by Shopify Rebellion have explicitly expressed their desire to join men’s Valorant, and have acquired the former Luminosity Gaming roster to further advance their cause.
It has been an eventful few weeks for Luminosity at the management level. The Canadian esports organization announced their exit from Valorant and shortly after revealed they will be making a return to Rainbow Six after a two-year hiatus.
The reason for their exit from Valorant was not clear, but reports suggested that they are not thrilled about the new Riot Games structure for the 2023 season. However, Luminosity is not ruling out the chances of returning to Valorant down the road.
Meanwhile, Shopify Rebellion have swooped in to pick the exciting talents that became free agents as a result of Luminosity’s decision. In an announcement via Twitter, they revealed that Kaleb “moose” Jayne, Will “dazzLe” Loafman, Tanner “TiGG” Spanu, Adam “mada” Pampuch, Brandon Michael “bdog” Sanders, and head coach Jared “mac” Schneider have been signed.
Following their release by Luminosity, moose revealed that the team is looking to remain together. Moose requested that as he called out for teams to consider signing them.
“Luminosity Valorant, including staff, are now restricted free agents. Keeping our roster AND staff together is incredibly important to us, and vital to the long term success of this team.”
Shopify Rebellion have finally confirmed earlier reports of them initiating conversation with the free agents. It was reported that Shopify Rebellion made contact shortly after the players and staff were released.
To many, the need for Shopify Rebellion to acquire a men’s Valorant roster might be strange, seeing as they are active in the North America men’s Valorant. All of that might soon change as the American organization have applied to be a partner with Riot and Valorant esports in 2023.
Over 150 teams have reportedly submitted applications for partner status with the Valorant franchise league, and Shopify Rebellion is one of them. The decision was made public by Shopify Rebellion’s program development lead Dario Wunsch via Twitter.
“Today we submitted ShopifyRebels partnership application for Valorant Esports! The future of Valorant is bright and we’re excited to grow our role in it. So much is happening with Rebellion right now and I can’t wait to share it all!”
At the time of their application, they did not have an active roster. With the latest development, it seems like they were working on putting one together before getting word back on the status of their application.
Some of the teams who have publicly revealed their intention to partner with Riot ahead of 2023 are:
- TSM
- 100 Thieves
- OpTic Gaming
- XSET
- Sentinels
- The Guard
- Version1
- T1
- Cloud9
- Evil Geniuses
- G2 Esports
- Counter Logic Gaming (no active roster)
Although Shopify Rebellion are just getting into men’s Valorant, they have been in the esports scene since 2021. They have active teams in Halo, Rocket League, and StarCraft II.
The organization has also run a Valorant women’s team. Although they have had great outings, they have failed to overcome Cloud9 in back-to-back NA Game Changers Series to clinch first place.
Before Luminosity exited the scene, they qualified for the NA Last Chance Qualifier. With Shopify Rebellion signing their entire roster, the players will compete under their banner.
It is a unique opportunity for Shopify Rebellion to hit the ground running. If they manage to clinch the top spot in the event scheduled for August 8, they will get direct seeding to the 2022 Valorant Champions.
