Why was this Rostermania a bit underwhelming?

Well that was all a bit rubbish, wasn’t it?

So-called ‘Rostermania 2026’ was more like a hallmark holiday than a second Christmas. We were promised presents, joy and singing, and we got half a lump of coal and Santa ate all/,* the cookies.

Alright, it wasn’t that bad.

None of the top five made any moves, The MongolZ only downgraded on paper, Spirit went back to two players they’ve already had, Aurora made a sidegrade, NAVI and G2 did nothing. The top 10 barely changed, and outside that there wasn’t exactly anything groundbreaking.

The most interesting (“interesting”) move was BC.Game spraying money up the wall on the SAW core, which is one of the most depressing moves possible. s1mple and electroNic in the purgatory of playing with three Portuguese players who will get benched in six months despite, quite probably, being better than electroNic.

So, the question is, why did this Rostermania promise so much, and deliver so little?

The dominoes never fell

When you buy a house, you’re often sat twiddling your thumbs waiting for the next person in the chain to sell, or buy, and so on and so forth. Roster moves are a bit like that; you can’t always sign a player until someone takes one of yours, or until the other team has a replacement lined up.

There were a few purported moves that never materialised that would have lubricated the whole merry-go-round. Jimpphat to Falcons and potentially broky or jcobbb leaving FaZe could have started a whole chain of events, but neither ever happened, and now we all suffer.

If MOUZ needed a player, the obvious pick-up would be PR, but if the 100T deal for the GL core had gone through, then they’d have to find someone else. Senzu was available. Maybe they’d go for a FaZe player, or a NAVI player, or jL. Something. Anything. Make us feel alive.

There were constant rumours behind the scenes of NAVI and FaZe potentially looking at players, and Falcons’ want for a new player was well-documented. Spirit were always going to make changes, but we’re not sure they had the money to go and sign another big name after how much they spent on tN1R. Quite how Liquid ended the shuffle with the same team they went into it with is anyone’s guess.

So many moves just didn’t happen because the seal was never broken.

Cash rules everything around me

Man, some of the buyout numbers floating around would blow your mind. I’m talking multi-million dollar deals for cores of teams that were not doing anything useful.

There’s a little bit of truth in this tweet, for example - but it’s less that they couldn’t afford it and more that the price would make your eyes water.

100 Thieves wanted the GamerLegion core, as was reported, but again were so put off by the extortionate price that they ended up consigning device and rain to the purgatory of grinding CCTs for VRS points. Miserable. They, too, were quoted a price in the multi-millions, and so instead invested in good young talent.

With VRS points being so valuable, those cores become massively over-valued, not dissimilar to how homegrown rules in football make English players over-valued. Average players and teams being priced at donk prices because of weird rules - just another brilliant side effect of the VRS system.

Was that sarcasm laid on thick enough?

This in turn pushes up the prices of individual players. You might have heard or read (if you’ve been as plugged into the matrix as we’ve been) players and talent hinting at some crazy prices, and it’s not just the cores. If VRS points are so valuable, then players who keep you in the top 30 or get you more therefore end up being just as valuable as the cores already there. There’s no point signing the SAW core if you’re going to play them with subpar players.

Naming no names, obviously.

If you saw GamerLegion were asking for seven figures for a core that involved tauson, you’d probably be inclined to ask for at least a million for jimpphat, and he isn’t worth that. Falcons can afford it, but you’d still rather not be ripped off. NAVI allegedly (we weren’t able to confirm but there were rumours) were fishing to see what frozen might cost, and FaZe could get Senzu to replace - but how much do you think they would cost now?

You might think they’re worth it, but does Senzu make FaZe win more than they currently do? Does it even remotely make business sense to spend that much on a guy when you’re already in the top 10?

We would argue no.

That leaves most teams, especially the top ones, realising that twisting instead of sticking is the safe play. You’re already good enough to be top 10, so why risk so much money trying to be a little bit better?

Maybe next time

BC.Game were the big moneymen in the market and they wasted it on a pretty awful roster, and so a lot of money drained out immediately. If they’d given that to a bigger team, they’d have gone and spent it on some interesting names and made the whole scene shift, but instead nothing really happened.

They’re definitely going to need to change in six months' time, and if they go and buy someone a bit better than an aging electroNic and what remains of the Portuguese scene, we could see a proper shift in the summer.

Prices will have to fall because teams will have to change. NAVI are going to get bored. FaZe have to change eventually. They will sell someone for a lower price and start things off. BC.Game are going to give someone a ton of money, almost certainly, and then we can see the market shift.

Just hold. Diamond hands. This summer, something will happen.