The Guard’s Valorant coach, Josh ‘JoshRT’ Lee, has called for help from Elon Musk and Hollywood actor Ben Affleck to save their team, after it was revealed that the organization didn’t respond to the Team Participation Agreement in time for them to compete in the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT).
On August 29, Riot Games released a statement confirming that, despite qualifying for VCT Americas, The Guard would not be competing in the league after failing to submit the relevant paperwork on time.
As such, the league will go ahead with one fewer team than originally planned.
This has left fans infuriated and The Guard’s players upset, with many in the community asking for another organization to pick up the team and for Riot to allow them to play.
JoshRT reaches out for Elon Musk & Ben Affleck support
Taking matters into his own hands, The Guard coach JoshRT aimed for the stars — literally — when he tried reaching out for help, sending a tweet to both Elon Musk and Ben Affleck to help them get back into the league.
He presented the full team under the moniker of ‘X Gaming’, named after the platform X, formerly known as Twitter before Musk took over and started adding his own touches.
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Hey @elonmusk or @BenAffleck , I heard you like VALORANT?X GAMING 2024:@valynfps @trentFPS @neT_valorant@JonahP_ @texerino Head Coach: @JoshRTz https://t.co/fCJS1ysw87
— G2 JoshRT (@JoshRTz) August 29, 2023
Affleck and Musk went viral over the weekend after it was revealed that they were in attendance at Valorant Champions for the tournament’s grand final. The famed actor complained about the recent Jett nerfs and revealed which Agent he mains.
Valorant’s Global Head of Esports, Leo Faria, released a statement confirming that they had several options for how to approach the situation, and one of them included allowing the players to be picked up by another organization. Ultimately, however, Riot decided that the spot would not be taken.
“Allowing an acquisition by a different organization now opens the door for slots in the VCT to be sold, which we do not allow,” he added.
Hey everyone. This situation is very unfortunate and none of us wanted this outcome. We designed Ascension hoping to see new teams and players joining our International Leagues every year, and it’s disheartening to see this happening in year one. That said, I want to share some… https://t.co/pdXWDVtP2Z
— Leo Faria (@lhfaria) August 30, 2023
Whether they backtrack on that plan under public pressure remains to be seen, but it goes without saying that an esports team funded by Elon Musk and Ben Affleck would immediately draw a lot of interest.
Earlier in 2023, it was revealed that Kroenke Sports & Entertainment had laid off a large number of staff amid speculation that they would move out of the space entirely, with plans to sell their Call of Duty League and Overwatch League teams, LA Guerrillas and LA Gladiators. While neither has been sold at the time of writing, this could indicate once again the organization’s desire to get out of esports.