big organizations signing SC2 players is a great thing. Who cares whether it is for the Saudi money or for more? The players are comfortably being supported in the short term and this gives the organizations an opportunity to learn this "dead game" and hopefully invest more in the future.
It's jokes how the Internet is angry at the Saudi money yet turns a blind eye on the atrocities committed by other countries, present or past. If our politicians are OK with dealing these countries, what are you going to do as a resident of your respective country? Boycott the game? Talk shit on the Internet? Cool, go ahead. Life (and the e-sport) carries on with or without you.
It's like how people are protesting the Israel-Palestine war right now. I'm all for protesting and voicing yourself, but to put others in danger is a big no-no. I remember 2 weeks ago, these protestors blocked off an overpass and were dangling flags on the overpass down onto the highway. Traffic slowed to a crawl on the pass and highway. It was dangerous.
Such a weird post that's just going in every direction.
Let's put the really random interjection of whataboutism aside (we've argued this endlessly in other threads; my stance is always 'there's absolutely nothing wrong with picking and choosing your moral stands compared to doing nothing').
If you're a fan of WTL and team competition, non-WTL teams poaching talent obviously isn't great. That doesn't mean fans of WTL have to preface every post with "congrats to the players for the paychecks, BUT..." No one is telling pros not to take the Tier 1 org money so fans can have WTL. It's nothing complicated.
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On January 08 2024 12:49 Waxangel wrote:Show nested quote +On January 08 2024 11:59 geokilla wrote: The fact we have big organizations signing SC2 players is a great thing. Who cares whether it is for the Saudi money or for more? The players are comfortably being supported in the short term and this gives the organizations an opportunity to learn this "dead game" and hopefully invest more in the future.
It's jokes how the Internet is angry at the Saudi money yet turns a blind eye on the atrocities committed by other countries, present or past. If our politicians are OK with dealing these countries, what are you going to do as a resident of your respective country? Boycott the game? Talk shit on the Internet? Cool, go ahead. Life (and the e-sport) carries on with or without you.
It's like how people are protesting the Israel-Palestine war right now. I'm all for protesting and voicing yourself, but to put others in danger is a big no-no. I remember 2 weeks ago, these protestors blocked off an overpass and were dangling flags on the overpass down onto the highway. Traffic slowed to a crawl on the pass and highway. It was dangerous. Such a weird post that's just going in every direction. Let's put the really random interjection of whataboutism aside (we've argued this endlessly in other threads; my stance is always 'there's absolutely nothing wrong with picking and choosing your moral stands compared to doing nothing'). If you're a fan of WTL and team competition, non-WTL teams poaching talent obviously isn't great. That doesn't mean fans of WTL have to preface every post with "congrats to the players for the paychecks, BUT..." No one is telling pros not to take the Tier 1 org money so fans can have WTL. It's nothing complicated. But that's exactly what digimouse is indirectly saying because he fears the WTL competition will suffer. WTL is not the only competition out there. There's the weekly cups, community hosted events by casters like Wardi, OSC, list goes on. Sure they're mainly online events and smaller in comparison to WTL but it's still competition nonetheless. SC2 is mainly an online game now and I'm glad we have the big organizations coming in to this "dead game."
As for these players not being able to play in the WTL, I don't know what the rules are but maybe WTL can consider letting teams hire a mercenary if more top players get poached? I don't know how Gumiho, Heromarine, and Showtime feel not being able to play in WTL but if enough players make a noise about it, surely WTL will at least consider letting them play if they can't at the moment.
Also I honestly think we have bigger problems than whether a player can play in WTL right now. It's not the right thread for it but I think fixing balance is more important.
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Northern Ireland24233 Posts
On January 08 2024 13:08 geokilla wrote:Show nested quote +On January 08 2024 12:49 Waxangel wrote:On January 08 2024 11:59 geokilla wrote: The fact we have big organizations signing SC2 players is a great thing. Who cares whether it is for the Saudi money or for more? The players are comfortably being supported in the short term and this gives the organizations an opportunity to learn this "dead game" and hopefully invest more in the future.
It's jokes how the Internet is angry at the Saudi money yet turns a blind eye on the atrocities committed by other countries, present or past. If our politicians are OK with dealing these countries, what are you going to do as a resident of your respective country? Boycott the game? Talk shit on the Internet? Cool, go ahead. Life (and the e-sport) carries on with or without you.
