Things are not looking good for The Guard.
The Guard are prepared to release its entire roster ahead of the new season after Riot Games announced that the organisation will not be part of the upcoming VCT Americas League. According to an official statement from Riot Games, "the organization has failed to meet the deadline to agree to the Team Participation Agreement for VCT Americas."
There has since been an uproar on social media as it was also revealed that no other team will be promoted from the VCT Ascension Americas. Many would have expected the runner-ups from that tournament, M80 to have made the cut by default. Unfortunately, that is not the case as it stands.
To make things even worse, it appeared that the VALORANT team for The Guard were left in the dark in regards to the team's participation in the VCT Americas League next season. Multiple players were taken aback by the news with many other VALORANT pros speaking out in droves to voice their support.
The Guard has since come out with an official statement where they have stated their "commitment to supporting our competitive team in their transition as they look for new opportunities." Head coach for the VALORANT team, Josh "JoshRT" Lee has since tweeted out that he believes he and the entire team will be free agents soon.
The drama doesn't stop there as the Global Head of VALORANT Esports, Leo Faria also came out with a lengthy statement regarding the entire situation with The Guard, its players, and their spot in the VCT Americas League next season. According to Faria:
Teams competing in Challengers knew what they were playing for since the start of the season. Every team that qualified for Ascension signed the Team Participation Agreement prior to the start of the tournament, and signatures were held in escrow. Immediately after the conclusion of Ascension we started the onboarding process with the three winning teams, expecting them to release their signature from escrow to finalize their promotion to the International Leagues. Unfortunately this was never completed by The Guard, and after two months and several follow-ups, we had to make a very hard decision in order to not compromise the start of the season next year.
He also followed up with further explanations on why they decided to go down the route of not promoting any Challenger team to the VCT Americas League. While they did ponder on either allowing the former players of The Guard to be signed to a new organisation or to promote the Ascension Americas runner-up M80, both ideas were ultimately put aside.
Faria went on to state that "this particular situation is different, since this team played through Challengers and Ascension under The Guard banner, and became free agents after the fact. Allowing an acquisition by a different organization now opens the door for slots in the VCT to be sold, which we do not allow."
He also touched on M80 and their legitimacy in gaining a promotion spot to the VCT International League by being the runner-up in Ascension. Unfortunately, that would create "questionable precedents" as the entire idea of Ascension was to award a team for its performance with promotion. Given that M80 did not win in the end, it would defeat the purpose.
However, Both Faria's statement and The Guard's do not match up as one spoke of the organisation's failure to release its signature from escrow while the other stated its disappointment at this outcome unexpectedly. Given that, it would seem like The Guard was unaware of the VCT's intentions. However, according to Faria, there were several follow-ups from their end to the organisation.
As it stands, it remains to be seen on whether Riot will change its stance on not promoting any team for the VCT Americas League next season and stick with the same 10 partnered teams. Many within the VALORANT community have since called for Riot to make an exception, given the situation's unique circumstances. While this isn't a great way to kickstart the second year of the VCT International Leagues, it will surely set a new precedent for organisations hoping to compete in VALORANT.
