Raise Your Edge Gaming sign European mix featuring cNed

Fans who followed the LVP Rising Series LVP - Rising Series - #1 - Main Event will have noticed something: a new mixed team qualifying out of the stacked Group A, beating the newly-signed GIANTX roster. That roster, featuring several ex-Movistar Riders members as well as Turkish fan favourite Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek, has now been signed to Acend, an organization owned by Poker website Raise Your Edge and, prior to VALORANT, primarily competing in the PLAYERUNKNOWN’s Battlegrounds and Starcraft spaces.

The full Raise Your Edge Gaming roster consists of cNed, Patryk "starxo" Kopczynski, Santeri "BONECOLD" Sassi, Jose Luis "koldamenta" Aranguren, and Vladyslav "kiles" Shvets. koldamenta and kiles come from the former lineup of Movistar Riders, who were one of the best teams in Spain but had a disastrous First Strike run, failing to progress past any open qualifier. Prior to that, koldamenta played with notable European roster Project SW. Polish player starxo previously represented THOSE GUYS and Entropiq, serving in a primary duelist role. cNed needs no introduction, as the Turkish star played for BBL Esports and nolpenki, making the quarterfinals of First Strike, before more recently serving as a stand-in for FUT Esports. Lastly, BONECOLD is a more recent addition to VALORANT and probably the least-well known player, having been active in the Counter-Strike scene even in to 2020. He previously played VALORANT with Finnish team hREDS.

"For 2021 I had different options to choose regarding my future in VALORANT, but as soon as I got the message from RYE I knew I would go for that one. I played for RYE as a PUBG player for more than half a year and I know how good they treat their players and how much effort they put in every project to succeed. To be honest, my only goal in VALORANT since the beginning was to build a tier 1 European roster, RYE had the same ambitions and I know how important it is to have a good org backing us up. Our expectations are to become a top 5 European roster. And we are all convinced that we'll get there," koldamenta said in the official announcement.

As previously mentioned, the roster has already played together under the name Don’t Even Ask in the LVP Rising Series #1, defeating Vodafone Giants, as well as Lunaris, en route to placing second in their Group and qualifying for the bracket stage. starxo and cNed have been playing duelists - the former Reyna and the latter Jett - while koldamenta has taken his usual role of Sova, BONECOLD has been playing Omen, and kiles has played in the Sentinel spot.

Raise Your Edge have signed a powerful roster that will hope to compete with the best in Europe - something they’ve already done in the LVP event. They’ll have no shortage of fans with cNed on the roster, and they'll look to make their presence felt heading into the first round of Challenger and Master events in just under a week’s time.

Raise Your Edge Gaming are:

Vladyslav “kiles” Shvets Patryk “starxo” Kopczynski Jose Luis “koldamenta” Aranguren Santeri “BONECOLD” Sassi Mehmet Yağız “cNed” İpek

Laurynas “Nbs” Kisielius (Coach)