On the eve of the start of the 2023 season of NA VALORANT Challengers League, OverActive Media officially jumped into the already flourishing tier two league, announcing the signing of the Dark Ratio roster and rebranding them as MAD Lions.
The VALORANT roster will join the other OverActive esports divisions including the MAD Lions League roster competing in the LEC, the Toronto Defiant franchise in the Overwatch League, and the Toronto Ultra competing in the Call of Duty League.
Back in early January, Dot Esports reported that the Dark Ratio players and OverActive were in talks. At first glance, it seems like the organization might have waited until the players secured a Challengers League spot before signing, but Till Werdermann, the director of franchise operations at OverActive Media, told Dot that the deal was done before the open qualifier run began.
“We signed [the Dark Ratio roster] before the qualifier,” Werdermann said. “We wanted to sign a team and support them through qualification [with] our knowledge on team performance. [Our goal] was to look at the market, see who we think has the best chances, sign them up and give them the support.”
The organization has been instrumental in key personnel decisions as well. Werdermann says the decision to bring on former Cloud9 White coach Jornen “MoonChopper” Nishiyama was their call, and that the organization “worked with” the former DarkZero players to bring former 100T duelist William “Will” Cheng into the group. Dark Ratio announced both Will and MoonChopper’s arrival back on Jan. 9, days before the first open qualifier for NA Challengers began.
Werdermann noted that Will stuck out to OverActive and MAD Lions because of his knowledge and experience with 100T, saying he “really pushed the team forward and gave them the edge” needed to make Challengers. “It’s a pickup we’ve been very happy with, and he’s added a lot to the team.”
The decision to sign a team, even one as talented as Dark Ratio, before the open qualifiers began could be considered risky, with Werdermann acknowledging that he isn’t sure how any player could withstand the mental and physical stress that comes with open qualifiers. The organization says they had “a high amount of confidence” about going with a team that already had experience playing together, and with a group of players willing “to grind the smaller tournaments.”
While Werdermann said the organization spoke to other teams given the high amount of talent in North America, he indicated that the decision to move the division from Europe to NA was a much easier one, given their base in Canada and Toronto franchises. Werdermann noted that the organizational involvement, talent level, and potential viewership made the NA “the most interesting” region compared to other areas they were considering, such as Spain.
MAD Lions VALORANT will debut under their new official banner on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 3pm CT vs. TSM.
