North American organization DarkZero Esports has announced their entry into the VALORANT competitive Arena! The organization announced that they formed the VALORANT squad by incorporating the Kooky Koalas team together with their coaches.
Here is DarkZero Esports’ new VALORANT team:
- Andy ‘Andersin‘ Collins
- Kyle ‘ScrewFace‘ Jensen
- Nick ‘Harmon‘ Harmon
- Adam ‘Ange‘ Milian
- Yannick ‘KOLER‘ Blanchette
- Zack ‘huuaw‘ Solomon (COACH)
Kooky Koalas became the only unsigned team to win the closed qualifiers of the VALORANT Championship Round in February. As an independent team, the Koalas have kept their eyes on their success. They’ve also had tremendous success at various second-tier NA events so far.
Zachary Matula, CEO and founder of DarkZero, spoke about the new team:
“We’ve spent the last few years building the model for our organization and this is a very exciting opportunity for DarkZero to expand into a new scene. Riot has supported League of Legends esports, and with the health of that ecosystem, we trust they will mirror that in VALORANT. This team has shown they can compete with the best in the world and we look forward to seeing what they can do with the support of our program.”
DarkZero Esports has been in the competitive arena of North American R6 Siege esports since its debut in late 2018. The team had the biggest success in 2020 with a top six finish at the Six Invitational and a grand final that swept TSM at the August Major in the North. But they lost in the final at the 2020 Six Invitational.
Collins, VALORANT team captain, commented:
“To be picked up as a full team is an amazing feeling. I know that this opportunity isn’t one that many teams get to receive. To not only accomplish this, but have the complete support of an organization at the caliber of DarkZero, it’s completely overwhelming.
From day one we have been completely taken care of in every regard, and the amount of support they provide has been incredible. With DarkZero behind us, we truly have an advantage, and we can’t wait to show the fans what we can do.”
The new roster will make their debut under the DarkZero banner at the Open Qualifiers of Challengers One, which is a part of the VCT phase, on July 1.
