Community Reacts to Velocity Gaming’s Elimination From VCT 2023: South Asia Split 2

Velocity Gaming (VLT) were to play their decider match against Reckoning Esports(RGE) in VALORANT Challengers 2023: South Asia Split 2, which would keep them in the battle for a spot in the playoffs. RGE defeated VLT 2-0, ending their plans for the playoffs. With this defeat, VLT won't be able to compete in the Pacific Ascension.

Group A consisted of teams of Orangutan Gaming, Reckoning Esports, Revenant Esports, Velocity Gaming, and MLT Esports.VLT had ended the group stages with three defeats against Orangutan Gaming, Reckoning Esports, and Revenant Esports. The team only managed to secure a single win against MLT Esports and hence fourth on the group table, will be unable to qualify for the playoffs.

The community expressed their upset regarding the performance of VLT.

Manoj "Sentinel" Kashyap expressed gratitude for the incredible three years he spent with VLT gaming, a team involved in Valorant India, consisting of a lineup and content creators. Unfortunately, this recent elimination means that VLT will not be participating in any tournaments organized by the publisher for the remainder of 2023. Sentinel also stated that they will not be venturing into other game titles.

Rushindra Sinha, the CEO of Global Esports, acknowledged the tough fight put up by VLT but emphasized that in this profession, there are winners and losers. He encouraged the other teams still competing in the Split to learn from the mistakes made by others. Sinha added that VLT would face difficult decisions as an organization, but the pursuit of improvement will never cease.

Founder & Managing Director of Reckoning Esports Sharang Naicker expressed mixed feelings about the situation. While he was pleased that his players were able to improve and make it to the playoffs, he respected Sentinel and their passion for the game.

Tejas "rite2ace" Sawant, a former VLT player, shared a bittersweet sentiment. His new team, Revenant Esports, successfully qualified, but he felt both happiness and sadness as his previous team, which he had been a part of for two years, failed to qualify.

Following VLT's failure, some fans placed blame on specific individuals, but many others from the community defended them. Sid "Sid" Joshi, in a recent tweet, mentioned that it is unfair to solely blame one person for a loss, as there are often behind-the-scenes factors the audience is unaware of. He emphasized that winning and losing are team efforts.

Ankit "V3nombiceps" Panth, who has experience as both a player and a team owner, took to Twitter to express his thoughts. He stated that players often demand things, but it is important to consider when they will start giving instead. He also pointed out that it is not productive to solely blame someone else for a loss; it could be attributed to a lack of practice or internal conflicts.

This was understandably a disappointing result for fans of VLT who expected much better performances from the roster, considering the caliber of the lineup, which features the likes of former Fnatic star Domagoj "Doma" Fancev, former Team Liquid star Adam "ec1s" Eccle, and some of the most skilled Indian Valorant players in its lineup.

It will be interesting to see the repercussions of this surprising elimination.