VCL East: Preview

Returning for the 2023 competitive season is VCL East: Surge. Here's everything you need to know about split one!

Format

The regular season features ten teams competing against each other in a Double Round Robin format. All matches are best of one and the top six teams advance to the playoffs. The playoffs feature a double elimination bracket with best of three matchups leading up to the Grand Finals. The Grand Finals will be a best of five series.

Teams

Here are all the teams competing in Split 1

1) Enterprise Esports

Czech/Slovak esports organization Enterprise Esports are back in the Eastern Europe VCL for the second consecutive split. They placed seventh in the last one. On December 17th, Enterprise finalized their roster for the league.

Václav Jan "Cantzer" Stezka
Alex "alexiiik" Hawlasek
Martin "MaFiN" Vrána
Patrik "Minny" Hušek
Benjy David "benjyfishy" Fish

The roster stays the same from last Split except for one major move, which was adding former Fortnite pro benjyfishy in the offseason. He will bring some fresh firepower to this team, and this will be a great experience for him. This team should do better this time around.

2) B8 Esports

It was announced on December 15h, 2022, that Ukranian esports organization B8 was re-entering Valorant and invited to the upcoming split of VCL East: Surge. On January 12th, they announced their roster for the split.

Vladyslav "arch" Svistov
Aurimas "Dreamas" Zablockis
Kamil "Kamisseq" Lepper
Kamil "kvmilhvh" Szymanek
Adam "adm1k" Siemieniec
Yevhenii "Itachi" Motsevyi (Substitute)
Egor "pops" Zinoviev (Coach)

This B8 Esports roster features experienced players and upcoming talents. Ukrainian player arch is one of the best IGLs in the Eastern Europe region and he reunites with the organization he played for in January of last year. Lithuanian player Dreamas hails from Team Liquid. He played with them in June and July of last year. Polish duo Kamisseq and kvmilhvh both hail from Anonymo Esports, where they played last split. Polish player adm1k hails from UCAM Tokiers. He has also played for Anonymo Esports and Team Queso in the past. Sixth man/substitute player Itachi is an up-and-coming player from Ukraine with lots of potential and it is smart of B8 Esports to sign him. Pops will be the Coach for this roster. He has previously coached PURPURE and Crypto Esports.

3) Acend

Former VCT Champions winner Acend are one of the new organizations invited to the Eastern Europe VCL this year. They announced their new roster on January 10th.

Ondřej "MONSTEERR" Petrů
Gilad "ALIVE" Hakim
Jack "Br0die" Emmott
Alessio "Musashi" Xhaferi
Kamil "baddyG" Graniczka
Ivan "B3ASTM0D3" Ledić
Laurynas "Nbs" Kisielius (Coach)

This roster features some of the best upcoming talents in the Eastern Europe region and should be a real contender for Ascension. MONSTEERR is the only remaining player from the previous roster. He is joined by Israeli player ALIVE, who comes from Excel, British player Br0die who comes from MAD Lions, German player Musashi from BIG, and Polish player baddyG from Team Vitality. Sixth man B3ASTM0D3 last played for Cowana Gaming and Austrian Force. He is a great player with lots of potential, and this will be a good experience for him. Acend also retained their coach Nbs, who has been with them since March 2021. This is probably the best roster in the league, and they should do very well.

4) Zero Tenacity

Returning to VCL East: Surge for the second year in a row is Zero Tenacity. The Serbian esports organization placed fifth in the last split. Their roster will be staying the same as last year.

Jakub "Ayke" Smoczyński
Szymon "Kenobi" Łabędzki
Jakub "qxv" Sawicki
Arkadiusz "xiTsha" Nowak
Jasiek "jas" Nieliwodzki
Patryk "Patr1k" Hronowski (Coach)
Kamil "krytyq" Dudek (Coach)

This full Polish roster has been together since entering the league and it will continue that way this upcoming split. The only changes Zero Tenacity made in the offseason were parting ways with their Analyst Flynn and adding former TENSTAR coach krytyq, who will be their second coach. It'll be interesting to see how this roster does against some of the top teams in the league.

5) NOM Esports

Returning to VCL East: Surge for the second year in a row is NOM Esports. The Israeli esports organization placed fourth in Split 1 and third in Split 2. On January 3rd, NOM announced their roster for the upcoming split.

"n0xville"
Saar "UndeadXP" Israeli
"Rave"
Ofek "Splinter" Cohen
Shay "doNinja" Mandil
Shon "ShonP" Trikisha (Substitute)

This full Israeli roster was previously under NOM as their Junior team, but on January 3rd, it was announced that they would be promoted and playing in VCL East: Surge. This roster has been together a while except for doNinja, who joined the team in the offseason. He was previously on Finest Overwolf Origin. Additionally, ShonP will now be the substitute for the team. It'll be interesting to see how this full Israeli roster fares up against the top teams in the league.

