“From the outside, it feels that if results don’t quickly follow, this [BC.Game] lineup could look very different in just a few months, making it all for nothing. That being said, it’s also clear that the sale of the trio - along with the transfers of story and Ag1l - marks a huge step forward for both the players and the entire national scene. With SAW alumni ewjerkz and arrozdoce already abroad, Portugal now has seven players competing internationally, something that would have been unthinkable six years ago.”

That’s what I wrote nearly seven months ago, when SAW announced the sale of its roster. I was cautiously optimistic - blinded by patriotism and the excitement of seeing so many players having the chance to compete abroad - as it didn’t take a CS genius to notice the warning signs.

There’s plenty to be said about the BC.Game saga, and if you’re feeling particularly masochistic, you can read my thoughts on that here. But that’s not the focus today.

The two players I had pinned most of my hopes on to establish themselves out there were story and Ag1l - but the outcome wasn’t much different, unfortunately.

Is Portuguese CS simply cursed to thrive only when it stays together?

To be fair, both ewjerkz and Ag1l were performing reasonably well before being shown the door by their respective teams, and it’s hard to pin FlyQuest’s struggles on story when the team barely played together. Still, there’s a recurring pattern: when things go wrong, the Portuguese piece is the easiest to sacrifice.

Is the issue with the players themselves, the roles their new teams are asking them to fill, or is there a fundamental stylistic mismatch between the MUTiRiS school of CS - from which every single one of them graduated - and the rest of the world’s? Honestly, it’s hard to say.

But not all is lost, fellow Portugeezers. From the turmoil, a new hope emerges. Like our ancestors who once ventured into the unknown in pursuit of fortune and glory, we too shall unite our strengths and… sorry, got a little carried away there.

Simply put, all this talent now available means a Portuguese dream team is a real possibility, and I have a pretty strong hunch (let’s call it that) that the Pastel de Nata Avengers will be assembled.

So what does Schrödinger’s team look like?

I’ve yet to open the box, so I’m not entirely sure - the possible combinations ultimately depend on contracts and all that boring stuff - but I would be very surprised if it didn’t include MUT, ewjerkz, and story as the core. From there, you’ve got a bunch of pieces you could slot in to complete the roster - names like krazy, aragornN, arrozdoce, Ag1l, or even Shr - but, in my opinion, no lineup comes close to the potential of prime SAW with Ag1l replacing roman. For now, we can only dream, but the pieces of the puzzle are all there. Someone just needs to put them together.

Get married, have a couple kids, own a nice house. Those were my big goals in life. Not anymore. Now, I just want to live long enough to watch our new team absolutely sh-t on s1mple’s BC.Game. After that, I’ll go in peace.