A North American organization known for its competitive Rainbow Six Siege team has expanded into a new game.
DarkZero Esports has signed the Kooky Koalas VALORANT roster along with their coach, the org announced today. The new lineup will make its debut under the DarkZero banner in the open qualifiers of Challengers One, part of the third and final VCT stage.
Kooky Koalas made a surprise appearance in the Challengers Three main event back in VCT Stage One in late February. As an unsigned roster, the team ran through Spacestation Gaming, Built By Gaming, and finally beastcoast to reach the main event, where they fell in back-to-back series against Gen.G and Luminosity. Since then, the team has found tremendous success in various second-tier NA events, including a recent grand finals win over Soniqs in the Pittsburgh Knights Gauntlet for June.
DarkZero has been a competitive fixture in North American R6 Siege esports since its inception in late 2018. The team found the most success in 2020 with a top-six finish at the Six Invitational and a grand finals sweep over TSM in the August Major in North America. Their loss in the Six Invitational came against 2020 grand finalists and 2021 Invitational champions Ninjas in Pyjamas.
In the official press release, founder and CEO Zachary Matula said he and the organization have looked at “the health of [the League of Legends] ecosystem [and] trust Riot Games will mirror that in VALORANT.” Matula said DarkZero is excited to expand into a new scene and Andy “Andersin” Collins said having “the complete support of an organization at the caliber of DarkZero [is] completely overwhelming.”
The full DarkZero VALORANT roster features Adam “Ange” Milian (formerly with Rise), Kyle “ScrewFace” Jensen (formerly with Mamba Mode Gaming), Nick Harmon (formerly MMG), Yannick “KOLER” Blanchette (formerly with NRG, Immortals), captain Andy “Andersin” Collins, and coach Zack “huuaw” Solomon.
The open qualifiers for Stage Three NA Challengers One begin on July 1. DarkZero confirmed on Twitter that the team will be competing from the org’s headquarters in Las Vegas.
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