Since the end of the APAC qualifiers in Valorant, there have been certain rumblings across the scene. Teams across the country knew that they will have to make certain changes to their teams. The competition and the number of organizations that are on the rise, and this in turn led to a lot of speculation on which players would be leaving which teams.
The announcement of Valorant’s franchises for the region further intensifies the roster re-shuffling process. Global Esports was confirmed for franchising, and they will likely aim to build a supersquad from the best local talent.
Many teams in India did hint at those changes, there was an air of uncertainty. This is majorly due to the news about the tier 2 scene of VCT not being released out there. But when the news did break to everyone, it had made the free agency market a free for all. Teams who were close to qualifying didn’t wish to miss out again.
With the major changes in the top teams in India, let’s have a look to why did it occur.
Various Roster Changes Within Indian Valorant Organizations.
While shuffling rosters have become one of the most common things in the esports industry. Many players unlike in other sports are bounded by shorter-length contracts. The length of all of these contracts can vary from one organization to another. As such there have been moments where players have a professional contract for just one tournament as well. Thus while there isn’t much long-term security for the players.
The first major change to be announced was for Deadly10 to leave Reckoning Esports on September 12. While this did come as one of the major shockers within the scene. Due to the amount of time Saksham Aurangabadkar had played with Reckoning, many expected him to be within the team for another year. Deadly10 was the main duelist for Reckoning and was quite the calculated entry fragging player. While also using chamber on the rare occasion it would be required for his team comp. Having mostly used the likes of Jett, Neon and Raze in his competitive career. He immediately went on to sign for Velocity Esports which is a major step up for him. With the new team, we could see Deadly10 average over 175 Damage per round.
Velocity Esports didn’t stop there and also introduced their new coach David “Dav” Miljanić. While not having a prior experience in Valorant, he has been known for his strategies in CSGO. Only time will tell if this change would be beneficial for VLT or not. There could be a trend that could be seen with the likes of Reckoning Esports. They bid their farewell to another player of theirs in BADlove.
BADlove was a part of the team for the same amount of time that Deadly10 was. While he was the main sentinel for the team has played with the likes of Chamber, Killjoy as well as Sage. Badlove was averaging nearly 50 first blood in over 280 rounds he has played. This attribute of his can easily signify what is expected from a chamber main. While having the ability to rotate the aggressive and passiveness of his playing style based on the side of the map he is. BADlove has now joined Revenant Esports following his departure.
How crucial are roster changes within India’s ecosystem?
In many cases change is very much inevitable and in the world of professional esports, things are the same. One could hold on to the thought of certain players playing for one team their entire life, it has become rather tough now. Players and teams will seek what is best for them no matter the outcome. Saying goodbyes to your older teammates while making new bonds has become a part of all sports. While a team like Global Esports has not announced any new signings of departures they do have a player who has been their substitute. It would be rather confusing for most to see a player like SKrossi to even make the shift to another roster.
Within Valorant as the new patches roll out with new maps and characters there will be changes in the meta. One major thing for many to note is that the game is getting to a stage around the world where people can make a formidable income. With each new Esports ecosystem is stated to rise, there will be more avenues possible for players to play the games they are best at.
With most teams in the country playing at challenger level or lower, we may face a smaller but more robust scene develop in the following months. This will all depend on Riot’s decisions on how the non-franchised competitive system will look like moving forward.
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