Following in the footsteps of recent entrants Fnatic and Echo Fox, now Misfits have become the latest organisation to establish a team in Vainglory.
They’ve done this in partnership with NBA franchise Miami HEAT, and entered via the acquisition of Fates Zero. Fates Zero have been amongst the most competitive teams in the scene to date and so Team Misfits are stood in good stead for success going forward in the Super Evil Megacorp title.
The team will be officially unveiled at the Vainglory Preseason Invitational, held at Super Evil’s San Mateo Lair on February 26. This will be live on Twitch, and will pit them against the likes of Fnatic, Echo Fox, NRG, Rogue and Immortals. All five of these recently announced teams themselves.
Vainglory’s Spring Season kicks off on March 11, and this pre-season event promises to be a taste of the intense year of Vainglory esports to come.
Kristian Segerstrale, CEO of Super Evil Megacorp stated: “Fates Zero is one of the leading Vainglory teams in North America, and we’re happy to see them continue to compete at the highest level under an established esports organisation like Team Misfits.
“The Vainglory competitive scene has grown immensely in the past year and with the addition of Misfits, the level of play has never been as intense and demanded as much skill. Vainglory’s Spring Season will be the most competitive season to date.”
Misfits is a relatively new organisation and was founded by Ben Spoont along with Syfy Channel founders Laurie Silvers and Mitchell Rubenstein only last year. More recently still it announced a strategic partnership with the Miami HEAT. The aim of this is to assist with all duties such as marketing, branding, promotion, retail, digital and sponsorship activation on behalf of the franchise.
Currently there are Misfits rosters across League of Legends, CS:GO, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, Super Smash Bros and now Vainglory. Misfits’ Vainglory team (formerly Fates Zero) is made up of Alexander “Eeko” Mier, Emmanuel “IllesT” Miguel and Stephan “Exhail” Nalbandyan.
Misfits CEO and Co-Founder Ben Spoont, together with EVP/CMO Michael McCullough for the Miami HEAT commented: “We are excited to enter Vainglory, the leading mobile esport. What attracted us to it was not only being on the frontier of mobile esports, but having the ability to closely work together with a forward-thinking game developer to really create a sustainable ecosystem for all stakeholders from the beginning. Super Evil Megacorp is really committed to working together with orgs and players to accomplish this goal.”
In 2016 Vainglory tripled its active player community on Android, generated more than 450 million minutes of competition watched on streaming platforms and celebrated its first-ever World Championship tournament at the legendary TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
Esports Insider says: So now in Vainglory we have Misfits and Miami HEAT, Fnatic, Immortals, Echo Fox, mousesports, TSM…the list goes on. The title may be leading the way in mobile but its success lifts and legitimises the wider mobile esports scene.