It's like how people are protesting the Israel-Palestine war right now. I'm all for protesting and voicing yourself, but to put others in danger is a big no-no. I remember 2 weeks ago, these protestors blocked off an overpass and were dangling flags on the overpass down onto the highway. Traffic slowed to a crawl on the pass and highway. It was dangerous. Such a weird post that's just going in every direction. Let's put the really random interjection of whataboutism aside (we've argued this endlessly in other threads; my stance is always 'there's absolutely nothing wrong with picking and choosing your moral stands compared to doing nothing'). If you're a fan of WTL and team competition, non-WTL teams poaching talent obviously isn't great. That doesn't mean fans of WTL have to preface every post with "congrats to the players for the paychecks, BUT..." No one is telling pros not to take the Tier 1 org money so fans can have WTL. It's nothing complicated. But that's exactly what digimouse is indirectly saying because he fears the WTL competition will suffer. WTL is not the only competition out there. There's the weekly cups, community hosted events by casters like Wardi, OSC, list goes on. Sure they're mainly online events and smaller in comparison to WTL but it's still competition nonetheless. SC2 is mainly an online game now and I'm glad we have the big organizations coming in to this "dead game." As for these players not being able to play in the WTL, I don't know what the rules are but maybe WTL can consider letting teams hire a mercenary if more top players get poached? I don't know how Gumiho, Heromarine, and Showtime feel not being able to play in WTL but if enough players make a noise about it, surely WTL will at least consider letting them play if they can't at the moment. Also I honestly think we have bigger problems than whether a player can play in WTL right now. It's not the right thread for it but I think fixing balance is more important. For me SC2 has long suffered from a real lack of actual teams, one you can hang your hat on and support year after year and actually compete.
Of course, with many exceptions but often to me and I assume others, orgs in SC2 have felt more like rosters of individual talent rather than actual teams. There’s a lot of roster churn too which only adds to this.
WTL has done a solid job in redressing this, sadly I’m a bit older so can’t follow it as religiously as I would have as a youngster, but full credit in filling that void that the likes of Proleague left and giving us a meaningful, consistently competitive team competition.
I’m nae a fan of Gamers 8, for various reasons but its role here is only an indirect one really.
The worry is that big, traditional big hitters in eSports will hoover up SC2 players on basically personal sponsorships, potentially removing a sizeable chunk of the WTL roster from contention and gutting the competition. Which is a reasonable worry, be you as personally invested as digimouse is, or merely a humble fan as yours truly.
Aside from the individuals involved, and fair play to them, it’s a short period to earn your crust, SC2 really isn’t going to benefit in a wider sense if what’s being worried about occurs. I highly doubt x follower of another eSport is gonna be drawn to check out SC2 just because some big orgs make a few pickups. As well as the aforementioned potential knock-ons on something like WTL
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On January 08 2024 11:01 Waxangel wrote:Show nested quote +On January 08 2024 03:10 digmouse wrote: Word from today's WTL cast is that several prominent orgs are also getting to SC2 with one of them already signing a top level player. It would suck if Gamers8 causes a bunch of "tier 1" esports orgs to sign 1~2 players each, but not enough so that they can field a real WTL roster. Really hope that the orgs getting into SC2 are also signing some of the mid-tier players alongside the stars and thinking seriously about WTL.
NAVI would already have recruited somebody else than Spirit and Cloud 9 only Gumiho, and already the former is not exactly what I would call top class (but he's very good) - That is, if these teams had a more ideal approach to it.
I don't expect them to recruit the likes of DnS anytime soon, even for WTL. If the goal is more to expand the brand for the purposes of the Saudi event, you don't really need more than 1-2 players or teams per esport. The WTL prize money will probably be dwarfed in comparison.
Other teams will have to put in more effort to recruit/retain their players.
In the end I can see digmouse's response about it. I'm just not surprised.
