The first of the post-LAN disbandments came on Monday as the Radiance roster disbanded. The house of cards began to fall when in-game leader, Ehren “Ehgren” Osborne, took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce his departure from Radiance. Having played with a mix at EPIC43, the Radiance IGL posted a statement on X outlining his reasons for leaving the organisation citing a desire to concentrate on individual improvement and a willingness to go full-time. Similar statements from Tom “Praisy” Panting and Elias “rack” Kattunen quickly followed, making it clear that the roster was not continuing in its current form.
The roster had only been announced for Radiance Esport, a French organisation, on October 12th having previously competed as The Boys in UKIC Season 3 where they finished a strong 3rd/4th place. However, their impressive season was not enough to keep the roster together.
Radiance competed in UKIC Season 4 Divison 1, holding a 1W-3L record at the time of their disbandment, as well as a 1W-5L record in ESEA Main.
It’s official !
Radiance arrives on the CS2 scene with its roster composed of :
– @AbysssCS
– @MECHANT_CSGO
– @Crowiee_cs
– @Elias_Karttunen
– @Praaisy
Welcome to you !#RadianceReborn pic.twitter.com/MUv2bT40oF
— Radiance® (@radiance_esport) October 12, 2024
Unusually for the UK scene, the team operated with a six-man roster. The decision to field a sixth man was a result of an obscure peculiarity of the UKIC rulebook. As the roster for an individual match was only locked when the knife round began, teams were able to complete the veto and then substitute a player before the knife round started. Radiance/The Boys used this loophole to maximise Praisy’s impact on the server, replacing the player who would have taken Praisy’s roles on any given map.
Nevertheless, the six-man roster did not solve all the issues in the squad. Radiance were plagued with role clashes that made it difficult for the team to play naturally. Additionally, constantly rotating players damaged the team’s structure within the server.
When you sub players in and out, it’s not just the player you sub in that struggles, it’s the ones around them that then have to compensate and adjust, leading to some rougher performances and less cohesion. I tried my best to essentially hard micro in some games, which got us to the Semis [of UKIC Season 3] but we lost our momentum going into it.
Ehren “Ehgren” Osborne
These issues subsequently put a strain on the team and the individuals who had to compromise both their roles and which maps they played.
The first external signs that things were not right in the roster came on the 10th of September when German rifler Daniel “HeMan” Gretz announced his departure from the team with Praisy formally returning to the roster. The secondary caller had repeatedly compromised on his roles to facilitate his team, leading to his eventual departure after helping the team to achieve their 3rd/4th place finish in UKIC Season 3 Division 1.
Despite signing with an organisation after HeMan’s departure, the project had unfortunately already lost its impetus, with Ehgren personally beginning to question the future of the roster:
At the start of the season we were playing really well but problems kept cropping up and even though they’re the greatest group of guys I could have assembled, I just had a gut feeling that it wouldn’t bring me to where I want to be. I’m a guy who wants to commit fully and I don’t want to play if I’m thinking about other opportunities as its just not fair to my teammates who put the trust in me.
With the team built around the preparation and in-game structure of its IGL, it seems that the other members of the Radiance roster saw no benefit in continuing together, as they quickly took to X to look for opportunities elsewhere.
As of now, there is no further information on the potential future endeavours of the players, but Ehgren’s initial statement confirmed that he would be open to continuing with long-term collaborator Praisy. The two have been teammates in several recent rosters, from Team Invictum in UKIC Season 0 to the current Radiance roster, with only a few brief periods apart. Will their partnership live on? Only time will tell.
The Radiance roster at the time of disbanding was:
Ehren “Ehgren” Osborne
Valentin “Mechant” Bruneaux
Thomas “Praisy” Panting
Ondřej “Crowiee” Krákora
Elias “Rack” Karttunen
Jack “Maniac” Rushton (stand-in)
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