daps' Orgless project disbands following setbacks and disappointment

After a rocky return to competition, veteran in-game leader Damien "daps" Steele announced in a TwitLonger that the Orgless project would be disbanding and he would be taking another break from competitive Counter-Strike. In his post, he noted that a major setback for the team was the inability to find an organization that could not only represent them but accommodate them with bootcamps. Although they were able to establish initial interest from at least ten organizations, none of the negotiations evolved into what daps and company had hoped for.

After announcing his departure, the tenured talent chimed in on his perception of the current status of the North American scene in list form. To start, daps noted that "the scene is not what it used to be", citing the disappearance of domestic organizers such as ECS/FACEIT, Flashpoint, StarLadder, and DreamHack. daps iterated that the LAN experience was "crucial" for development, further noting that "while Fragadelphia is there it is not a substitute".

Secondly, daps noted that North American players never going to Europe for experience is what causes North America to lag behind. The lack of American presence in Europe not only further separates the gap between lesser-ranked domestic teams and European teams, but also the gap between teams like Liquid and the rest of NA. "It removes the potential breakthrough players need of upsetting a team like Liquid which then creates a ton of confidence", daps clarified.

The third was the lack of funding in the region, stating that "the chance of a new org coming into the NA scene and paying a liveable salary is extremely unlikely since there really is no point unless they fork over the $5-10 million required to be apart of the Louvre Agreement." He doubled down on this sentiment, noting that any organization interested in entering the Louvre Agreement would simply station themselves in Europe anyways.

In the fourth note, daps comments on the Major cycle sheds light on the thought process as to why Orgless ultimately decided against going to Fragadelphia and focusing solely on the RMR qualifiers. He made note that because of the situation, the project fundamentally had to qualify for the Major if they ever expected to receive any reasonable funding from an organization. The doubt was further cast by daps when he directed attention toward the notion that players are commonly poached by top teams as soon as mid-tier teams start to gain momentum together.

Lastly, daps touched upon the fact that he was nearing 30 years of age, and regardless of his passion for the game, the pressure of time combined with outside responsibilities cannot allow him to devote the same level of commitment to growing a project. When discussing how to help rebuild the damaged region, daps offered the solution of returning a domestic Pro League to start. Despite the departure and announced break, daps did not outright state he would be leaving Counter-Strike for good, noting that he already has plans to create content down the line.

Orgless was:

• Brendan "Bwills" Williams

• Damien "daps" Steele

• Kenneth "koosta" Suen

• Marshall "minus" Sedowicz