With ETF2L Season 28 Premiership signups closing this weekend, many European teams are struggling to finalize their rosters and return to the fight for glory. However, Ascent.EU is one of those teams that will not be returning to traverse the upwards battle.
Ascent.EU bids farewell to each other after a short climb. (photo by Alexandra “fribs” Fraser)
Ascent.EU first formed in ETF2L Season 27 as unexpected, with their first line-up consisting of Samski, sorex, credu, adysky, babs, and PolygoN. After the season concluded with unexpected walking away with 5th place, Ascent announced their acquisition of the team to represent the organization under the Ascent.EU banner at Insomnia61.
Shortly before the event, demoman adysky announced he would not be able to attend i61, with top5rocket’s Elacour brought in his place. Ascent.EU struggled despite delivering a damage-heavy performance, and were eliminated in the lower brackets by No Input, placing 7th-8th in the offline event. After the event, Samski stated he would quit TF2 to focus on work, and sorex left the team as well to play backup for LEGO. From there, the rest of the team eventually parted ways.
Former pocket soldier PolygoN gave his thoughts and feelings about their departure:
Unfortunately due to players leaving the roster, we have had to part ways with Ascent. We enjoyed our time representing them for LAN and that we wish Ascent the best in their future endeavours.
Ascent owner Ma3laa also expressed his feelings about the European team’s disbandment:
I’m sad to see the team go; I believe they had a lot of untapped potential. It's unfortunate that this group of players won't continue together, but I believe if they continue to compete they can individually become top players. I really enjoyed watching them as a team and hope to see them succeed in the future.
I intend on sponsoring a new European team at some point, I’d definitely like to have a team at the Sweden LAN, but we’ll see what happens.
Their trek concluded, Ascent.EU’s roster was:
- Scout: credu
- Scout: sorex
- Roamer: Samski
- Pocket: PolygoN
- Demoman: Elacour
- Medic: babs