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Acend Valorant Signs L1NK Ahead of VCT EMEA LCQ

By Ralston Dacanay

Travis "L1NK" Mendoza has joined the Acend Valorant roster ahead of the VCT EMEA Last Chance Qualifier.
Travis "L1NK" Mendoza has joined the Acend Valorant roster ahead of the VCT EMEA Last Chance Qualifier. / Image courtesy of Acend

Travis "L1NK" Mendoza will be competing for Acend in the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) EMEA Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ), the European organization announced Saturday.

The British controller takes the starting spot of reigning 2021 VCT Champions MVP Aleksander "Zeek" Zygmunt, who was benched July 1 because of strategical differences in-game.

"It's me, your favorite bald player," L1NK said in his announcement video, "I'm super excited, super pumped. I'm ready to show everyone what this roster is made of. Anybody that thinks they can stand a chance in the next qualifier, I think you got something coming."

L1NK was part of the founding Team Liquid Valorant roster, having been picked up by the org in August 2020 with the rest of Fish123. Alongside Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom and Dom "soulcas" Sulcas, L1NK ended up competing in three different international LAN events in his two-year-long stint there.

Similar to Zeek, L1NK’s move to the Team Liquid bench came during Stage 2, with both sides coming to a "mutual conclusion" to eventually part ways. Team Liquid signed Aurimas "Dreamas" Zablockis of LDN UTD for the remainder of Stage 2, but finished tied for 5th-6th with Acend to miss out on Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen.

L1NK joins Acend at a pivotal moment right before the start of the EMEA LCQ, the final event in the region having to do with qualification for Valorant Champions, the circuit's end-of-year final in September featuring an expanded pool of 16 international teams competing for the ultimate crown in Istanbul.

By virtue of VCT EMEA circuit point standings, exactly one spot is still left for a team to join FunPlus Phoenix and Fnatic in representing the region at Valorant Champions.

The eight teams with the most VCT EMEA Circuit Points that have not yet qualified for VALORANT Champions will begin facing off online in the LCQ's double-elimination bracket Aug. 7, with a final showdown at the Grand Finals on Aug. 14.

Acend slots into the EMEA LCQ as the No. 5 seed, and will first face No. 4 M3 Champions in Round 1 of the tournament's Upper Bracket.

This final 2022 VCT run for Acend will feature just two of its remaining 2021 VCT Champions players on the roster in Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek and Patryk "starxo" Kopczyński.

In April, Acend replaced Vladyslav "Kiles" Shvets and Santeri "BONECOLD" Sassi with Vakaris "vakk" Bebravičius and Ondřej "MONSTEERR" Petrů.

The Acend Valorant roster is:

  • Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek
  • Patryk "starxo" Kopczyński (IGL)
  • Vakaris "vakk" Bebravičius
  • Ondřej "MONSTEERR" Petrů
  • Travis "L1NK" Mendoza
  • Aleksander "Zeek" Zygmunt (Inactive)
  • Laurynas "Nbs" Kisielius (Head Coach)

For more on Valorant, feel free to check out our 2022 VCT coverage:

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