Oxygen Esports is returning home to fully engage in the NA VALORANT Challengers League in 2023 for the first time since the organisation entered the VALORANT landscape in late 2020, bringing on a formidable roster with Ascension in mind.
A starting five made up of Mitch Semago, Josh #pwny VanGorder, Devon #randyySavage Bréard, Andrew #Verno Maust, and Logan #skuba Jenkins was revealed by Oxygen recently. Yassin #Reduxx Aboulalazm, a former Oxygen Academy player, enters as a replacement, while Preston #Juv3nile Dornon, a former TSM coach, is named head coach.
Big Changes for Oxygen
The Oxygen roster includes players from several current or previous NA teams, such as T1, Renegades, and Knights, but Mitch, a Cloud9 player, is perhaps the greatest addition. He is the only team member who has participated in an international tournament, and he has the most VCT experience during the past two years.
Speaking of international play, Oxygen, which competed in the Turkish scene in both 2021 and some of 2022 with both their main squad and Game Changers roster, is now completely committed to NA VALORANT. Prior to its release in February of this year, the Game Changers squad made numerous strong showings at the EMEA Game Changers series, and the primary roster was one of the best Turkish teams of 2021.
In reality, Oxygen competed in NA throughout the majority of 2022 with a squad made up primarily of inexperienced and unproven players. Verno, a 2023 starter, is currently switching from the academy to the main roster, while Reduxx, who was mentioned earlier, now plays the main roster sub role.
It makes sense for a company that describes itself as “New England's premier esports organization” to fully relocate to and concentrate on NA. Additionally, the company owns and manages teams in the Overwatch League and the Call of Duty League, namely the Boston Uprising and the Boston Breach, the CDL's most recent additions.
The newly assembled Oxygen team will aim for the January 2023 NA VALORANT Challengers League debut. With more than a month until then, the players will have more than enough time to get to know each other and develop team chemistry.
It will be interesting to see if the changes in Team Oxygen will lead to the desired results, considering how much talent has been assembled from other organizations.
