Leviatan rounds up the roster with the addition of Tex
After announcing the addition of Erick “aspas” Santos yesterday, Leviatan has announced the final player of the VCT 2024 roster, Ian “tex” Botsch. The official Leviatan Twitter/X today, 13th October, announced the addition of tex to the roster. Tex was previously part of the The Guard roster, who won VCT Americas Ascension.
Leviatan - An extraordinary summit:
After forming in November 2021, Leviatan quickly became a top Valorant competitor in LATAM. They placed second at the VCT LATAM Challengers playoffs and missed out on an opportunity to attend a LAN event.
They accomplished their goal by qualifying for VCT Masters Copenhagen 2022. At the event, they almost beat Fnatic and placed 5th-6th at the event. They followed it up with a 7th-8th place finish at Valorant Champions 2022.
Leviatan eliminated XSET at VCT Masters Copenhagen 2022 (credits: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)Leviatan was selected as the LATAM representative in VCT Americas. Benjamín "Adverso" Poblete and Marco Eliot "Melser" Machuca Amaro left, and the team brought in Angelo "keznit" Mori, Augustin "nowzerr" Ibarra, and Roberto Francis "Mazino" Rivas Bugueno. Before the VCT LOCK//IN 2023, Leviatan was considered a strong contender to win it all.
Unfortunately, the team failed to meet those expectations. The team parted ways with keznit, who joined back with KRU Esports. At VCT Americas 2023, Leviatan was considered amongst the toughest competitors but failed to meet those expectations.
They placed fourth in the regular season but lost to FURIA and Cloud9 to get eliminated from the VCT Americas Playoffs. The team made a fantastic run at the VCT Americas LCQ 2023 but was on the opposite side of a KRU Esports Cinderella run. This concluded Leviatan’s 2023.
Leviatan’s preparations for VCT 2024:
The year was disappointing for Leviatan. Missing international events throughout the year called for changes. On 10th October, Leviatan announced the departure of Vicente “Tacolilla” Compagnon and Fabian “Shyy” Usnayo.
Leviatan yesterday announced the addition of Aspas to replace Tacolilla. Today, they announced tex replacing Shyy on the roster.
Tex called out G2 Esports in his announcement video. For context, tex was earlier part of the Guard roster, later picked up by G2 esports after the Guard made a mess out of the promotion.
While it is a light-hearted banter, such banters are always advantageous for viewership and creating rivalries. The video also confirmed that tex will take over Shyy’s Sentinel role on the team.
While Aspas is an upgrade over Tacolilla, replacing Shyy might be a questionable choice since tex previously played Duelist and Chamber but not a traditional Sentinel.
Another major problem for the team has to be the communication issues created with the addition of English-speaking tex. While the LEV players are well-versed in speaking English, it might create an issue in intense situations.
Fortunately, before the inaugural VCT 2024 Kickoff tournament, the team has ample time to sort the issue. Right now, the first task on Leviatan’s checklist has to be finding a replacement for Rodrigo “Onur” Dalmagro. Onur was part of Leviatan's rise to the top, and is one of the leading LATAM coaches. Onur had announced his free agency shortly after the team's LCQ elimination.
With multiple coaches available, Leviatan definitely has options. For now, they have secured two strong prospects for their roster and will be looking to secure a strong coach to lead the team.
The VCT 2024 Leviatan roster is as follows:
- Francisco "kiNgg" Aravena
- Agustin “nzr” Ibarra
- Roberto "Mazino" Rivas
- Erick “aspas” Santos
- Ian “tex” Botsch
You can follow Leviatan’s Twitter/X for all the updates on the roster. You can also follow the VCT 2024 rostermania on Strafe.
Featured Image Credits: Lance Skundrich//Riot Games
Read More:
Reigning Americas MVP Aspas Officially Joins Rivals Leviatan
Team Heretics announce the addition of Wo0t, ReiNs, and MiniBoo to the VCT 2024 roster.
LEV Tacolilla about the current state of Chamber.
'I know we're underperforming.' LEV Onur talks about Leviatan's season.