6) Anorthosis Famagusta Esports

Cypriot esports organization Anorthosis Famagusta are back in the Eastern Europe VCL for the second year in a row. They placed third in Split 1 and fourth in Split 2. On January 9th, they announced their roster for the upcoming split.

George "KhA" Kostalas
Theodoros "TheoW" Kasiolas
Stavros "eXampL" Zazanis
Piotr "YouBreak" Chodoła
Aurimas "TheAuri" Latvys
Mathias "matti" Nielsen (Coach)

Greek trio KhA, TheoW, and eXampL all joined Anorthosis Famagusta in September 2021 and will again be playing with them for this upcoming split. They are joined by Polish player YouBreak, who hails from TENSTAR, and TheAuri, who hails from Cyber Wolves Esports. Former NOM Esports player matti has also joined Anorthosis Famagusta to be their Coach. Often known as the dark horse of the league, it'll be really interesting to see how Anorthosis Famagusta can do against some of the better teams like Acend and Anonymo.

7) Diamant Esports

Returning to VCL East: Surge for the second consecutive split is Diamant Esports. The Slovenian esports organization placed second in the previous one. Their roster will mostly remain the same as last year.

Tilen "Grmekista" Grmek
Patrik "Patix" Rozman
Ivan "Prti" Erak
Alen "al1en" Pašić
Emil "runneR" Trajkovski
Pavle "pakko" Kostić (Coach)

This roster features some of the best Balkan players. Grmekista, Patix, and Prti have all been a part of Diamant since Feburary of last year. In July, the contracts of the players expired, but Diamant signed them back in September, as well as adding Slovenian player al1en and Macedonian player runneR. Those are big pickups, as runneR is considered one of the best up and coming players. We should see a big jump from him this split. Diamant also re-signed pakko as their Coach in September. With these changes, this roster should continue to play well.

8) Anonymo Esports

Anonymo Esports are back in VCL East: Surge for the second consecutive year. They placed first in Split 1 and sixth in Split 2. They have had different rosters for both of the previous splits and will again have a new one for this upcoming split. On January 11th, they announced their brand-new roster for the league.

Sebastian "snikk" Kamiński
Tselmeg "xuss" Tsolmon
Wojciech "Stix" Chamielec
Grzegorz "GRUBINHO" Ryczko
Kacper "Katu" Twórz
Kacper "Belmonte" Mordak (Head Coach)

This full Polish roster features immense talent. Snikk and xuss both rejoin Anonymo Esports, which is where they played in Split 1. Snikk most recently played for Team Heretics and xuss comes from Team Queso. Also from Team Queso is Katu. Stix hails from TENSTAR and GRUBINHO hails from Team Heretics as well. Former Anonymo Coach belmonte rejoins the team for this split. He hails from WYLDE. This roster is considered one of the favorites to win the league but will have to beat stiff competition like Acend to do it.

9) Rapid Ninjas

New to VCL East this upcoming split is Hungarian team Rapid Ninjas. Their roster remains the same as last year.

Bence "hussaR" Huszár
Farsang "Chadi" Balázs
Patrik "Kwixy" Liesinger
Kornel "arbie" Holecz
Martin "ikke" Erdei

This roster features some of the best Hungarian players. Ikke, hussaR, and Kiwxy have all been together since January 2022. Chadi and arbie both joined the team in June 2022. They both played for iPon Esport in the past. It'll be interesting to see how this roster will do against teams such as Acend and Anonymo.

10) Cyber Wolves Esports

Another new team to VCL East: Surge is Cyber Wolves Esports. The Slovenian esports organization announced their roster for the upcoming split on January 10th.

Albert "almo" Moscicki
Krystian "Freyy" Konopka
Martin "Hitch" Srp
Artur "pyrolll" Minin
Jovan "tatzuki" Milovanović
Sergey "fistie" Vasilev (Head Coach)
Artur "Marchi" Muratov (Assistant Coach)

This Cyber Wolves roster features the ex-NOM core in almo, Freyy, and Hitch. Joining them is former Divinity player pyrolll and former Diamant player tatzuki. The Head Coach of the roster is fistie, who was the former Analyst for Finest, and the Assistant Coach is Marchi, who was an Analyst for only Top players in the past. This team features experienced players and upcoming talent. It'll be interesting to see how they do in this upcoming split.