after a lot of preparation it’s sad to say that @Lost_Puppies will be sitting out OQ 1 by my decision. we didn’t want to field a roster just to field a roster. every roster we put out has a piece of me, of us inside it. it’s what makes it ours but when you don’t have this attachment to a project it’s hard to feel right with what you’re fielding. so we’re not going to just lump 5 players together last minute without our special touch & call it a day. many of you may know that we’re not your typical esports organisation, we’re incredibly involved in all of our projects & when we can’t be it just doesn’t feel right. we don’t bleed money, we bleed passion. we’ve had many different promising rosters & options in the lead up to the VCT open qualifiers with praccs looking very very good (some of you will have seen us in them). but unfortunately whatever hunger games style roster mania that’s taken place this off-season seems to have infected open qualifiers too. over the past few weeks we’ve looked at 5 completely different rosters all with different variations of themselves. we’ve trialed upwards of 50 players & thought we’d locked something multiple times. with this being said, i’ve realised from working with various coaches over this time that this actually isn’t “normal” even though it’s nearly standard for me to have this many issues & as a result needing plenty of options if something falls through so i’m no stranger to build 4, 5, 6 even 7 different rosters just for one event after problems arise or players or coaches get taken. this is what i’ve been doing for years. but these last few days in particular have been crazy not just for us but for other people too. i’m not sure what’s been going on but everything is so incredibly volatile to a point of not just having to make a last minute change but overhauling entire rosters last minute because people feel the need to either flake last minute, not communicate properly which leaves players, teams & orgs constantly guessing or just left field moves happen which has caused everyone a lot of stress the last few weeks, trust me i’ve felt it too. this can be both exciting & frustrating especially for the neutral. it’s something which is common not only in esports but typical sports too but this preparation phase has truly been something different in sort of a negative way, more volatile than usual, more uncommitted than usual, more aggravated, less professional & more selfish than usual. just different & not in the way everyone had hoped. usually there’s always options but the amount of tumultuous roster changes everyone’s made, the one domino that falls which pushes all the others, it’s been so interesting to follow & of course with this are winners & losers. kinda hate it, kinda love it. i wouldn’t have it any other way. yes its frustrating, yes it’s exciting. yes there’s things everyone needs to be better at especially when it comes to outlining intentions & communication. yes, there’s obviously a lot which is just part of the game. it can be fun, frustrating, messy, but most of all it’s a chance to learn, understand, reflect & conduct yourself in the best possible manner when it comes to professionalism. when you say you want to be the best, what does that mean really? what do you mean really? do you mean it at all, really? this is esports. all the good & all the bad we encounter, we’ll always try to do our best & we’ll always try to do what we think is the right thing. - LP porridge 🐾

LF players for VCT Open Qualifiers with @Lost_Puppies this OQ is genuinely a reiteration of the hunger games. don’t have a team yet? there’s still some finite options open. one decision always leads to a channel of rippling changes. we’ve had many provisional rosters & thought we had one locked but like always things can change very fast, so we’re looking at options ahead of registrations closing tomorrow. - previous t2 experience or radiant+ - IGL - controller - duelist - recon - sentinel - flex if interested shoot me a DM ASAP. i’ll review everyone in the morning.

EVERYTHING IS A TOURNAMENT! right? sigh, just sigh. - ALL open qualifier teams start from the lower bracket. - no communication of any of this, everything has been built on "OPEN QUALIFIERS EVERYONE CAN QUAL". - we find out not from Riot themselves but through an invited org tweet? - no mention of any of this in the rulebook or on social media anywhere before UCAM's tweet, designed to be a haze. - marketing campaign built on "OPEN" qualifiers, "fairness" & "equality" isn't really correct, is it? but when were you going to tell us this? did you ever plan to tell us this? oh also haha, NO TECH PAUSES ARE ALLOWED in open qualifiers as the rulebook states this 😭 so not only do invited teams skip open qualifiers, they get to start in the upper bracket with everyone else from open qualifiers having to start in lowers? the marketing campaign for 2027 was built on open qualifiers & fairness. everyone has to fight for their spot, we find out now only a few days before registration ends that this is not the case but you have partnered teams & invited teams in every region who are given an advantage to everyone else. not only this but having to start in the lower bracket for EVERY OPEN QUALIFIER TEAM? for invited teams playoffs is double elimination, for open qualifier teams it's single elimination. well best of luck to everyone in open quals! you're fighting a constant uphill battle. not that you knew it to this degree, of course.