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Author: Tony Atlas

  • Eternal Fire IGL nekky cleared to explore 2027 options

    Eternal Fire in-game leader Anıl “nekky” Dağdeviren says the team has allowed him to explore other options for the 2027 Valorant season, he announced via X (@nekkyvl). Riot’s Global Contract Database lists nekky, along with the rest of the Eternal Fire roster, as under contract through the end of 2026.

    “I am currently under contract with Eternal Fire, but I have been allowed to explore my options for 2027 as we continue discussions regarding my future with the team,” nekky said.

    nekky said he is primarily looking to play Initiator for a new team in any region, though he remains open to IGL or secondary calling duties. He speaks both English and Turkish.

    nekky made his competitive debut in 2021 with a run of PUG squads and went on to play for Gringo Team, 2L8 and PDS Esports, among others. Over four years he competed on 11 different rosters, including eight Open and Closed Qualifier runs in the Turkish Challengers scene, before settling with ULF Esports in Türkiye Birlik Stage 2 in 2025. ULF spent much of that year as the second-best team in Türkiye, then ran through VCL EMEA Stage 3 and won three matches at EMEA Ascension to claim one of two available VCT spots among eight teams. The team’s VCT debut was rocky — two underage players were unable to compete, and ULF finished 9th-10th at VCT 2026 EMEA Kickoff. Riot later removed ULF Esports from VCT EMEA, citing operational challenges affecting the org’s ability to operate within league standards.

    The core group stayed together under the Eternal Fire banner, nekky included, and has been with the org since March 2025. That roster finished fourth in VCT 2026 EMEA Stage 1 before bowing out in the Play-Ins of Stage 2.

    Eternal Fire’s current roster is listed as Spear (Arda Burak Kartal), audaz (Soner Ekiz), Favian (Enes Yiğiter), echo (Ömür Serkan Şenol) and nekky. Should nekky move on for 2027, the org will need to find a replacement in-game leader for a lineup that has carried the same core since its ULF Esports days.

    Sources: @nekkyvl, VLR.gg

  • Team Liquid benches purp0, promotes GSR for VCT Champions Shanghai

    Team Liquid has benched Semyon “purp0” Borchev ahead of VCT Champions Shanghai, replacing him in the active lineup with 18-year-old Ognjen “GSR” Bondžić. The move was announced via a post from @LiquidValorant on X.

    GSR joined Team Liquid Academy at the start of 2025 and spent two full seasons there, helping the team reach Challengers EMEA five times as a top-two side in Challengers NORTH//EAST. He was quietly promoted to Team Liquid’s main roster last month on a contract running through 2029, as listed on Riot’s Global Contract Database, though Liquid made no formal announcement of that move at the time. He previously played alongside current PCIFIC Esports players qpert and NINJA, and with current Liquid player Kicks.

    Team Liquid’s active roster now reads: nAts, GSR, kamo, trexx and Kicks, with Eamon “cauzed” Drea and Berke “Mol” Mol as managers, Ivo “LohaN” Albino as head coach, Daniel “yaotziN.” Roczniak as assistant coach, and Jake “Bacon9” Lloyd as analyst. No indication has been given on whether purp0 will travel with the team to Shanghai.

    The change follows a season already marked by roster churn. MiniBoo and wayne moved themselves to the bench earlier in the year, which brought trexx back into the active lineup and saw Kicks promoted from Team Liquid Academy. Team Liquid currently sits at Europe Rank #5 per VLR.gg and failed to qualify for Masters London after what was described as “a Stage 1 to forget.”

    Team Liquid said in a statement: “GSR has been extremely impressive, and we’re confident this move gives us the best opportunity for success at Champions Shanghai. At the same time, we want to recognize what purp0 has meant to this team. He’s been a rock for us throughout the year. Consistently putting the team first, embracing whatever role was needed, and giving us the flexibility to compete at our best. We’re incredibly grateful for everything he’s brought to Team Liquid this year.”

    purp0 responded on the news: “Sh*t happens, I deserve to play at Champions Shanghai but it is what it is.”

    Head coach LohaN added: “I understand many people might not agree with this direction and that’s fair to be angry. This was the hardest decision I ever had to make as coach. I understand it was an unfair decision and, at the end of the day, Semyon deserved to be in Champs… It’s my responsibility and only mine. I would like to point out that Semyon is an extremely talented player with amazing work ethics. Always professional and always ready to help the team.”

