With no guaranteed winter split for our UK League of Legends team, Viperio are using the downtime to evaluate our roster in preparation for the 2021 Spring Split, where the organisation will compete in the UKEL Season 4.
In Season 3, Viperio had a rocky start, going 0W-2L in the first two matches, however managed to bounce back, finishing regular season with a 4W-3L record in 4th place. The team also managed to finish the summer split in 3rd/4th during playoffs, joint with LDN UTD.
While top 4 is a solid result and an improvement against Season 2’s 8th place finish, both the players & organisation are aiming to push for UKLC qualification, and to do this, we need to ensure we have a competitive roster. Our league of legends staff, lead by 🇬🇧 Alan “Coldbolt” Reid, supported by Performance Manager 🇬🇧 Grant Hill & Strategic Coach 🇺🇸 Anthony “Saiph” Busack, have been working extremely hard to push our previous roster though its limits, to see whether that line-up would be able to capitalise on a promotion opportunity this upcoming split.
Recent weeks have been used to evaluate players at an individual level, focusing on individual talent. This had led to some players moving off our active roster, onto a development squad. Players will be split between the two teams as follows.
Viperio LoL starting line-up:
Top: 🇪🇺 TBC
Jungle: 🇬🇧 Paul “JonnyRecco” Whyte
Mid: 🇪🇺 TBC
ADC: 🇪🇺 TBC
Support: 🇪🇺 TBC
The changes also mean that we will be saying goodbye to Mid-Laner 🇬🇧 Eric “Eric” McAllister & Support 🇷🇸 Marko ‘Penta‘ Radovic. We don’t take the decision to let players go lightly, and ultimately thank the players for their time and wish them the best of luck in future endeavours.
The decision to move the majority of our previous roster to a development squad allows for the support staff to continue to work with the team, with the expectation they move up to the main team once they’re individually ready to do so, while allowing the organisation to also welcome new talent for S4.
When discussing the changes with the players, Alan Reid, General Manager, Viperio League of Legends, stated the following:
“The Season 3 team has proven that it could work but ultimately is too unstable. I believe the decisions I’m making are for the best for Viperio and for the players.”
The development squad will act as substitutes for our main roster in winter tournaments and the UKEL Season 4 (Spring 2021). Viperio will continue to use the coming months to scout and acquire new talent ahead of the new year, with the goal of creating a roster that can contest with lower UKLC teams.
Christopher Sword, Managing Director at Viperio, added the following additional commentary:
“The development squad will give our players continued support from our coaching & analytics team, allowing them to improve at a rate which fits their needs and schedule. At the same time, this allows Alan & the organisation to hunt for new players capable of outplaying UKLC teams.”
If you are a player interested in trialing for our primary line-up, please reach out to Alan Reid via Twitter.
We will continue to post update around our progress via further articles and posts on our social media channels.
One Comment