Update (December 1st 2021): Astralis has appointed former Tricked manager Natasha Voetmann as team manager for League of Legends:
Original article (September 25th 2021): Astralis’ academy development scheme, Astralis Talent, has acquired its spot in the NLC from outgoing organisation Tricked Esport.
The Danish orgs struck a deal that will see Astralis’ academy team play in the NLC in 2022, working under their main team which of course will still be taking part in the higher-tier LEC as usual.
In an announcement post, Tricked said they have recommended Astralis signs contracts with all of their current League of Legends players and staff.
The news also comes after Tricked won the most recent Summer 2021 NLC, reverse sweeping Fnatic Rising to become the first non-academy team to win the UK/Nordics European Regional League.
Tricked said it now wants to ‘build a new future team that will play at the highest national level’ and will likely return to the NLC one day.
“Right now there is a lack of power further down in the ecosystem for League of Legends to stick together, which is why we are also happy to give Astralis an opportunity.”
Morten Jensen, Tricked Esport
Morten Jensen, CEO at Tricked Esport, said: “I am incredibly proud that in a very short time, we have become the first team that not affiliated with an LEC organisation to win the NLC.
“It shows that [our talent development programme has worked], and right now there is a lack of power further down in the ecosystem for League of Legends to stick together, which is why we are also happy to give Astralis an opportunity.
“We need to go down and build so we can move even more players from [their] dreams to reality – that’s just as important as winning great titles – and one day we will probably return to NLC.”
Natasha Voetmann, outgoing manager of League of Legends at Tricked Esport, added: “We end this round of NLC with a great first place. It has been a fantastic last split for both players and staff in the League of Legends department – we end up at the top – and we finished among the top 12 in the EU Masters tournament.”
Astralis said it was ‘super happy’ to be competing in the NLC.
Tricked follow Finnish team Kova who have also departed the NLC ahead of the 1st Division Qualifier in October 2021.
In August, Freaks 4U took over NLC tournament organising duties from DreamHack, the UKLC was scrapped and a new NLC format was announced.
In other recent Astralis LoL news, the org have let mid-laner MagiFelix go.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
