Acend released Vlad “Kiles” Shvets and Santeri “BONECOLD” Sassi, after more than four weeks on the bench.
Kiles is Acend’s first player to be released since Jose “koldamenta” Luis Aranguren was dismissed in 2021. He was benched almost two weeks after Acend’s IGL BONECOLD, after both players had a poor start to the 2022 VCT season. According to Dexerto, Acend is in discussions to replace Kiles and BONECOLD with Ondej “MONSTEERR” Petr and Vakaris “vakk” Bebraviius. Kiles has also been spotted working out with the Giants Gaming team.
The two were one of four original Acend members to win the Stage 1: Masters in 2021. The squad struggled in Stage 2 but rebounded after welcoming Aleksander “zeek” Zygmunt, reaching the quarterfinals of Stage 3: Masters Berlin. Last year, they reached their pinnacle in Champions, when they won a nail-biting grand final to become the first-ever Valorant World Champions.
Read more: neL: “kennyS might join the OG VALORANT team”
Acend finished sixth in their group in the Stage 1: EMEA Challengers competition. Losses against Fnatic, Guild Esports, and BBL Esports knocked the team out of the playoffs, putting a stop to their season early.
Acend current roster:
- Mehmet “cNed” Yağız İpek
- Aleksander “zeek” Zygmunt
- Patryk “starxo” Kopczynski
- Laurynas “Nbs” Kisielius (Coach)
- Milan “Milan” de Meij (Assistant coach)
