SEMPHIS returns donations

Almost a month to the day that the once-named Squirtle Squad announced a fundraiser to support a bootcamp ahead of the RMR in Stockholm, the donations have been returned. The squad were signed by Nouns Esports, an NFT-backed entity that will be supporting the team at the bootcamp, the RMR, Major, and beyond.

The signing was a major boon to the players and the community as they now would no longer have to rely on the crowdfunding to support their dreams in Europe. The team planned a bootcamp where the team would stay in Germany for five days before the RMR to adapt to time zones, practice against European teams, and to simply mesh before going up against the toughest opposition in a while.

In order to show their appreciation, the roster decided to give the top three donors and three other randomly selected donors a prize from a list that includes demo reviews, pugs with a player from the team, lessons, access to strategies and setups from one map, and inside access to the team's TeamSpeak during bootcamp.

At the time, the community was quick to react to the post and contribute what they could. Even Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo replied to SEMPHIS saying he would "try to gather some resources to help" during his stream at the time.

Once it became clear that the squad would no longer need the fundraiser, SEMPHIS immediately tried refunding the money only to discover that it automatically was sent to his account and it would now be much more difficult to begin the refund process. On September 21, SEMPHIS notified everyone that the process to refund would take approximately 10 days, but bank issues could delay the issue further. Despite the refund, the team would honor all of those who donated and earned certain rewards.

At the end of the day, SEMPHIS was able to have the money returned and everyone should now have their money as well.