MAD Lions joins NA VALORANT, sign Challengers team Dark Ratio

Just before the beginning of the VALORANT 2023 season, MAD Lions are joining the NA VALORANT scene by signing Challengers team Dark Ratio. This marks OverActive Media’s second try in VALORANT after running a team in the 2022 VALORANT France Regional League. With picking up Dark Ratio, including their coach, they have a roster that already secured a spot in Challengers through an open qualifier. Now, MAD Lions will compete against teams like G2 Esports, TSM and The Guard to see who makes it to Ascension.

Introducing our NA #VALORANT Challengers roster.@TrickAIM@Ange_AMIL@drone_fps @WillFPS @ZexRow#goMAD | #ChallengersNA pic.twitter.com/Db4oagiXym

— MAD Lions English (@MADLions_EN) January 31, 2023

The new MAD Lions NA VALORANT roster

To start, here is the new MAD Lions VALORANT roster, with their coach.

• Adam “Ange” Milian
• Anthony “ZexRow” Colandro
• Taylor “drone” Johnson
• Justin “Trick” Sears
• William “Will” Cheng
• Jornen “MoonChopper” Nishiyama (head coach)

As for the roster and their history, Dark Ratio was a roster formed out of the core of DarkZero Esports before they released their players. Everyone but Will had experience together playing on that roster, getting top-four finishes consistently in the Tier 3 scene. When they changed to Dark Ratio, the team improved and won tournaments including Proving Grounds 2022: Unleashed and the July 2022 gauntlet for Knights Arena.

Will is the newest addition to the roster, fresh off his time with 100 Thieves in 2022. He joined 100 Thieves mid-way through the year and helped them reach Champions through the NA Last Chance Qualifier. After 100 Thieves let Will go for new signings in 2023, he joined Dark Ratio. As a great duelist, he helped them secure a spot in Challengers.

Lastly, the head coach. MoonChopper is a very experienced strategic coach, formerly of Cloud9 White. For those who don’t know, that’s one of the most dominant teams in Game Changers’ history. However, as 2022 ended, he departed from Cloud9 White and joined Dark Ratio as the head coach. His first task was to get them into Challengers, and that he did.

OverActive Media joins NA VALORANT

As for the org, they spoke highly of VALORANT after signing their first NA roster.

“We’re thrilled to join this exclusive group of talented players and notable organizations for the NA League’s inaugural season,” said Adam Adamou, Chief Strategy Officer at OverActive Media. “VALORANT is today’s fastest-growing esport and we’re proud to have made it through the competition.”

While the branding is focused on MAD Lions, the org wants to represent Canada as best as it can.

“VALORANT is the perfect addition to our existing esports teams and we’re excited to help bring the League to the Canadian marketplace,” said Alyson Walker, the Chief Commercial Officer at OverActive Media.