OG enter Valorant scene with Monkey Business roster

The legendary Dota 2 organisation OG continue to expand their esports portfolio, entering the competitive scene for Riot Games' Valorant with their acquisition of the Monkey Business roster on Tuesday (16 February).

The Monkey Business roster is comprised of French players Dylan “aKm” Bignet, Benjamin “uNKOE” Chevasson, and Théo “OniBy” Tarlier, as well as Swedish player Kevin “TviQ” Lindström and Serbian player Dragan “elllement” Milanović. They are being coached and managed by Julien “daemoN” Ducros.

Prior to being signed by OG, the Monkey Business roster was arguably the fastest-rising Valorant team in Europe.

The team made their debut in the Redbull Home Ground tournament at the end of January then went on to become one of the four teams to win the Challengers Stage 1 of the region's Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) early this month, with ellement notably taking the MVP honours in the event.

For Sébastien “Ceb” Debs and Johan “N0tail” Sundstein, OG's co-owners and founders as well as the core of its two-time The International (TI) champion Dota 2 roster, acquiring Monkey Business to be the organisation's Valorant roster was like having "the stars align".

“We’ve heard a lot about the game, and were seduced by the idea behind it as well as how serious the ecosystem is already. When the opportunity to get involved with a roster that you like and you believe in arises, you sometimes just have to grab it. It was the same with [our Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team], sometimes the stars align and you have an opportunity to do something really interesting,” Ceb and N0tail said in the announcement.

Interestingly enough, Monkey Business was also the name of the Dota 2 team created by N0tail in 2015 that went on to become the first OG roster.

“We’re all extremely honoured to join such a legendary esports organisation. Their values and vision are something we highly looked up to when building our objectives and team roadmap. Some of us have known [OG CEO JMR Luna] for a while. Without his unbreakable trust, we wouldn’t be here today. On top of being grateful, we’re also extremely eager to make history ahead of this 2021 season and prove ourselves as true OGs,” said daemoN.

OG's new Valorant roster will make its debut in Europe's VCT Challengers Stage 2 from 20-21 February, where four spots at the region's first Masters event will be on the line.

Aside from its flagship, two-time TI-winning Dota 2 roster and newly-acquired Valorant squad, OG also signed a CS:GO team in December 2019.

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