LoL – Astralis acquires Tricked Esports’ NLC spot

Leading Esports organization Astralis has purchased the League of Legends NLC spot of Tricked Esport. The two Danish organizations have been in talks for some time, with Astralis’ academy team now set to compete in Division 1 of the NLC, which has recently been reformed.

While it was already known that Astralis had secured a place in the NLC, following the news that Astralis Stormbringers had been sold to Kosmos, it was not understood who they would replace. Astralis Stormbringers was the org’s Spanish academy team, which was acquired by the well-known sports and entertainment group of late. Breaking the news via Twitter, Tricked posted the following message: After 4 exciting splits, 1 trophy and a chance to play amongst the best in #EUMasters , it is with a heavy heart we today announce the sale of our @NLClol spot to @AstralisLoL. We want to thank all our players and staff for their time.”

What Tricked Esport said on the announcement

Speaking on the announcement, Tricket Esport CEO, Morten Jensen, stated that: “We love talent development in Tricked, and right now there is a lack of power further down in the ecosystem for League of Legends to stick together, which is why we are also happy to give Astralis an opportunity to build on our successful setup and we hope they take a big part of the sporting set-up in NLC.”

Having lost their NLC spot, Tricked will now focus upon developing talent of its own. This process will bein by forming a roster ready to compete at national level. Tricked Esport ran out winners of the NLC last year, having seen off Fnatic Rising, the LEC academy team, in the process. Meanwhile, having her say on the matter, Tricked Esport’s League of Legends manager, Natasha Voetmann, stated that:

“We end this round of NLC with a great first place. We are the first team ever that is not an LEC Academy team that has won first place. This gave us the opportunity to play against some of the best teams in Europe, in The EU Masters tournament, where we finished among the top 12.”

Why Astralis is moving into the NLC

The NLC recently announced Freaks 4U as its new operator, who will take over from DreamHack. Following the news, the league has established a new multi-division league system. With the NLC being the leading European Regional League in the Nordic countries, UK and Ireland, this is another major deal for Astralis. However, the news will come as a surprise to many, especially given Tricked Esport’s success of late. Astralis will compete against several fellow academy teams, including EXCEL Esports.