The Rise Nation announced the signing of former NRG Esports player Ryan “Shanks” Ngo and former Team Envy player Abdo “c4Lypso” Agha to their Valorant roster. This roster change follows the early March departure of coach Erik “da_bears” Stromberg and current Team Basilisk member Chris “riku” Piasecki.
Match fixing allegations
The two players join Todd “anger” Williams, Jason “neptune” Tran, Antonio “Showtime” Angotti and Kevin “poised” Ngo. With six players now on the lineup, anger has transitioned to a substitute role according to their roster for Nerd Street Gamer’s March Monthly tournament.
This is the first time Shanks has been reunited with poised since they were both released from Dignitas in September of 2020. While Shanks was a substitute player on trial at the time, poised also departed from the team after a mutual agreement. This roster change coincided with match-fixing allegations at the time by professional players on social media that targeted The Rise Nation’s new players and current FaZe Clan player Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen.
This news came amid an investigation by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) focused on the North American Mountain Dew League after suspicious bet alerts through its “global integrity monitoring framework” during an 18 month period. Nevertheless, while the results of the esports governing body levied sanctions against 35 players for betting-related offenses, this did not include the three previously mentioned players.
Huge upgrade for The Rise Nation Valorant
The addition of Shanks and c4Lypso is an upgrade for the team, which has found themselves in the bottom half of bracket placements at recent events. Both players have a CS:GO background, with c4Lypso playing for nearly four years in the ESEA and FACEIT scene.The Rise Nation sits at #22 on the North American Valorant rankings according to VLR.gg, and is currently competing in the elimination bracket of Nerd Street Gamers March Main Event.
Published: Mar 27, 2021 05:21 pm