Strength of the Pack is the Wolf | Issue #7
In this issue of Esports Extract Weekly we discuss, Revenant & Gods Reign Valorant roster changes, Esportz Premier Series LAN, Pokemon Unite India Open 2022 Nation Finals results, and much more
Apart from BadmaN’s 24 hours stream and some banter between Reckoning Esports & Gods Reign, this is what happened this past week,
Revenant Esports signed rite2ace, Whimp exploring options.
Revenant Esports looking for an assistant coach/analyst.
Gods Reign loaned Tricky from MEDAL Esports for the Esportz LAN
Enigma Gaming invited to VCT 2023 MY/SG Split 1 group stage
Skyesports Championship 4.0 results
Esports recognized by the government?
Rostermania
rite2acexperience
Revenant has brought in veteran player Tejas “rite2ace” Sawant to reinforce their roster with experience. He will be taking over IGLing duties in Revenant ahead of the 2023 season. Makes sense for Revenant to pick rite2ace, as they needed more experience to be going into the 2023 season.
Since rite2ace has replaced Whimp on the roster, Whimp is now a restricted free agent looking for an organization.
Revenant looking for an Assistant Coach/Analyst 👀
Malix, the head coach for Revenant Esports’ Valorant lineup recently put out a Twitter post looking for an assistant coach OR analyst for Ascension.
Trickery of the Gods
Gods Reign has loaned Tricky, the young 16-year-old prodigy from MEDAL Esports to compete under them for the Esportz Premier Series LAN. It is unknown why the decision is made to bring in Tricky, and if Tricky is supposed to play, who gets the bench.
The addition of Tricky would definitely bolster the Gods Reign squad and although they aren’t the favorites going into the LAN tournament, the addition of Tricky does increase their chances of doing significant damage, if not more.
Enigmatic move
South Asian esports organization Enigma Gaming will be part of the VCT 2023 MY/SG Split 1 group stage alongside Bleed, TODAK & X10 as their new SEA roster has managed to secure an invite.
For those wondering, the following is the Enigma Gaming roster(as per the tournament page),
Xan (MY)
theDoctorr (MY)
FREY (SG)
STYRON (SG)
Divine (SG)
artn (SG)
Source: Battlefy
There’s a small chance the actual roster could be a little different than this.
Initially, only 3 teams were supposed to be invited but now 4 teams are. Open qualifiers start on January 5th, while the group stage starts on February 2nd where we will see Enigma Gaming compete.
Skyesports Championship 4.0
Last week Skyesports Championship 4.0 LAN happened in Mumbai. A 1-day event where we saw the Pokemon Unite India Open 2022 National Finals take place apart from the CSGO Showdown, and a few other activities.
JODs of CSGO
At the Skyesports Championship 4.0, team Imported Jods comprising of Paradox, Sway, EupHoria, Xyaa, and Jimmy Gaming won the CSGO Streamers Showdown. They took down Team Shark Dart(lordbathura, rite2ace, MiLi, Kammaljeet, Sharkshe) in the Grand Finals with a 16- 7 scoreline.
Reigning, Defending Pokemon Unite Champions
From initially falling to Revenant to making a comeback and winning the finals over Revenant. It was a spectacular event to watch, take it from someone who was there to watch.
The LAN phase featured 4 Pokemon Unite teams, Revenant Esports, S8UL, Gods Reign, and Marcos Gaming. Have a look at the bracket below to get a clearer picture.
Revenant looked poised to win the National Finals after they took down their archnemesis Gods Reign with a 3-1 score in the UB Final. After that, we saw S8UL stomping Marcos Gaming with a 3-0 in the LB semi-final. As a result, S8UL made it to the LB Final to face Gods Reign, on the other hand, Marcos Gaming was eliminated.
As the LB Final matchup began, we saw S8UL take an early 2-0 lead over Gods Reign in the bo5, but Gods Reign remained resilient and fought back. From being down 2-0, to winning the game with a 3-2 scoreline, Gods Reign reverse swept S8UL out of the arena.
The Grand Final was set for a rematch between Revenant Esports and Gods Reign. Gods Reign won it over Revenant with a 4-2 scoreline winning the Pokemon UNITE INDIA OPEN 2022 National Finals.
TLDR, despite having a really cold start into the event Gods Reign managed to win it out.
There have been 4 Pokemon Unite LAN events till now where Tier 1 teams competed, out of which Gods Reign has won 2, and True Rippers and Marcos Gaming have won 1 each. Also, Revenant has made 3 Grand Finals appearances in these LANs.
Crowd Control Esports Aayo Pokecon - Won by Marcos Gaming
Redbull MEO S5 - Won by True Rippers
Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup 2022 - Won by Gods Reign
Pokémon Unite India Open 2022 - Won by Gods Reign
Overall, Skyesports Championship 4.0 LAN was a decent 1-day event, but if they could manage to get the VISAs done for the international DOTA2 & CSGO teams in time, it could’ve been a much much better event.
Esportz Premier Series LAN - Mumbai
The Finale of Esportz Premier Series 2022 is set to take place on LAN in Mumbai, India on January 5 & 6, 2023.
Interested people can book their FREE tickets here.
At the time of writing, it’s hardly 3 or 4 days left before the LAN, but still, there are some questions about the event in the minds of esports enthusiasts that would want to be there. We wish the event was marketed better on social media.
We genuinely hope that this LAN, which is 2023’s first Indian esports LAN sets a good precedent for other LAN events in 2023. But from the looks of things right now, there’s a chance it might not be a well-executed one.
So let us ask you, viewers, an interesting question. Where do you think this LAN ranks as compared to all the LANs that took place in 2022?
Esports Recognition by the Indian Government?
The government has recognized ‘online gaming’ & ‘e-Sports’ as businesses that fall under MeitY(Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports respectively. Even though now e-Sports would come under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, it is still unknown if tournaments run by independent organizers would still be regulated by the ministry or not.
Simply speaking, there’s a lot of ambiguity with respect to this step. Still, we alongside the rest of the esports community hope this recognition is a progressive step.
Note: Since this is a complex topic, to ensure we provide the right information to our audience we referred to an article from AFK Gaming on the subject. We’ll suggest you guys give it a read if you wanna know more.
Contributors for this issue:
1] BlaezY - Cover.
And that right there is 2022 wrapped. Looking forward to a great 2023.
