Ascent.NA to stay at base camp for RGL Season 1

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August 14, 2019

The start of the next North American competitive season is on the horizon, but this season will be more shallow than seasons previous. After their most successful season in recent memory and much contemplation, the North American side of Ascent.NA has elected to not compete online next season in RGL Invite following the roster's two-season tenure in ESEA with back to back second place finishes.

Ascent is one of the oldest surviving names in competitive TF2, harkening back to the ESEA Season 19, as an ad-interim name in wake of the team parting ways with eLevate. Led by Ma3laa, the team later went on to attend Insomnia55, thanks in part to a fundraiser that also helped deliver fellow rivals froyotech across the pond to the international event.

The team was acquired later that year by RONIN, but the Ascent brand was revived in 2017, bringing in the EVL Gaming squad under the new organization. The team underwent multiple tumultuous seasons and roster shuffles, consistently coming in second place to the aforementioned froyotech. With this roster choosing to disband following Insomnia65, next season will mark the first time in seven seasons that Ascent Esports will not have a roster under its banner in a North American league.

Ascent will not have a North American roster following the end of Insomnia65 (photo by Ness "uberchain" Delacroix and Jasmine "Jasbutts" Ho)

In conversations with teamfortress.tv, Ascent.NA players were initially unsure on the future of the roster following Insomnia65, but eventually chose to disband primarily due to personal issues, dissatisfaction with the current league selection, and — as revealed by slemnish in a teamfortress.tv thread — froyotech refusing to play scrims with the team.

We spoke to the team's well-tenured Medic skeez shared his insight into the team's decision and his own personal feelings on the team's upcoming trip to the United Kingdom.

After almost three seasons of trying our butts off to improve as a team, we’ve come a long way from getting 5-1’d by Mentality in our very first match ever. Although we couldn’t bring it home in ESEA, I’m so proud of the boys for how much they’ve all improved.

With the upcoming fall semester, jobs, dissatisfaction of available NA leagues, and general burnt-ness of the game, we’re looking to make i65 our last hurrah. We hope to be a representative NA can be proud of.

In conversations with other Ascent.NA players, the possibility was raised that some of the players will continue playing together, but not under the Ascent.NA banner and with the prospect of playing casually with offclasses. Ascent Esports have yet to release a statement regarding their future in North American TF2.

Ascent.NA will still be featured as the lone North American contender at the upcoming Insomnia65 LAN in Birmingham, England. Donations are still being accepted on Matcherino until August the 16th, which will help recuperate costs for Ascent.NA's trip and help increase the event's prize pool.

Ascent.NA's final roster travelling to England will field:

Scout: yight
Scout: slemnish
Roamer: laz
Pocket: jayhyunpae
Demoman: botmode
Medic: skeez

Connie

25 Frags – +

[*] was a pleasure casting and observing you guys the past several seasons, hope the future has something in store for many former players from this roster

brahmi

19 Frags – +

we get to see what king slem looks like pog

blaze

64 Frags – +

Refusing to scrim in the off season contributed to the disbandment of a team...that is a big stretch. Why is this in a news article? If people are truly that interested, I was gone the day after grand finals for a week cycling to visit my great-aunt, habib went to Cuba for a week, and arekk is in DC. Needless to say, none of us have a reason or motivation to play at the moment. I didn't realize this was news worthy.

slemnish

60 Frags – +

not sure why you decided to put that in the article, i was just responding to someone. that didn't contribute to why we aren't playing next season at all
nonetheless looking forward to lan

eXtine

eXtelevision

15 Frags – +

Here's to hoping Ascent picks up another roster for RGL neXt season. They've been the most active organization on social media for TF2, so it'd be a shame to temporarily lose that.

Best of luck to the players with their preparations for i65, I hope they can stay focused and compete at their best. They are representing North American TF2 at what is widely considered to be our Global Championship and I hope they can perform well on behalf of our community.

Here's to hoping Ascent picks up another roster for RGL neXt season. They've been the most active organization on social media for TF2, so it'd be a shame to temporarily lose that.

Best of luck to the players with their preparations for i65, I hope they can stay focused and compete at their best. They are representing North American TF2 at what is widely considered to be our Global Championship and I hope they can perform well on behalf of our community.

BumFreeze

56 Frags – +

stay at base camp is a very convoluted way of saying disband lmao i thought they were getting a gamer house

Maxi-

20 Frags – +

BumFreezestay at base camp is a very convoluted way of saying disband lmao i thought they were getting a gamer house

i thought it meant after iseries they were staying in england

[quote=BumFreeze]stay at base camp is a very convoluted way of saying disband lmao i thought they were getting a gamer house[/quote]
i thought it meant after iseries they were staying in england

bearodactyl

27 Frags – +

This thread should definitely have Ascent NA in it's name if there's not gonna be a separate thread https://www.teamfortress.tv/53130/essentials-tf-announces-i65-fundraiser

Also people have real lives and it's a big chore having to play the entire season and off season without a break at all, that's a surefire way to get burned out (especially after they've already won, no reason to go that hard)
It's a bummer we didn't get to see froyo go as well this year (i46 double NA grand final would've been hype af) but I'm assuming that there's a good reason for it, like conflicts with real life obligations, etc.

edit: also yeah these puns in the title are cool and all but its a bit questionable when they prevent you from understanding the actual content of the article like with this one lol

yea im not gonna lie whoever wrote these articles and came up with the thread names and such definitely fucked up there isn't even a thread "Get Ascent NA to i65", if I weren't in the loop of things I wouldn't even know that they were going or that there was a fundraiser.

This thread should definitely have Ascent NA in it's name if there's not gonna be a separate thread https://www.teamfortress.tv/53130/essentials-tf-announces-i65-fundraiser

Also people have real lives and it's a big chore having to play the entire season and off season without a break at all, that's a surefire way to get burned out (especially after they've already won, no reason to go that hard)
It's a bummer we didn't get to see froyo go as well this year (i46 double NA grand final would've been hype af) but I'm assuming that there's a good reason for it, like conflicts with real life obligations, etc.

edit: also yeah these puns in the title are cool and all but its a bit questionable when they prevent you from understanding the actual content of the article like with this one lol

exile1

16 Frags – +

Awesome stuff Ascent guys and I know you'll do well at i65!

Shout out to Ascent for the great years of TF2 I was able to watch throughout the years. I hope the next roster that forms for S1 RGL will be just as fun to watch as all the others. no doubt in my mind it will, of course

Awesome stuff Ascent guys and I know you'll do well at i65!

Shout out to Ascent for the great years of TF2 I was able to watch throughout the years. I hope the next roster that forms for S1 RGL will be just as fun to watch as all the others. no doubt in my mind it will, of course

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