Righteous Dawn

Righteous Dawn
Righteous Dawn was a professional multi-gaming organization that competed in numerous top esports titles from 2008-2015. In early 2008, Righteous Dawn got its start in Combat Arms where it competed in the World Online Gaming League (WOGL). Righteous Dawn grew to fame after being highlighted on a former streaming platform called E-Rev TV. After a high placing in the first season of WOGL, the team became a powerhouse in the North American Combat Arms scene. Fostering some of the top North American talent, Righteous Dawn went on to win one world title, a national title, and place second in several global events.

The Turn to Professional Organization
After its world title in Combat Arms, Tyler "Kolgarr" Haugen decided to move into the professional esports scene. Given its success in FPS games, the organization signed top talent in numerous esports titles including League of Legends, Starcraft II, Soldier Front II, Counter-strike: Global Offensive, and Hearthstone.

Notable professionals on the team included Starcraft II player Brandon "RayReign" Bernatz, who went on to win and place in several minors and majors in the Blizzard RTS, including a top 48 placing at Major League Gaming Anaheim 2014. Righteous Dawn's League of Legends team also had success, placing 4th at the World Cyber Games Pan-America Finals in 2014. The organization also signed the incredibly successful Hearthstone player David "Protohype" Kunze, who went to the Hearthstone World Championship 2014 North American Finals in New York.

The most notable of Righteous Dawn's teams was its Soldier Front II team, who went on to dominate every championship in the game's brief but fierce competitive scene. During this time period, the Soldier Front team won five championships, sweeping every tournament that was hosted for the game. The roster included several of Righteous Dawn's former Combat Arms alumni, including Glodia and Auxilium.

The organization went through two Counter-strike: Global Offensive teams, with the first having very notable alumni including the 2015 Female ESWC CSGO World Champion Catherine "CAth" Leroux and Jared "Anomaly" Simmons, a former Righteous Dawn Combat Arms player, who went on to play for the professional teams Tempo Storm, Enemy Esports and Selfless Gaming.

Closure of Righteous Dawn
After many of the team's successful players left to join bigger organizations, Righteous Dawn lacked the sponsorship funding to keep the organization afloat. Tyler announced the closure of the team in January 2015 and he sold off all remaining assets and moved players to different organizations.

Re-opening of the Organization
In late 2017, Tyler "Kolgarr" Haugen re-opened Righteous Dawn after announcing the signing of the former Soldier Front II squad for the newly released game Black Squad. Quickly the team became known as one of the best teams in the game, securing tournament placings immediately. However, despite the game being welcomed by the free-to-play FPS community, the competitive scene died within a couple of months due to over-saturation of tournaments with a lack of prizes. During this time, Nexon announced the sale of Combat Arms to VALOFE. When asked if the organization would get back into Combat Arms, Kolgarr replied "If VALOFE cares enough about the competitive scene, the game is revived, and it makes sense to do it, we'll certainly consider starting up Righteous Dawn again. We recognize where we came from and I'm sure many of our old players would love to do a throwback to old times."