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On January 08 2024 14:38 Philippe wrote:Show nested quote +On January 08 2024 11:01 Waxangel wrote:On January 08 2024 03:10 digmouse wrote: Word from today's WTL cast is that several prominent orgs are also getting to SC2 with one of them already signing a top level player. It would suck if Gamers8 causes a bunch of "tier 1" esports orgs to sign 1~2 players each, but not enough so that they can field a real WTL roster. Really hope that the orgs getting into SC2 are also signing some of the mid-tier players alongside the stars and thinking seriously about WTL. NAVI would already have recruited somebody else than Spirit and Cloud 9 only Gumiho, and already the former is not exactly what I would call top class (but he's very good) - That is, if these teams had a more ideal approach to it. I don't expect them to recruit the likes of DnS anytime soon, even for WTL. If the goal is more to expand the brand for the purposes of the Saudi event, you don't really need more than 1-2 players or teams per esport. The WTL prize money will probably be dwarfed in comparison. Other teams will have to put in more effort to recruit/retain their players. In the end I can see digmouse's response about it. I'm just not surprised. Well, you still need players that are likely to reach top 8. Gumiho seems a bit more likely for that than Spirit, but both are really on the will they/won't they cutoff. Maybe they were cheap pickups? But if you need the top 8 finish to reach the 2-game cutoff, it really seems like you'd want to pick up multiple players capable of doing it, or a player who is very likely to reach top 8 (so Serral, Reynor, Maru, Solar or Clem at the moment)
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On January 09 2024 00:28 Acrofales wrote:Show nested quote +On January 08 2024 14:38 Philippe wrote:On January 08 2024 11:01 Waxangel wrote:On January 08 2024 03:10 digmouse wrote: Word from today's WTL cast is that several prominent orgs are also getting to SC2 with one of them already signing a top level player. It would suck if Gamers8 causes a bunch of "tier 1" esports orgs to sign 1~2 players each, but not enough so that they can field a real WTL roster. Really hope that the orgs getting into SC2 are also signing some of the mid-tier players alongside the stars and thinking seriously about WTL. NAVI would already have recruited somebody else than Spirit and Cloud 9 only Gumiho, and already the former is not exactly what I would call top class (but he's very good) - That is, if these teams had a more ideal approach to it. I don't expect them to recruit the likes of DnS anytime soon, even for WTL. If the goal is more to expand the brand for the purposes of the Saudi event, you don't really need more than 1-2 players or teams per esport. The WTL prize money will probably be dwarfed in comparison. Other teams will have to put in more effort to recruit/retain their players. In the end I can see digmouse's response about it. I'm just not surprised. Well, you still need players that are likely to reach top 8. Gumiho seems a bit more likely for that than Spirit, but both are really on the will they/won't they cutoff. Maybe they were cheap pickups? But if you need the top 8 finish to reach the 2-game cutoff, it really seems like you'd want to pick up multiple players capable of doing it, or a player who is very likely to reach top 8 (so Serral, Reynor, Maru, Solar or Clem at the moment)
It depends how the "Team-point system" for Gamers8 will run. If just having a player in a competition already gives you points, then Spirit is a really solid pickup. We don't know the distribution yet, but last year Europe got like 12 spots or something. Right now, Spirit is 5th place in the EU ranking, so even if EU gets less spots, he should be fairly safe to qualify. Combine that with the fact that Spirit is probably a lot cheaper than Serral/Reynor/Clem (especially since you would need to buy them out) and you get an excellent pickup for NaVi.
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Thank you for all the great games, Armani. Best of luck in your future endeavors!
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Northern Ireland24233 Posts
Glhf Armani, will never forget the hype when you randomly signed up for one of our Irish weeklies! Plus some of those GSL runs :p
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Bot edit.
User was banned for this post.
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DnS has joined Berserker eSports.
Hopefully he'll strengthen our roster for the next WTL qualifiers!
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On January 11 2024 18:04 MJG wrote: DnS has joined Berserker eSports.
Hopefully he'll strengthen our roster for the next WTL qualifiers!
If you have more reinforcements for sure, if nothing after that the team will need to pray the gods of rng for a favourable bracket
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China6327 Posts
I dunno, next season's qualifier and Code A is probably going to be one of the weaker ones, with basically all the teams with a notable squad already in the league. Unless one of the new orgs that pick up players for Gamers8 decide to get a full team. Looking at last season's qualifier, an reinforced Berserker and probably Team Rotti are going to make it to Code A.
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That's a lot of movement.
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Liquipedia says they are "borrowed"...anyone know what that means or why? Or is it just a translation-error?
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China6327 Posts
On January 15 2024 09:59 Balnazza wrote:Liquipedia says they are "borrowed"...anyone know what that means or why? Or is it just a translation-error? Very unclear, word I got was that they sort of formed an alliance with TM.
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PUBG is the only game where the team is listed as active on LP (on the two other games it is like empty roster). Will be curious, but it is a not so good sign. That said SC2 salaries are not sky high so expenses are mangeable, unless being Serral, Clem, Reynor, Dark, herO, Maru, insert.
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United States33146 Posts
ONSYDE sign Rex, Firefly, and Control to sister team OFFSYDE.
WTL suggests alliance/loan rules will be adjusted due to roster movements around EWC (non-endemic teams signing single players).
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So we might see a possible HeroMarine participation in WTL pog
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Canada8988 Posts
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On February 06 2024 09:26 SamirDuran wrote:So we might see a possible HeroMarine participation in WTL pog
Some teams put a serious effort trying to build a roster ahead of time and alliances and loans could pip them at the 11th hour ? Not liking that much if it will be the case.