  • ENVY lets keznit, Demon1, GLYPH and coach WKN explore options

    ENVY has allowed Angelo “keznit” Mori, Max “Demon1” Mazanov, Conner “GLYPH” Garcia, and assistant coach Alvaro “WKN” Bustos to explore options outside the team, sending all four into restricted free agency. Each announced the move individually on X.

    Demon1’s contract with ENVY runs through 2026, while keznit, GLYPH, and WKN are contracted into 2027.

    keznit joined ENVY at the start of the year alongside Daniel “Rossy” Abedrabbo, replacing canezerra and ion after they were ruled too young to play in the VCT circuit following ENVY’s Americas Ascension win. Before that, keznit spent nearly five years with KRÜ Esports, attending three Masters and four Champions events. WKN arrived the same time as keznit, having previously coached Challengers sides Cubert Academy, ShindeN, and RETA Esports.

    Demon1 signed with ENVY between Kickoff and Stage 1 after a brief substitute run with Cloud9 during Kickoff, taking the spot of Hunter “Inspire” Schline, who was benched around the same time. GLYPH joined later, benching Matteo “P0PPIN” Weber, after his release from Gentle Mates in EMEA.

    ENVY’s year did not end well competitively. The team went 2-3 in the Stage 1 group stage and missed playoffs, then fell to G2 Esports in the Stage 2 play-in, closing out their season.

    “Qualifying to two internationals and playing in 2 different regions this year has provided me with the experience I needed to lead a team next year,” GLYPH said.

    The moves leave ENVY’s listed active roster down to Evan “Eggsterr” Grady, Christian “nightz” Smith, and head coach Dakota “Stunner” MacLeod. The news follows ENVY separately allowing Rossy to explore options while still under contract, leaving the org’s roster in flux heading into next season.

    Sources: @keznitdeuS, VLR.gg

  • ENGH signals exit as FNATIC head coach

    FNATIC head coach Andrey “ENGH” Sholokhov has announced he is open to new projects away from the team, signaling his departure from the org.

    The announcement came shortly after FNATIC team director Colin “CoJo” Johnson spoke on X Spaces about the team’s offseason plans. CoJo said players with expiring contracts would be allowed to explore other options, and that trials for next year’s roster have already begun.

    ENGH laid out where he’d like to land next. He said he is most open to opportunities in Japan, the Americas, and EMEA. In Japan, he’s looking for a long-term project to build a competitive roster while developing local staff, and said he intends to learn Japanese. In the Americas, he’s open to projects in either North or South America. In EMEA, he expressed specific interest in building and leading an all-Russian/CIS roster, and said he’s open to organizations ready to invest in CIS talent. He added he remains open to other opportunities outside that list.

    ENGH began the 2026 season as Karmine Corp’s head coach, a role he’d also held in 2025 and 2024. Karmine Corp finished 9th-10th at EMEA Kickoff and 11th-12th in EMEA Stage 1 before he stepped down. Weeks later, he was announced as Milan’s replacement as FNATIC’s head coach, brought in as part of a last-ditch effort to qualify the team for Champions Shanghai. Karmine Corp went on to flourish under former assistant coach ZE1SH, qualifying for Shanghai with a trophy-lifting finish in Stage 2. FNATIC, needing a top-two finish to reach Champions, went 2-3 in the group stage and were forced into Play-Ins, where they lost to Tier 2 side Enterprise Esports, beat GIANTX, and were eliminated by Tier 2 side Joblife. FNATIC finished the year ranked 11th-12th in EMEA.

    The move leaves FNATIC’s coaching staff in flux heading into the offseason. According to Riot’s Global Contract Database, only kaajak and Cloud have FNATIC contracts running through 2028. In-game leader Boaster was reported the day before this news as having been allowed to explore options with a new team, while Alfajer, crashies, and Veqaj have yet to make any statement about their futures with the org.

    Source: vlr.gg

  • KRÜ lets IGL saadhak explore options despite deal through 2027

    KRÜ Esports has allowed in-game leader saadhak to explore his options with other teams, even though his contract with the organization runs through the 2027 season. saadhak announced the arrangement himself in a post on X, saying KRÜ had given him permission to look elsewhere while still under contract.

    saadhak joined KRÜ last offseason as part of a wide-scale roster rebuild that followed the org’s first-ever Champions no-show. KRÜ brought him in from Karmine Corp alongside Less, who arrived from Team Vitality, reuniting the pair with their former LOUD teammate. The rebuilt lineup also featured mwzera, silentzz, and returning player Dantedeu5, though the team’s start was delayed when visa issues kept the roster at home until Stage 1.

