Acend add L1NK ahead of VCT EMEA LCQ
Lance Skundrich/Riot GamesAcend have announced the signing of former Team Liquid player Travis ‘L1NK’ Mendoza for the upcoming EMEA last-chance qualifier tournament. He will replace Aleksander ‘zeek’ Zygmunt, who was benched one month ago.
The signing comes one month after L1NK was benched from Team Liquid as the organization looked to restructure its Valorant roster. Both Acend and Team Liquid have not had the best 2022 Valorant Champions Tour season after hitting incredible heights in 2021.
L1NK is joining a squad that did relatively well in the EMEA VCT Stage 2 Challengers group stage before being knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.
Liquid replaced L1NK with stand-in Aurimas ‘Dreamas’ Zablockis halfway through the group stage in an attempt to improve their roster but still exited the tournament early in the playoffs. They are yet to announce a permanent replacement for the British player.
Acend have undergone multiple changes since their Valorant Champions winning run at the end of 2021. The only players left over from that roster are Mehmet Yağız ‘cNed’ İpek and Patryk ‘starxo’ Kopczyński, with the others either sent to the bench or off to other teams.
Acend at EMEA LCQ
Acend have a tough battle ahead of them if they want to qualify for 2022 Valorant Champions. They will have to go up against M3C, who bested them 2-0 in the VCT Stage 2 playoffs, and will potentially have to defeat Liquid, G2 Esports and Guild Esports to make the international tournament.
All three squads have international experience, and outside of Team Liquid, have had relatively stable rosters through Stage 2.
Lance Skundrich, Riot GamesWith Acend, L1NK will probably slot into the flex role, replacing zeek one-for-one, as he played many agents with Liquid during his time with the team. He has 11 agents played professionally but has competed in a majority of matches on Sage, Omen, Brimstone and Breach.
Acend will start their road back to Valorant Champions on August 7 at VCT EMEA LCQ.