Splyce

Splyce (SPY) was a professional esports organization and media company based in Rochester, New York.[1] Their League of Legends team was a franchise member of the LEC, Europe's top professional league for League of Legends. Splyce announced its rebranding from Follow eSports in November 2015.[2] On November 29, 2019, Splyce's parent company, OverActive Media, announced it had merged Splyce with its other esports subsidiary, MAD Lions, and that all of Splyce's teams would henceforth compete under that name.[3]

Splyce
Short nameSPY
Divisions
Based inRochester, New York, U.S.
CEOMarty Strenczewilk
General managerTill Werdermann
Partners
Parent groupOverActive Media
Websitesplyce.gg

League of Legends

Follow eSports acquired the League of Legends team Dignitas EU after they qualified for the EU LCS (now LEC) on October 29, 2015, for nearly £625,000 ($1 million).[4] At the time of the acquisition the team's roster consisted of Martin "Wunderwear" Hansen, Chres "Sencux" Laursen, Kasper "Kobbe" Kobberup, and Jonas "Nisbeth" Anderson with Daniel Vorborg as Team Manager.

Tournament results

Call of Duty

On January 2, the day that the organization renamed itself, they picked up a Call of Duty roster consisting of JoshuaLee "Joshh" Sheppard, Jordan "Reedy" Reed, James "Dominate" Batz, and Benjamin "Bance" Bance.[2] On May 8, 2 Place at ESWC Zénith 2016. They are participating in the Call of Duty World League.[5]

Over the past three years, Splyce has been one of the most competitively successful Call of Duty teams in the world.

In 2016, they finished second in the Call of Duty World League Championship.

In 2017, Splyce won the Call of Duty World League Stage 1 Playoffs, defeating FaZe Clan and Luminosity gaming, among others, on their way to capturing the title and over $200,000 in prize winnings.[6]

In 2018, Splyce were the runners-up in the 2018 CWL Birmingham Open, the fourth Major International offline event for Call of Duty: World War II.[7]

Counter-Strike

On August 19, 2015, Follow eSports announced it had acquired the roster of SapphireKelownaDotCom.[8] Follow eSports dropped SapphireKelownaDotCom and picked up the roster of ex-eLevate on October 25, 2015.[9] Following shortly after the organisation's rebranding from Follow eSports to Splyce, the roster disbanded on December 27, 2015.[10] On December 30, 2015, Splyce picked up four players from the team formerly known as Dogmen[11] and picked up David "DAVEY" Stafford as their fifth player on January 14, 2016.[12] Splyce was invited to the MLG Columbus 2016 qualifiers due to The Mongolz being unable to get visas. They qualified for MLG Columbus 2016 after beating Counter Logic Gaming and Vexed Gaming.[13] Shortly after on June 17, 2016, Abraham "abE" Fazli and Andrew "Professor_Chaos" Heintz departed from the team,[14] though Professor_Chaos was announced as Splyce's new coach on June 21, 2016.[15] Jason "jasonR" Ruchelski additionally departed from the roster on July 7, 2016.[16] On July 12, 2016, Splyce officially announced the signing of Joey "CRUC1AL" Steusel, Asger "AcilioN" Larsen and Enkhtaivan "Machinegun" Lkhagva.[17] In the following 2 years, Splyce made some minor roster adjustments. On April 29, 2018, Splyce announced that they would pull out CS:GO, stating "It is something that is the best for all of us".[18]

Tournament results

Halo

On October 11, 2018, Splyce announced that their Halo roster consisting of Renegade, Shotzzy, StelluR and Eco would be competing in the Call of Duty World League as well.[19]

Tournament results
  • 1st – 2018 Halo World Championships
  • 4th – 2017 Halo World Championships
  • 2nd – HCS London 2018
  • 1st – MLG New Orleans 2018
  • 1st – Halo World Championship 2018 North America Regional Finals
  • 1st – MLG Orlando 2018
  • 3rd – HCS Pro League Fall 2017 Finals

Rocket League

On May 10, 2017, Splyce announced that they had signed Jaime "Karma" Bickford, a former Hearthstone turned Rocket League player, to their stream team.[20] Three months later, Chandler "HotWheelsSid" Higdon and Braden "Pluto" Schenetzki were brought into the squad to compete in RLCS Season 4.[21] However, this team failed to qualify through the open qualifiers and eventually disbanded. On March 6, 2018, Splyce announced the new roster which retained Karma and brought in Trevor "DudeWithTheNose" Hannah and Jake "JWismont" Wismont. Jimmy "Jimmer" Jordan was also brought in as a coach for the squad.[22] Season 5 saw Splyce make it through the open qualifiers and into the RLRS, but a disappointing sixth-place finish meant they would not be staying in the Rival Series. The team stuck together for Season 6 and again qualified for the RLRS. A first-place finish in the regular season booked Splyce a trip to the Promotional Tournament, where they defeated both Bread and Rogue to gain promotion into the RLCS for Season 7.

