Mad Lions And DSG Drop Their Rosters After Both Being Relegated From Challengers

With both rosters getting released, we are yet to find out who will replace them and when.

Thank You ML1
Their promising young roster had only a couple of months to prove themselves | © Mad Lions @Twitter

Play-In Relegation Battles

Things weren't looking good for either of them from the get-go of this NA Split 2 Challengers tournament. Disguised went 2-10 in their group, managing to win only one game against Shopify Rebellion and Turtle Troop. Mad Lions, on the other hand, had a slightly better showing, going 4-9 and securing a victory with a 2-1 win over G2 Esports.

Their poor performance in the group stage got them down to the Play-In Relegation. To provide some context, in this Play-In stage, the bottom two teams from each group are required to compete, with the objective of securing a top-two finish in order to qualify for the 2024 Challengers NA.

This is what the Play-in looked like:

Opening MatchesWinners MatchQualified
Turtle Troop vs Mad Lions (2:0)Turtle Troop vs OREsports ( 2:0)Turtle Troop
Disguised vs OREsports (0:2)
Elimination Match
Mad Lions vs Disguised (2:0)OREsports vs Mad Lions (2 :1)

OREsports

Disguised Toast Disbands His Valorant DSG Roster

DSG Squad Releasded
Let's hope more Community Icons like Toast take this path | © Disguised @Twitter

The official statement came from Toast himself:

As we've been relegated from the VCT Challenger league, we have released our players and coach from our roster as we re-evaluate the future of DSG in the Valorant scene.Thank you to the players for this incredible first year and we wish them all the best.

Relegation stands as the primary reason for their release, and it remains undecided whether they will assemble a new roster or take a break from Valorant. The community feedback and overall comments express gratitude for Toast's contribution to the Tier 2 scene, and Steel being recognized as the most notable player during their time playing together.

DSG was a super fresh addition to the Valorant T-2 competitive scene, and will probably open the door for more teams alike to give their try.

Mad Lions Possibly Leaving Valorant After They Drop Their Roster

Shortly after being relegated, Mad Lions dropped their complete Valorant roster, including their coaching staff. Mad Lions returned to the scene in January after being away for almost a year prior. They entered the scene by signing Dark Ratio, one of the six teams that qualified for the Challengers League.

The team didn't have many glow-ups. They missed out on Mid-Season Faceoff as they performed poorly in the qualifications finishing with a 1-4 record. Right before the start of Split 2, they had two new signings as they brought in "Blackheart" and "Bjor". Bjor was probably the most notable signing as he had multiple good performances in both Group Stage and in the Relegation Play-in battle.

After dropping the squad, Ange posted:

With @MADLions leaving valorant i am now a F/A. All love<3 they treated us very well. As for me, I didn't perform to my standards this year. I know I can do so much better, this season has taught me a lot. I will be continuing to grind and become more consistent this offseason.

In the official Mad Lions statement there was no indication of them leaving the game completely, but we guess Ange spilled the tea, and his "gossip" is turning out to be true. Same as DSG, Mad Lions was a great addition to the competitive scene, switching regions to North America and believing in a few youngsters and their dream after their great success.

Let's hope Mad Lions change their mind and pick up some new Valorant prodigies and continue their competitive saga.

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Stefan Nikolovski

Stefan is obsessed with gaming as a whole but fell deeply in love with Valorant. He got to platinum just by playing Reyna and has felt like he is forever indebted to the community for that....