Vaevictis Esports was a Russian esports organization. It was founded on 16 November 2015 after the acquisition of the roster and League of Legends Continental League spot of Night Inside.
 Logo of Vaevictis Esports' all-female League of Legends team | |
| Founded | 16 November 2015 |
|---|---|
| Folded | c. 2021 |
| Based in | Moscow, Russia |
| Manager | Ksenia "Trianna" Meshcheryakova |
| General manager | Alexey "Madneps" Kholin |
The organization received international attention in early 2019, when it became the first to sign an all-female League of Legends team to compete in a top-level professional league. The team had record-poor performances throughout the 2019 season, and Vaevictis was consequently removed from the league the following year for not fielding a competitive roster.
By the end of 2021, all of Vaevictis' teams had disbanded.
League of Legends
editVaevictis announced on 10 February 2019 that it was signing an all-female League of Legends team to compete in the LCL, making it the first organization in a top-level professional league to do so.[1][2] The roster was completely renewed after the existing pre-2019 players were let go.[3] The announcement was immediately met with heavy criticism and accusations of it being a publicity stunt, as everyone on the roster mainly played in the support role and barely met the rank requirement to be on a professional team.[4]
Vaevictis' starting roster for the 2019 LCL Spring Split consisted of top laner Diana "TR1GGERED" Ivanchenko, jungler Aida "Merao" Kazaryan, mid laner Elena "VioletFairy" Koval, bot laner Ksenia "Trianna" Meshcheryakova, and support Nataliya "Ankote" Zayko.[5] In late February 2019 Vaevictis announced it was looking for new additions to their roster, and on 28 February top laner Elina "Intgration" Sokolova and bot laner Ekaterina "Hroft" Grishcheneva joined the team, while TR1GGERED and Ankote moved to support and substitute support respectively.[6]
Vaevictis helped set two LCL records in the 2019 spring regular season, one in each of their matches against Vega Squadron. In their first match against Vega Squadron on 17 February 2019, Vaevictis lost with two kills to Vega Squadron's 52, setting an LCL record for the highest kill differential in a single game.[7] Riot Games Russia issued a warning to Vega Squadron for "intentionally stretching out" the match.[8][9] In their second match together on 3 March 2019, Vega Squadron defeated Vaevictis in 13 minutes, making it the shortest game in LCL history and the ninth shortest overall in competitive League of Legends.[10] Vaevictis ended the regular season in last place with 0 wins and 14 losses.[11]
In an interview given on 7 March 2019, Ankote revealed the reason behind the roster changes; she alleged that a toxic team environment and verbal harassment by TR1GGERED led to arguments between her and her teammates, which prompted Vaevictis' management to seek a replacement for either her or TR1GGERED.[12] Ankote apologized to her teammates for her performance in the top lane after roleswapping with TR1GGERED before the roster changes, saying she was not used to the role. According to Ankote, her teammates ridiculed her apology and dismissed it as an excuse.[12] After an investigation, Riot Games Russia issued TR1GGERED a two-game ban on 15 March 2019 for verbal harassment and threatening Ankote on stream.[13][14][15]
A new roster was announced on 7 July 2019. Top laner Anastasiya "HellMa" Pleyko and mid laner Olga "PewPewSolari" Arsenyeva joined Vaevictis, while TR1GGERED, Ankote, Hroft, and Don Hell left.[11] Merao remained on the team, as did Intgration, who switched roles and became a bot laner.[16] On 25 July 2019, head coach Daniel "Remus" Klimanov, who played for Vaevictis prior to their decision to field an all-female team, joined the roster as the new starting mid laner.[17] However, the team once again finished last with a 0–14 record.[18]
In February 2020 it was announced that Vaevictis would be removed from the LCL because the team did not field a competitive roster during the 2019 season, leading to poor results that were disproportionate in comparison to that of the other teams in the league.[19][20][21] The organisers of the LCL stated: "The results of the 2019 season showed a huge difference in Vaevictis Esports' results compared to other LCL teams, which is an unacceptable level of competitiveness in a franchised league. In this regard, Vaevictis Esports will not participate in the LCL's 2020 season."[22][23]
References
edit- ^ Heath, Jerome (11 February 2019). "LCL team Vaevictis Esports signs a female roster". Dot Esports. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
- ^ Beard, Grant (16 May 2019). "Unicorns of Love to join the LCL". Daily Esports. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
- ^ "8 Best Female League of Legends Players & Streamers (2022) | Runetarium". Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ "All-female Russian LoL team Vaevictis Esports lose 52-2 in the LCL: Is this really about giving women a platform or is it just an unfair publicity stunt?". Esports News UK. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
- ^ @VaevictisTeam (10 February 2019). "We're proud to present you Vaevictis eSports roster for LCL Spring 2019!" (Tweet). Retrieved 3 June 2019 – via Twitter.
- ^ "С момента открытия заявок на трайауты велась активная работа — и в результате мы рады представить вам нового члена команды Vaevictis eSports! ..." (in Russian). Vaevictis Esports – via VK.
- ^ Sacco, Dom (17 February 2019). "All-female Russian LoL team Vaevictis Esports lose 52-2 in the LCL: Is this really about giving women a platform or is it just an unfair publicity stunt?". Esports News UK. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
- ^ Kim, Hongje; Oak, Yudae (22 February 2019). "Riot Games Warn LCL's ROX for Banning 5 Support Champs in a Single Match". InvenGlobal.
- ^ Sacco, Dom (21 February 2019). "Warnings issued to LCL teams RoX and Vega Squadron for discrimination and unsportsmanlike behaviour towards all-female side Vaevictis". Esports News UK.
- ^ Erdoğan, Turan (5 September 2021). "Interesting Records from League of Legends Esports". Esportimes. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
- ^ a b Yi, Brandon B. (9 July 2019). "Vaevictis Esports summer split all-girl roster changes are here". Daily Esports. Archived from the original on 22 January 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
- ^ a b ""В сложившейся ситуации не могу молчать". История экс-топлейнера Vaevictis eSports". Cybersport.ru (in Russian). 7 March 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
- ^ "Дисциплинарное решение: Диана "TR1GGERED" Иванченко". Riot Games Russia (in Russian). 15 March 2019. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
- ^ "Игрока женской команды Vaevictis дисквалифицировали на 2 матча LCL за оскорбления на стриме". Cybersports.ru (in Russian). 15 March 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
- ^ "Riot Games дисквалифицировала игрока Vaevictis eSports за травлю". Cybersport.ru (in Russian). 15 March 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
- ^ @VaevictisTeam (7 July 2019). "LCL summer split roster update!" (Tweet). Retrieved 27 July 2019 – via Twitter.
- ^ @VaevictisTeam (25 July 2019). "We have some roster changes after the first week of LCL" (Tweet). Retrieved 27 July 2019 – via Twitter.
- ^ Chandler, Isaac (28 August 2019). "Vaevictis Completes the 0-28 LCL Record". EsportsTalk. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
- ^ "League of Legends: Vaevictis eSports removed from LCL due to poor results". Millenium US. 18 February 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ "Vaevictis female roster removed from LCL". EarlyGame. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ "League of Legends: All-female team Vaevictis kicked out of LCL due to poor performance; CrowCrowd, owned by former player Likkrit joins the league". InvenGlobal. 17 February 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ "Континентальная лига: сезон 2020". LoL Esports RU (in Russian). 10 February 2020. Archived from the original on 16 July 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
- ^ Soba, Carly (18 February 2020). "All-female team Vaevictis removed from LCL due to poor performance". Daily Esports. Archived from the original on 14 July 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
