A Valorant Community W: The Guard promotion update #1

After failing to agree with the “Team Participation Agreement” within the deadline, The Guard organization ruined their Valorant team’s hard work for the whole year. On 30th August, Riot officially announced the promotion situation under these special circumstances. Needless to say, the decision upset the community. With The Guard as an organization solidifying itself as the worst of its kind, the Community scrutinized Riot too.

The Promotion announcement aftermath:

The first reaction to the news was obviously the hate towards The Guard management. Where the player did everything they could, the management “failed to meet a deadline”. Thus, effectively ruining the players' hard work throughout the year. As a response to their amazing “failing to meet deadline”, The Guard made the following tweet.

Apparently, one of the reason for The Guard backing down was the "guest" team slot. Ofcouse, the two year promotion was a known factor. Riot does not subject the promoted teams to the same scrunity as the partnered teams. These ascended teams don't have to check as many boxes, and thus they don’t get as many benefits. Riot had made this very clear from the start of Ascension. Saying that, these teams will still get the same financial support as the partnered organizations.

Riot’s explanation:

Additionally, Leo Faria, the Head of Valorant Esports, explained Riot’s decision for not allowing The Guard players, but generally not promoting any team. The overall statement explains the options Riot had and why they made the decision. Summarizing the whole statement, Riot did not allow the Guard players to seek a different organization because it sets a wrong precedent. Moreover promoting another team just defeats the purpose of winning ascensions. The complete statement is as follows:

What the statement fails to address is, Despite being a path to pro and chance for “talent" to thrive, Riot still deals with the organization and not the players. Riot did not inform The Guard playing five of their organization's actions. The players had no prior knowledge of Riot's decision or the mishandling from The Guard until Riot's tweet.

Despite the slots representing "competitive merit", Riot's actions made it clear that they did not prioritize the players in the whole transaction. They dealth with the organization and chose not to communicate with the players when the organization failed to comply the agreement. This set's wrong precendents to the rest of the players and organizations too. The organization having complete control over the players slot, when players worked hard to earn it, has to be the biggest joke made by Riot.

A follow up on the situation:

The community rallied behind the Guard players and asked Riot to revert their decision. Leo Faria, ensured the community that they are now working with the players to find a solution for the whole debacle. Today, Riot reversed their decision and decided to give ex-The Guard players a chance to seek an organization to represent.

Talking about the decision, Leo Faria says:

“After working directly with the players, reviewing the process, and giving ourselves more time to think through the problem, we've landed on a path that gives them a chance to compete in the VCT Americas league next year. I want to thank everyone for their support of the players. We moved too fast when making the original decision, quickly realized it had been a mistake, and your feedback made that clear. I’m glad we have a chance to right this wrong and let the players play.”

The Guard five along with the coaching staff will now look for a team. Stay tuned on Strafe for more updates on the situation.

Credits: Riot Games