As his Valorant team, The Nation, made it to the upper bracket quarterfinals of the NA Challengers Open Qualifier, Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip revealed why the squad has yet to sign with an esports organization despite receiving a number of offers.
The Nation are two series wins away from locking down a spot in the NA Challengers League from the first open qualifier. The Stewie2k-led team also includes the ex-TSM duo of Matthew ‘WARDELL’ Yu and Daniel ‘Rossy’ Abedrabbo, along with Braxton ‘brax’ Pierce (T1) and Tanner ‘TiGG’ Spanu (Luminosity).
After a successful day of matches, Stewie2k took questions about the squad on his stream and explained why he doesn’t think signing with an organization before or during the NA Challengers Open Qualifiers is the right move.
“The majority of players are looking for contracts,” he said. “Yeah, we have offers, we have all that stuff, but I don’t think it’s a good idea… I’m saying this because you don’t know if you’re going to qualify for Ascension, you don’t know how far you are going to make it.”
He went on to say that if his team signed a contract with an organization and did not make the Challengers League, the players could be shackled by their contract or the organization could drop them immediately.
Stewie2k explains why The Nation has yet to sign with an org
The current Evil Geniuses streamer also said teams that make it into the league will have more prospects and potentially a “safer home” when it comes to signing with an organization.
“People are so caught up with the short-term stuff that they’re not thinking about the long run, Stewie2K said. “I don’t think jumping to an org and trying to collect short-term money is a big thing.”
The Nation will have a chance to qualify for the new NA Challengers League on January 11 in the upper bracket, or potentially in the lower bracket on January 12. If the squad misses out this time around, they could give it another try via the last-chance qualifier, which begins on January 17.
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