Tournament results
  • 1st – RLCS Season 6 NA Promotion Tournament

Fighting games

On August 24, 2015, Follow eSports started a Super Smash Bros. division first signing two players. They would later expand into the FGC with the signing of Ryan "Filipino Champ" Ramirez.

Starcraft II

On December 1, 2016, Splyce announced the creation of a Starcraft II division first signing Kang "Solar" Min Soo.[23][24] On December 25, Kim "Stats" Dae Yeob was added to the roster.[25] Jun "TY" Tae Yang, the last player to become part of the team joined on May 11, 2017.[26] Kang "Solar" Min Soo left Splyce on August 1, 2018.[27]

Overwatch
Main article: Toronto Defiant

In 2018, it was announced that an ownership including Splyce had purchased the Toronto Overwatch League franchise, later named Toronto Defiant. In addition to its ownership percentage, Splyce also operates the team.[28]

Investors

In 2017, Delaware North, owners of the Boston Bruins, invested in Splyce. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.[29]

In 2018, Splyce raised a $2.6 million funding round from The Ledger Group/OverActive Media, an eSports investment group based in Canada, and First Serve Partners, a venture capital firm made up of business leaders, pop-culture influencers, and current/former professional athletes.[30]

References
  1. "OverActive Media Group acquires Splyce to form leading esports brand". Cision. November 21, 2018. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  2. "Follow eSports Becomes Splyce". The Daily Dot. December 2, 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  3. Hitt, Kevin (December 2, 2019). "Splyce Rebrands as Mad Lions, Will Continue to Play in LEC". The Esports Observer. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  4. "Million-dollar deal for pro-gaming team". BBC. November 3, 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  5. "Splyce wants to change the European narrative in Call of Duty". Espn.go.com. July 11, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  6. "CWL/2017 Season/Global Pro League/Stage 1 - Call of Duty Esports Wiki". cod-esports.gamepedia.com. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  7. "CWL/2018 Season/Birmingham Open - Call of Duty Esports Wiki". cod-esports.gamepedia.com. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  8. "Splyce". Splyce.gg. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  9. Rosen, Daniel. "Follow eSports picks up ex-eLevate CSGO". theScore eSports. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  10. Park, Paul. "Splyce's CS:GO roster disbands". theScore eSports. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  11. Barak, Jon. "Splyce signs Dogmen". GosuGamers. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  12. "DAVEY joins Splyce". Twitter. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  13. Kovanen, Tomi. "Splyce's Cinderella story". splyce.gg. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  14. Rosen, Daniel. "Splyce drop abE and Professor_Chaos". theScore eSports. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  15. Mira, Luis. "Professor_Chaos to coach Splyce". HLTV.org. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  16. Malachowski, Michal. "jasonR removed from Splyce". HLTV.org. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  17. "Three players added to Splyce CS:GO roster". splyce.gg. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  18. "Official: Splyce drop out of CS:GO". HLTV.org.
  19. "Splyce on Twitter: They dominated Halo. Now it's time for them to take on Black Ops 4". Twitter. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  20. "Splyce signs Karma". Twitter.com. May 10, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
  21. "Splyce enters Rocket League". splyce.gg. August 10, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
  22. "Splyce announces 2018 Rocket League". Twitter.com. March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
  23. "A New Era for Splyce". Splyce. December 1, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  24. "강민수 on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  25. "Splyce on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  26. "Splyce on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  27. "강민수 on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  28. "Sources: OWL sells slot to Splyce, other investors". ESPN.com. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  29. "Delaware North Buys Stake In E-Sports Team Splyce, Looks To Make Inroads In Boston". www.sportsbusinessdaily.com. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  30. "Splyce raises $2.6 million in a round of funding". ESPN.com. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
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