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On February 06 2024 15:35 Philippe wrote:Show nested quote +On February 06 2024 09:26 SamirDuran wrote:So we might see a possible HeroMarine participation in WTL pog Some teams put a serious effort trying to build a roster ahead of time and alliances could pip them at the 11th hour ? Not liking that much if it will be the case. On the other hand, some teams put serious effort trying to build a roster ahead of time, only for some big money team to swoop in and "steal" a key player with no intention of playing in WTL. Alliance/loan rules seem like the best way to keep the WTL healthy, even if it isn't perfect.
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Northern Ireland24233 Posts
On February 06 2024 15:42 Acrofales wrote:Show nested quote +On February 06 2024 15:35 Philippe wrote:On February 06 2024 09:26 SamirDuran wrote:So we might see a possible HeroMarine participation in WTL pog Some teams put a serious effort trying to build a roster ahead of time and alliances could pip them at the 11th hour ? Not liking that much if it will be the case. On the other hand, some teams put serious effort trying to build a roster ahead of time, only for some big money team to swoop in and "steal" a key player with no intention of playing in WTL. Alliance/loan rules seem like the best way to keep the WTL healthy, even if it isn't perfect. It feels a borderline necessity with non-SC2 orgs making pickups for Gamers 8, and I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of those.
An imperfect one for sure, but I’d say it’s better than what looks the likely alternative, which is a sizeable chunk of the scene’s top talent joining outside orgs on de facto personal sponsorships and not available for WTL
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Definetly make sense to allow loans/alliances. I assume it will just be locked like "only one loaned player", so it doesn't get out of hand. Fireflys move is a bit weird though, except if he should be loaned to Vitality. Like...OFFSYDE (great name btw) will have to qualify in the first place. And he is in a team with two content-creators, so he is the only "real" player?
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United States33146 Posts
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Canada8988 Posts
Seems like MYG will forfit his spot, maybe Matcherino too?
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Both MYG and Matcherino look pretty done as of now. And considering that probably a lot of bigger orgs are on the hunt to get some last-minute SC2 signups, no decent player is realistically "on the market" for smaller orgs.
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United States33146 Posts
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Coffee joins MYG and Platinum Heroes "Partners" with Platinum Esports for WTL...no idea what that is about
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United States33146 Posts
SHIN (Ragnarok) signed by Gaimin Gladiator
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Northern Ireland24233 Posts
Are GG a particularly notable org making a Gamers 8 style pick or is this something different like a smaller org just wanting to branch out to SC2?
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China6327 Posts
On February 29 2024 16:26 WombaT wrote: Are GG a particularly notable org making a Gamers 8 style pick or is this something different like a smaller org just wanting to branch out to SC2? Highly successful Dota 2 org, runner up at TI 2023, won six majors in 2023.
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If you don't know that Gaimin Gladiators is a multi-gaming team, their Liquipedia page looks hilarious. How many executives does it need to manage poor SHIN?
Also...SHIN, even your own team calls you RagnaroK still. Really not ready to overthink that change? :/
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Northern Ireland24233 Posts
On March 02 2024 23:48 Balnazza wrote: If you don't know that Gaimin Gladiators is a multi-gaming team, their Liquipedia page looks hilarious. How many executives does it need to manage poor SHIN?
Also...SHIN, even your own team calls you RagnaroK still. Really not ready to overthink that change? :/ Haha really? Truly an exercise in the difficulty of rebranding that name change!
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Bunny to Falcons - kind of forgot about them, but makes sense that the other Saudi-org next to Twisted Mind would also get someone. Though I think Team Falcons is the international heavy-hitter team while Twisted Minds usually works more domestically?
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Canada8988 Posts
On March 07 2024 21:48 Balnazza wrote: Bunny to Falcons - kind of forgot about them, but makes sense that the other Saudi-org next to Twisted Mind would also get someone. Though I think Team Falcons is the international heavy-hitter team while Twisted Minds usually works more domestically?
Ah damn they really pick players up one-by-one, leave my WTL alone
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Northern Ireland24233 Posts
On March 07 2024 21:48 Balnazza wrote: Bunny to Falcons - kind of forgot about them, but makes sense that the other Saudi-org next to Twisted Mind would also get someone. Though I think Team Falcons is the international heavy-hitter team while Twisted Minds usually works more domestically? One would think someone called Bunny would be wary of birds of prey!
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On March 07 2024 22:05 Nakajin wrote:Show nested quote +On March 07 2024 21:48 Balnazza wrote: Bunny to Falcons - kind of forgot about them, but makes sense that the other Saudi-org next to Twisted Mind would also get someone. Though I think Team Falcons is the international heavy-hitter team while Twisted Minds usually works more domestically? Ah damn they really pick players up one-by-one, leave my WTL alone 
Where are the more established SC2 teams ? Where is the goddamnn cash <_<
I'd think Bunny wouldn't require the most expensive contract on the Korean scale ...
