Update (January 13th 2022): UK esports organisation Into the Breach have qualified for the ESL Challenger League (Season 40) in CSGO, with an all-UK roster.
The ESL Challenger League was formerly known as ESEA Premier. The news comes after ESL Gaming made a bunch of big structural changes for the ESL Pro Tour in 2022.
There was a placement for a downgrade from EPL but not team down, so we were given the slot as per 3rd in closed quals
The org believes it’s the first time a team has qualified for this with an all-UK roster.
Sam Cook, Into The Breach founder, told Esports News UK: “There was a placement for a downgrade from the ESL Pro League (EPL) but no team came down, i.e. there wasn’t a demotion, so a slot opened up. We were given the slot as per finishing third in the closed qualifiers.”
Original article: It’s been a busy start to 2022 for UK esports organisation Into the Breach (ITB), who have made a number of announcements in a matter of days.
The org have moved into Valorant after bringing across Tenstar’s academy roster known as Titan. Fellow UK org Tenstar let the players go due to Riot’s rules that prevent an organisation from fielding multiple rosters in the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT).
The roster consists of:
- Nathen ‘CraZe’ Burton
- James ‘Stokesy’ Stokes
- Adrian ‘Guesty’ Guest
- Joel ‘roX’ Donaldson
- Reynard ‘Keodo’ Chang
- Eoin Shanahan (coach)
Into the Breach said in a statement on the Tenstar website: “We’re more than happy to welcome Tenstar’s academy roster into the ITB fold. We share their belief in this roster’s potential as future UK stars of the Valorant scene – and it’ll be our pleasure to be a part of their journey.”
Secondly, Into the Breach have signed a one-year contract extension with their CSGO players, as well as bringing on board a coach and team manager. This news was first reported by Dafydd Gwynn of Rush B Media.
This roster is as follows:
- Adam ‘Adam9130’ Ahmad
- William ‘Dobbo’ Dobson
- Cai ‘Cypher’ Watson
- Kirk ‘Tadpole’ Stephens
- Yaroslav ‘Isk’ Issakov
- Gustavo ‘Juve’ Fernandes (coach)
- Marvin ‘Punico’ Matthes (team manager)
Into the Breach also announced boot camps, the return of a pre-season tournament for grassroots players to test their skills and more.
The org thanked their partners Cooler Master UK, G2A and Neo.Bet in helping them re-sign their CSGO players.
Team captain Adam9130 said on the ITB website: “Our goal for 2022 is to push onto higher levels in addition to cementing ourselves as a more established team who are no longer seen as underdogs, but genuine competitors. We will be attending the upcoming Copenhagen Games event in April to demonstrate our competitiveness and our ability, not as individuals but as a team.”
And thirdly, ITB have signed their Rainbow Six Siege teams onto longer-term contracts, as well as announcing new tournaments.
The roster – set to take part in Ubisoft’s official UK Ireland Nationals (UKIN) Division 2 – is:
- Nerf
- Xumi
- Relaxing
- Rawa
- Encryptions
The organisation have also created a series of £500 tournaments for grassroots and upcoming UK teams, like its CSGO tournaments, with additional gear from Cooler Master to be won for fan-nominated MVPs.
ITB are also looking into an academy offering for Rainbow Six Siege.
Team captain Nerf said: “I’m delighted to be signing with ITB for the upcoming UKIN2 season and beyond, as we’ll be looking to qualify for UKIN and push for the CL spot this year. They’ve been nothing but supportive and its great to have the backing of an org you can really trust. I’m looking forward to showing everyone our potential soon.”
Into the Breach also compete in Dota 2.
Last year, Into The Breach signed a DreamLeague Dota Pro Circuit team featuring UK Dota 2 players.
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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.
