Valorant fans mock EG for “mid” Champions merch after historic victory
Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesValorant fans are mocking Evil Geniuses’ “mid” Champions 2023 merch celebrating their historic victory in Los Angeles.
The end of Valorant Champions crowned the game’s top team for the year once and for all in Evil Geniuses. From an upstart lineup that many mocked and floundered in the regular season, to becoming Valorant’s villain and eventual world champions, it’s been a year to remember.
Crowning their head coach, Potter, as the first female coach to win a major championship, and their star duelist, Demon1, announcing himself as Valorant’s greatest rookie and villain after their victory against Paper Rex, the historic win set the internet ablaze.
Praise for the squad was plentiful as they achieved their ultimate goal, however, the same can’t be said for the new merchandise that went out shortly after, with fans ruthlessly criticizing the designs.
Right after winning the trophy, EG announced new merch to celebrate their big win, a hoodie and t-shirt with a simple graphic printed on them. However, it wasn’t exactly received well by fans.
“This gotta be the worst I’ve seen in a while,” said Sentinel’s Rkn, an Apex Legends player for the org.
“Y’all dropped the ball on this merch, super mid,” another said in the comment section, with a further reply adding: “I think calling it mid is the most generous comment about it so far.”
“/remake” Cloud9’s social media manager commented, which is of course the command you input when you want to remake a Valorant match.
“Imagine celebrating winning a world championship by releasing p*** poor merch,” another commented. “You don’t need to rush sh** out the door. You just won a championship. Put some pride and effort into your designs.”
Of course, EG’s merch should not take away from their incredible victory. But this isn’t the first time an NA org has been mocked for their commemorative merch after a trophy lift.
OpTic Gaming’s win in 2022’s Masters Reykjavik was immortalized with a t-shirt, which fans mocked. And Sentinels celebrated their 2021 Masters Reykjavik win with an NFT, which was immediately ridiculed by fans as well.
EG released an apology on social media following the backlash, saying they the design was “not up to standard.” The organization explained in the post that they rushed the design because they are in the middle of changing merchandise providers. EG also promised new merchandise based on their championship win in the near future.
“We’ll be working internally to update the shop with a larger-scoped Champ capsule working in collaboration with one of the awesome community designers that has a jump start on us in the coming weeks,” EG said.