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On March 08 2024 00:59 Philippe wrote:Show nested quote +On March 07 2024 22:05 Nakajin wrote:On March 07 2024 21:48 Balnazza wrote: Bunny to Falcons - kind of forgot about them, but makes sense that the other Saudi-org next to Twisted Mind would also get someone. Though I think Team Falcons is the international heavy-hitter team while Twisted Minds usually works more domestically? Ah damn they really pick players up one-by-one, leave my WTL alone  Where are the more established SC2 teams ? Where is the goddamnn cash <_< I'd think Bunny wouldn't require the most expensive contract on the Korean scale ... He s probably still more expensive than any foreigner apart from Serral, Reynor or Clem So not to suprising only big "non-SC2" Orgs can afford him
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Northern Ireland24233 Posts
On March 08 2024 00:59 Philippe wrote:Show nested quote +On March 07 2024 22:05 Nakajin wrote:On March 07 2024 21:48 Balnazza wrote: Bunny to Falcons - kind of forgot about them, but makes sense that the other Saudi-org next to Twisted Mind would also get someone. Though I think Team Falcons is the international heavy-hitter team while Twisted Minds usually works more domestically? Ah damn they really pick players up one-by-one, leave my WTL alone  Where are the more established SC2 teams ? Where is the goddamnn cash <_< I'd think Bunny wouldn't require the most expensive contract on the Korean scale ... In WTL I guess, the orgs picking up individual SC2 players for the sake of these big Saudi tournaments was always going to be an issue for team competitions.
Even without that you’ve less cash in the scene, plus a lot of flux to contend with in a game that hasn’t been focused around teams primarily for a long, long time, which only adds to those challenges.
I still enjoy the WTL don’t get me wrong but players traded a lot anyway, new teams formed and teams folded quite frequently. The last ‘true’ team for me was Jin Air Green Wings (in that it competed in team leagues for years and had a very stable roster) and that’s a hell of a while back
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United States33146 Posts
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Nice thing to see. I haven't followed for a long time.
Stats, nightmare and soo are the only top tier teamless players?
Can someone tell how good is nightmare compared to stats? Or soo. He is new name for me
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On March 11 2024 02:20 followZeRoX wrote: Nice thing to see. I haven't followed for a long time.
Stats, nightmare and soo are the only top tier teamless players?
Can someone tell how good is nightmare compared to stats? Or soo. He is new name for me
Since he is longer active again after his military than Stats and soO, he definetly had the better results in the last few years. In peak form I would assume both of them to be much better, but who knows if they will ever truely reach that again. There are also a few other top players without a team, the biggest one would probably be Astrea right now?
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United States33146 Posts
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Alliances are out:
Showtime teams up with BASILISK (interestingly "BASILISK+Showtime", not "BASILISK+BIG"?), Kelazhur (R8) teams up with Platinum Heroes and Spirit (NaVi) 'returns' to PSISTORM. Nice also apparently left LittleFairy and therefore Twisted Fairy aswell and will probably not be in WTL (for now)
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On April 21 2024 23:04 Balnazza wrote: Showtime teams up with BASILISK (interestingly "BASILISK+Showtime", not "BASILISK+BIG"?) They could've called it BIGSNEK.
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China6327 Posts
On April 21 2024 23:04 Balnazza wrote: Alliances are out:
Showtime teams up with BASILISK (interestingly "BASILISK+Showtime", not "BASILISK+BIG"?), Kelazhur (R8) teams up with Platinum Heroes and Spirit (NaVi) 'returns' to PSISTORM. Nice also apparently left LittleFairy and therefore Twisted Fairy aswell and will probably not be in WTL (for now) LF just signed KeeN so they are back in.
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On April 22 2024 01:40 digmouse wrote:Show nested quote +On April 21 2024 23:04 Balnazza wrote: Alliances are out:
Showtime teams up with BASILISK (interestingly "BASILISK+Showtime", not "BASILISK+BIG"?), Kelazhur (R8) teams up with Platinum Heroes and Spirit (NaVi) 'returns' to PSISTORM. Nice also apparently left LittleFairy and therefore Twisted Fairy aswell and will probably not be in WTL (for now) LF just signed KeeN so they are back in.
Sorry, I kind of wrote that weird. I meant that Nice will not be in WTL for now
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I am suprised DKZ hasnt tried to get Rogue back onto the team, maybe they did but still in the negotiation. Also still no Dark and Gumiho probably means their teams arent interested in alliance.
