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DISGUISED partners with BLEED for VALORANT Challengers MY/SG 2024
Disguised, popular esports organization, has announced their latest venture. A new VALORANT Challengers roster; based in Singapore of all places. After a tumultuous 2023 that started with an incredible Qualifiers run for the North American roster and ended with the spectacular implosion of the roster – Disguised is now headed for a different continent.
Disguised has now announced that they have partnered with Singaporean organization Bleed Esports. The Singaporean-based esports organization most recently won the VCT Pacific Ascension tournament back in July.
Moreover, with this announced partnership, Disguised will be participating in the upcoming Malaysia/Singapore VCL circuit, instead of their prior North American circuit from 2023.
Disguised VCL 2024 Starting Lineup:
Who or What is Disguised?
Founded by content creator and streamer Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang, Disguised has swiftly grown into a multi-esports titled organization, fielding teams in VALORANT (Challengers and Game Changers), League of Legends, Apex Legends, and Team Fight Tactics in 2023.
Originally conceived as a brainchild by Disguised Toast or Toast – as he is known affectionately within his community – as an organization to compete in VALORANT’s new Challengers circuit in North America, it has quickly grown beyond that and is now a far more ambitious organization fielding multiple teams and has developed a strong reputation for taking good tier 2 talents and providing resources for said talents to flourish.
Read more for Disguised's full unveiled plans for 2024: Disguised Toast unveils his 2024 Esports plans.
The New Boys in Town: Disguised 2024
Juicy is Back
Out of the gate, the most prominent name on the roster has to be juicy. Having last played for Bleed esports, he was a prominent member of their roster prior to their Ascension win and was instrumental in helping the roster reach their goal of promotion to the Tier 1 International Leagues. Unfortunately, he was one of the two members who had to leave the roster. Both members cited at the time that a major reason for their decision to depart from their newly promoted squad, was to fulfil their National Service obligations. As Singaporean nationals, all youths are mandated to fulfil a duration of their years in the compulsory National Service.
It is unknown if he has delayed his military service at this time, however, it is more likely that he will attempt to split his time between playing and serving. More information on his options will be discussed later in this article.
Southeast Asian Talents for a New Stage
Both JayH and bryce hail from Ninjas in Pyjamas, an organization that had previously competed within Europe up until 2022, where they briefly swapped to the South American region. Their most notable achievement during this period was competing in the Stage 1 Masters: Reykjavik tournament, placing 9th-10th. By 2023, Ninjas in Pyjamas competed in China, which is when both members played under the NIP banner. JayH had also previously played under the Bleed banner, leaving Disguised with two former Bleed alumni to fill their ranks.
Wayne on the other hand, competed for Kizuna Esports up until as recently as October 2023. Prior to that, his most notable roster was X10, competing in the VCL Malaysia/Singapore 2023 splits under their banner. Last but not least, we have Riza, a Malaysian player who briefly shared a roster with wayne on X10 before moving on to Team Path.
Disguised X Bleed Esports
The announced partnership between the two organizations brings a lot of significance. For Disguised Toast in particular, it represented an opportunity to return to his home. Born and raised in the Malaysia Peninsula until he was 12, he and his family emigrated to Canada. This homecoming of sorts presents an opportunity for him to reconnect with his birth roots while offering a fresh start for the beleaguered VCL hopeful.
For Bleed, their promotion to the VCT Pacific circuit did come with one unique downside – the moving to Seoul. Having set up their full resources in Singapore during their long battle there in the VCLs, Bleed offered Disguised the use of their facilities as they would no longer be in use by the main team. Head Coach Nikola “LEGIJA” Ninić reportedly reached out to Jeremy after their failed VCL run to offer this partnership.
Moreover, one of the brighter benefits from Disguised relocating their VCL efforts to Southeast Asia, is that they will face far less stiff competition compared to North America. With so much talent in North America, Disguised had a tough go at things attempting to compete against seasoned professionals in the field, even with some notable names having graced their roster at one point or another throughout the season.
The downside, however, is that not only will we likely see an inevitable decline in their North American followers, the viewership for the Malaysia/Singapore VCL is undoubtedly far less than its North American counterpart, meaning Disguised will really have to bring their hardcore supporters to continue maintaining a strong following. Furthermore, this may also spell an end of the frequent Tarik X Disguised Toast watch parties that entertained so many during the team’s 2023 run, due to the time difference.
A Missed Silver Lining
Several days ago, Fnatic VALORANT made headlines after being the first partnered VCT team to make use of one of Riot’s new initiatives – the 2024 Affiliate Partnership system. Fnatic had announced Mandatory, an all-French roster competing in the VCLs as their Partnered affiliate team. Among the many benefits that such a program brings is the ability to Fnatic members to sub in for Mandatory’s lineup should one of their own become unavailable. Essentially acting as a 6th man or sub for the Mandatory roster.
An opportunity now presents itself for Bleed – who themselves have a currently unoccupied 6th man slot. If Bleed does join the Affiliate Partnership system and list Disguised as their affiliate, it would open interesting avenues for them. Should they sign another player, that player would be eligible to participate in the Malaysia/Singapore VCL under the Disguised banner. They would be able to train a theoretical 6th man for their roster while the season goes on without sacrificing on play time for the current 5.
All this is of course theoretical. At this time Bleed has only agreed to a partnership with Disguised, and has done nothing to indicate their plans to further the relationship with the Affiliate Program.
Credit: Disguised
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VCT Kickoff Pacific: Format, Schedule, Teams, and more.
