Last year was a dream. This year was a nightmare. First, I want to thank @Envy for giving us this opportunity. Their signing of @RANKERSvlr really was a dream come true. Anything we asked of them, they gave us. They put us in the perfect environment to win, both last year and this year. I truly appreciate everyone there. Now for the main course. This year’s result was the culmination of a lot of bad decisions from a lot of different parties, so please don’t send hate toward anyone. It was a tale as old as time; what started as a couple of friends enjoying a game they loved slowly became a corporate work environment. So many of the things that led us to win last year got changed under the pretense of “this is tier one, we can’t do things the same way.” This slowly soured me. I was complicit, I let these things change, and that’s one of the biggest lessons I learned this year: if you aren’t adamant about your opinion, it’ll get overlooked. Keep pushing until you get what you need. Eventually, months went by and I lost the passion I once had for the game and became a bad teammate. I didn’t even realize it in the moment, but I stopped giving it my all, because I was playing someone else’s game. I gave up the IGL role since I couldn’t see my style working with the system we were running. I started the season with high hopes, expecting to just focus on my mechanics. Then I was asked to make mid-round calls around a philosophy that I have no experience playing with. That was the end of me. Then there was a saving grace: Eggsterr’s last game. A meaningless game for us, but a crucial one for MIBR, they needed it to secure the first seed in playoffs. So I proposed something -> put Eggsterr on Yoru and let me call Rankers style for his last game. With some reluctance, everyone accepted. Domination. We broke the record for the fastest win in VCT Americas and this time, we were on the winning side of it. For just a moment, that spark came back. I had hope; I thought maybe the team would finally see eye to eye with me. Somehow beating the first seed in our group 13-1 and 13-3 couldn’t mend what had already been broken (even now, that’s mind boggling to me). Then EWC came, and I wasn’t given all the pieces I’d asked for. We lost, ending any dream I had left for ENVY. To the fans: thank you for the endless support, even with our abysmal results you guys kept sending positivity, you guys are the best. Hopefully the path @Envy chose was the right one. Only time will tell…