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On April 22 2024 01:40 digmouse wrote:Show nested quote +On April 21 2024 23:04 Balnazza wrote: Alliances are out:
Showtime teams up with BASILISK (interestingly "BASILISK+Showtime", not "BASILISK+BIG"?), Kelazhur (R8) teams up with Platinum Heroes and Spirit (NaVi) 'returns' to PSISTORM. Nice also apparently left LittleFairy and therefore Twisted Fairy aswell and will probably not be in WTL (for now) LF just signed KeeN so they are back in.
Keen?? Does this mean he didn't retire? or does it just mean they needed to convince someone who is semi good to join their team just so they can play in WTL?
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On April 22 2024 12:59 Yoshi Kirishima wrote:Show nested quote +On April 22 2024 01:40 digmouse wrote:On April 21 2024 23:04 Balnazza wrote: Alliances are out:
Showtime teams up with BASILISK (interestingly "BASILISK+Showtime", not "BASILISK+BIG"?), Kelazhur (R8) teams up with Platinum Heroes and Spirit (NaVi) 'returns' to PSISTORM. Nice also apparently left LittleFairy and therefore Twisted Fairy aswell and will probably not be in WTL (for now) LF just signed KeeN so they are back in. Keen?? Does this mean he didn't retire? or does it just mean they needed to convince someone who is semi good to join their team just so they can play in WTL?
Definetly a weird signup. He didn't even participate in the GSL qualifiers, last professional match played in september last year or something like that. That's either confidence he will "get gud" or the filleriest filler signup who ever fillered
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On April 22 2024 13:10 Balnazza wrote:Show nested quote +On April 22 2024 12:59 Yoshi Kirishima wrote:On April 22 2024 01:40 digmouse wrote:On April 21 2024 23:04 Balnazza wrote: Alliances are out:
Showtime teams up with BASILISK (interestingly "BASILISK+Showtime", not "BASILISK+BIG"?), Kelazhur (R8) teams up with Platinum Heroes and Spirit (NaVi) 'returns' to PSISTORM. Nice also apparently left LittleFairy and therefore Twisted Fairy aswell and will probably not be in WTL (for now) LF just signed KeeN so they are back in. Keen?? Does this mean he didn't retire? or does it just mean they needed to convince someone who is semi good to join their team just so they can play in WTL? Definetly a weird signup. He didn't even participate in the GSL qualifiers, last professional match played in september last year or something like that. That's either confidence he will "get gud" or the filleriest filler signup who ever fillered
Yeah damn i don't understand if GSL is local in your country, why you wouldn't go try unless you're not caring about SC2 anymore. You only have to compete with like 24 people for 16 spots lol, and they're just Bo3s.
Makes me sad that sOs didn't try. He must have really quit
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United States33146 Posts
WTL Rosters revealed
Info on alliances/mercenaries and new signings!
Notable mercenaries: BASILISK-ShoWTimE, PSISTORM-Spirit, Platinum Heroes-Kelazhur
Late signings: DKZ-soO, Twisted Fairy-KeeN, OFFSYDE-control, Platinum Heroes-ART, iba (altho this is basically just calling players up), ForJumy
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i noticed TY is streaming on afreeca with c9 tag, is this same c9 gumiho is on or is this some university/korean sponsor?
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United States33146 Posts
Not a roster move per se, but Trap is back from military service and resuming competitive play.
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United States33146 Posts
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BLEED Esports signs NightMare
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United States33146 Posts
Stats joined Twisted Minds
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Canada8988 Posts
Did the TM social media guy forget this tweet in his inbox for a month and a half?
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On May 18 2024 13:24 Nakajin wrote: Did the TM social media guy forget this tweet in his inbox for a month and a half?
Stats had a few active offers so maybe that’s why
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United States33146 Posts
Rogue and Bunny officially join Falcons Esports.
Previously reported by Korean press but not made official.
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United States33146 Posts
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Slightly offtopic, but for those interested why these signings are cropping up: Basically any player who atleast makes it into the Top 8 will give points for his team in the Club Competition, where the Top 16 teams across all games at the EWC will get money. From 150K up to 7 million. So for example Spirit reaching Top 8 (which I wouldn't think is completly unreasonable) could bring NaVi that much closer to a really big payout.
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On June 01 2024 11:01 Balnazza wrote: Slightly offtopic, but for those interested why these signings are cropping up: Basically any player who atleast makes it into the Top 8 will give points for his team in the Club Competition, where the Top 16 teams across all games at the EWC will get money. From 150K up to 7 million. So for example Spirit reaching Top 8 (which I wouldn't think is completly unreasonable) could bring NaVi that much closer to a really big payout. That's a lot of Saudi money wtf. Interesting that they are also cashing a lot into boxing and making big fights such as Fury vs Usyk. Don't know how long their business model will last though.
