Dear @lhfaria , We have never met but by way of introductions I am the founder and CEO of M80. Congratulations on the successful VCT Championship event this past weekend. The success of this event only emboldens what I have believed and worked towards for the last four years - that Valorant is the future of international esports and entertainment at the highest level. With the news today regarding The Guard and the VCT Ascension slot I am sure this is a complicated and unfortunate turn of events. I recognize it presents a Kobayashi Maru for VCT Americas and believe that hard problems require innovative solutions that ultimately will be in the best interest of Valorant esports, VCT and most importantly the players and fans. I would suggest simply not ascending anyone is a solution but far from the best given the options. This being said I wanted to propose the following: I am offering to fly to LA this week to meet with you and Riot leadership to present our position on why I believe ascending M80 to VCT Americas is the best option given the situation. More competition, amazing players and providing jobs and opportunity to people who live and breathe to support the Valorant esports ecosystem. Doing nothing damages the esports and the infrastructure that will support the growth of VCT for years to come. If the argument is that M80 has not earned ascension then we would agree to play a one match playoff against any team in the Americas you feel deserves an equal opportunity to ascend. We are happy to get back on stage and compete. I will also pledge to work with The Guard and existing Guard players and coaches to provide opportunities either with M80 or with a team they elect to sign with. We have so many talented and unique players here in the Americas that deserve an opportunity to play Valorant as professional esports athletes. Please let me know if you are willing to entertain a meeting and I’m on the next flight to LA. I would love to work with you to find the best solution for Valorant. Sincerely, Marco Mereu

Regarding @M80gg Valorant - We appreciate and care about the players and coaches who built this team and program and want the best for their careers. Every one one of them is a Tier 1 player/coach and can compete at that level. They deserve any opportunity presented to them. As an organization we came up just short of our goal last season. We hope to run it back as a unit but the players absolutely have a right to explore any opportunties they feel would be best for them if not with M80. They know how this program works because they built the blueprint. We will be back in Challengers next season with the same goal, same mentality and hopefully the same core. The only difference will be next season we are winning it all.