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Still no news about Rogue's new team?
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Falcons should add one more Protoss player, then compete for WTL in the next season.
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On June 01 2024 16:58 swarminfestor wrote: Falcons should add one more Protoss player, then compete for WTL in the next season.
Probably not gonna happen. If they really wanted to build a WTL team, they would have done so for this season already. Only TM seriously did so, when other single player (or two at most) teams didn't. Even closer to home, you would think HeroMarine would ally with one of the stronger existing ones like TL, but nada
This more screams ESWC exposure.
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United States33146 Posts
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Really curious if anyone will try to partner with BASILISK for ESWC. Fnatic using the ol' RotterdaM-Connection?
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Canada8988 Posts
Weibo is absolutely massive no?
Crazy news, does someone know if they have other esport clubs?
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On June 10 2024 05:09 Nakajin wrote:Weibo is absolutely massive no? Crazy news, does someone know if they have other esport clubs?
Weibo LoL division was the runner up of 2023 World Champions
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United States33146 Posts
HeroMarine to play for OFFSYDE Esports as mercenary player in WTL
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Wow. Awesome. Will be great to see Heromarine in the WTL and that is quite the boost to the OFFSYDE roster! Congrats to both of them
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Canada8988 Posts
After years I finally got my wish! Welcome to the WTL Heromarine.
Now we need Gumi back and I'll be as happy as a clam.
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Nice, great addition
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I loved Heromarine joining WTL. Hopefully he can deliver for him team.
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Probably all top teams trying to get Heromarine: Big Gabe sleeps. The most randomly thrown together WTL-Team of all time, including a random-player and Content Creator ask him to join: Lets freakin' go!
I honestly can't believe MOUZ had any say in this...do they even know he is still on the payroll? Anyway, great addition! With that all top foreigners are in the league, right?
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On June 12 2024 05:46 Balnazza wrote: Probably all top teams trying to get Heromarine: Big Gabe sleeps. The most randomly thrown together WTL-Team of all time, including a random-player and Content Creator ask him to join: Lets freakin' go!
I honestly can't believe MOUZ had any say in this...do they even know he is still on the payroll? Anyway, great addition! With that all top foreigners are in the league, right?
Outside the game explanations would be a more accurate speculation of why HM didn't join earlier. And even then, if he really wanted to, he could have made adaptations around it, or alternatively, I was thinking he would entirely skipping participating in the league and only doing some high-paid showmatches like Korea vs the World.
Also, Offsyde and not Vitality for exemple, bizarre.
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KeeN apparently left LittleFairy again...what was that about? :D
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China6327 Posts
On June 13 2024 00:32 Balnazza wrote: KeeN apparently left LittleFairy again...what was that about? :D Management being incredibly unhappy about his performance is what I heard.
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Canada8988 Posts
On June 13 2024 01:05 digmouse wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2024 00:32 Balnazza wrote: KeeN apparently left LittleFairy again...what was that about? :D Management being incredibly unhappy about his performance is what I heard.
Seems harsh to me. He had not played in half a year and only got 10 matches in before getting the boots. Management should have known full well what level of player they were signing.
Maybe someday we'll live in a world where progamers have reasonable employment contracts lol.
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On June 13 2024 01:57 Nakajin wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2024 01:05 digmouse wrote:On June 13 2024 00:32 Balnazza wrote: KeeN apparently left LittleFairy again...what was that about? :D Management being incredibly unhappy about his performance is what I heard. Maybe someday we'll live in a world where progamers have reasonable employment contracts lol.
Unlikely to happen anytime soon I am afraid *snort* esp in the world of video gaming
That he suffered from rust probably doesn't matter to them
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I was pretty shocked the team let Keen play in the WTL instead of Nice, Keen didnt even play in the GSL qualifier and somehow they think adding him was a great move.
Also, HM joining Offsyde is very exciting, their schedule is front-loaded against top teams, but they play 3 manageable opponents in the last couple rounds. Big Gabe could take them into the playoff spots there.
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On June 13 2024 01:05 digmouse wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2024 00:32 Balnazza wrote: KeeN apparently left LittleFairy again...what was that about? :D Management being incredibly unhappy about his performance is what I heard. If they were after decent Performance and not solely Name value, they should have gotten a decent B-tier Foreigner instead of Keen in the first place. From what I ve heared Koreans ask for (and often get) about 3-4x the pay than foreigners of similar skill levels. Thats why some of the more grass root Teams like Plat heroes or Berserker have foreigners only. You can support an entire (B-Tier-) foreigner- WTL squad on the same costs, it would take to sign 1 (C-Tier-) Korean like Keen.
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United States33146 Posts
On June 13 2024 02:14 dbRic1203 wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2024 01:05 digmouse wrote:On June 13 2024 00:32 Balnazza wrote: KeeN apparently left LittleFairy again...what was that about? :D Management being incredibly unhappy about his performance is what I heard. If they were after decent Performance and not solely Name value, they should have gotten a decent B-tier Foreigner instead of Keen in the first place. From what I ve heared Koreans ask for (and often get) about 3-4x the pay than foreigners of similar skill levels. Thats why some of the more grass root Teams like Plat heroes or Berserker have foreigners only. You can support an entire (B-Tier-) foreigner- WTL squad on the same costs, it would take to sign 1 (C-Tier-) Korean like Keen.
are they willing to employ some TL.net forumers as scouts/front office ?
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Canada8988 Posts
On June 13 2024 02:54 Waxangel wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2024 02:14 dbRic1203 wrote:On June 13 2024 01:05 digmouse wrote:On June 13 2024 00:32 Balnazza wrote: KeeN apparently left LittleFairy again...what was that about? :D Management being incredibly unhappy about his performance is what I heard. If they were after decent Performance and not solely Name value, they should have gotten a decent B-tier Foreigner instead of Keen in the first place. From what I ve heared Koreans ask for (and often get) about 3-4x the pay than foreigners of similar skill levels. Thats why some of the more grass root Teams like Plat heroes or Berserker have foreigners only. You can support an entire (B-Tier-) foreigner- WTL squad on the same costs, it would take to sign 1 (C-Tier-) Korean like Keen. are they willing to employ some TL.net forumers as scouts/front office  ?
Poopi could have made a fortune selling his service as "ESWC qualification system advisor" to every big esport org.
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United States33146 Posts
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The Frick is AG Global? Edit: Nevermind. They go by different names, but I definetly know Anyone's Legend
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For a moment I thought Innovation is back.
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NightMare leaves Bleed Esports. Seems like he is the first victim of "we only pick up players for EWC". While this isn't too dramatic, I'm wondering if (should we get a new EPT Season announced soon) that means that teams like Navi or Virtus.Pro will drop their players after the EWC and just pick some up next year.
Btw, as an addendum why teams aren't picking up more than one player: I think, if I understand the EWC rules correctly, there is a "one entry per game and org"-limit for the EWC points. So for example, if Serral and Reynor would be in the finals, BASILISK still only gets the points for winning the tournament, but not for both. So for an org like Talon, it sadly doesn't make much sense to pick up more weaker players next to Dark, since they most likely won't be going further in the bracket as him.
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On July 17 2024 22:20 Balnazza wrote: NightMare leaves Bleed Esports. Seems like he is the first victim of "we only pick up players for EWC". While this isn't too dramatic, I'm wondering if (should we get a new EPT Season announced soon) that means that teams like Navi or Virtus.Pro will drop their players after the EWC and just pick some up next year.
Btw, as an addendum why teams aren't picking up more than one player: I think, if I understand the EWC rules correctly, there is a "one entry per game and org"-limit for the EWC points. So for example, if Serral and Reynor would be in the finals, BASILISK still only gets the points for winning the tournament, but not for both. So for an org like Talon, it sadly doesn't make much sense to pick up more weaker players next to Dark, since they most likely won't be going further in the bracket as him. It's strange that they picked up NightMare if they only wanted someone for EWC.
I think that his only chance of getting into EWC was winning the open qualifier.
Maybe it was a long shot that didn't pay off.
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On July 17 2024 22:59 MJG wrote:Show nested quote +On July 17 2024 22:20 Balnazza wrote: NightMare leaves Bleed Esports. Seems like he is the first victim of "we only pick up players for EWC". While this isn't too dramatic, I'm wondering if (should we get a new EPT Season announced soon) that means that teams like Navi or Virtus.Pro will drop their players after the EWC and just pick some up next year.
Btw, as an addendum why teams aren't picking up more than one player: I think, if I understand the EWC rules correctly, there is a "one entry per game and org"-limit for the EWC points. So for example, if Serral and Reynor would be in the finals, BASILISK still only gets the points for winning the tournament, but not for both. So for an org like Talon, it sadly doesn't make much sense to pick up more weaker players next to Dark, since they most likely won't be going further in the bracket as him. It's strange that they picked up NightMare if they only wanted someone for EWC. I think that his only chance of getting into EWC was winning the open qualifier. Maybe it was a long shot that didn't pay off.
Well choice wasn't the greatest tbh
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Slight necroposting, but still relevant to the topic
End of the WTL season, Krystianer leaving SLT since his contract ended. Who might be next ?
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United States33146 Posts
Time to start a second half thread I guess
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