    Before joining KRÜ, saadhak had built his reputation with Team Vikings, reaching Masters Reykjavik and Champions Berlin in 2021, then spent three years with LOUD, winning a Champions trophy and a VCT Americas title alongside four top-four finishes internationally. He left LOUD by mutual termination after the 2024 season and spent one year in EMEA with Karmine Corp before joining KRÜ. He is known as a trilingual IGL capable of playing multiple Initiator and Controller roles, and had a brief run on Neon in 2024.

    KRÜ’s season under saadhak had a strong opening act. In Stage 1, the team beat Kickoff winners FURIA and defending world champions NRG, closing the group stage at 4-1 before an early playoff exit. A midseason swap brought in heat for silentzz, but the roster then finished the following group stage 1-4 and was eliminated in the Play-Ins, ending the year 9th-10th in the region.

    KRÜ’s roster is now listed as Less, mwzera, Dantedeu5, and heat, with torito as manager, ZONYK as head coach, Fadeout as analyst, and Psiarthurleon on staff.

  • CS2 Patch Fixes Cache Wallbang Spot, Encrypts Demo Chat

    Valve pushed a Counter-Strike 2 update on September 9, 2026, touching the map Cache, the game’s scripting APIs, and how chat gets stored in demo files. The map changes are the part competitive players will notice first.

    Maps

    • Fixed various gaps on Cache
    • Fixed a wallbang spot on Cache’s B site
    • Added a missing competitive CT spawn point on Cache
    • Added additional T spawn points on Cache

    The B site wallbang fix closes an angle that let players see or shoot through geometry that shouldn’t have allowed it, which matters directly for competitive integrity. The spawn point additions round out Cache’s competitive layout rather than changing how the map plays.

    Miscellaneous

    • The CSPlayerCamera scripting class was reworked and renamed to CustomPlayerCamera
    • CustomPlayerCamera adds GetPlayer, GetMode, SetMode, and SetFollowConfig functions
    • IsEnabled, SetEnabled, and SetIsControllingAngles are deprecated in the reworked class
    • An ‘observable’ property was added to custom_hud_layout, controlling whether an observer sees the UI as the spectated player sees it; it defaults to false
    • Several bugs tied to stale custom_hud_layout state when switching spectator targets were fixed
    • Two new top-level custom_hud_layout classes were added: HUD_BUYMENU_VISIBLE and HUD_SCOREBOARD_VISIBLE
    • custom_hud_layout now always draws on top of the base HUD
    • Chat is now encrypted in demo files using the same rules as CS:GO
    • Team chat is no longer readable when playing back demo files
    • Global chat is only readable in demo files when played back via the in-game watch UI

    The camera and HUD scripting changes are aimed at mapmakers and tool developers building custom spectator and HUD experiences, giving them more direct control over camera modes and fixing bugs that surfaced when switching between spectated players. The demo file changes lock down chat privacy in recorded matches, bringing CS2 in line with how CS:GO handled it — team chat stays private on playback, and global chat only shows up through the in-game watch interface rather than raw demo parsing.

    Source: Steam

  • ENVY lets Rossy explore other teams while under contract

    ENVY has allowed Valorant player Daniel “Rossy” Abedrabbo to explore his options with other teams, even though he remains under contract with the org. Rossy announced the arrangement himself in a post on X.

    According to Riot’s Global Contract Database, Rossy’s deal with ENVY runs through the 2027 season. Every player on ENVY’s roster except Demon1 is tied to a contract that also runs through 2027.

    Rossy turned pro in 2020. His 2026 season with ENVY — the org that started the year as RANKERS — is the first full campaign he’s completed with a single team. He was one of two new players brought into the original RANKERS core. He played primarily as a Controller before taking over in-game leader duties from P0PPIN in Stage 1 of 2026. That didn’t last: in Stage 2, Rossy handed the IGL role off again, this time shifting into Initiator and Sentinel duties to make room for new IGL GLYPH alongside nightz.

    In his own words:

    Under ENVY still, but can talk to other teams. I am super grateful and blessed to have played my first full season in my career. I just want to play on a team where I can be myself and people accept that. I want to play in APAC, China, and NA as anything but Duelist. Not toxic.

    Rossy’s path to ENVY ran through several stops. His run with T1 ended in 2024 when the team moved toward an all-Korean roster and brought in stax. He had a short stint with Cloud9 afterward, then joined a hybrid LEVIATÁN roster assembled following star Duelist aspas’s departure. LEVIATÁN benched him after Stage 1 of 2025, and he spent the rest of that year without a team.

    ENVY’s full roster currently stands as Evan “Eggsterr” Grady, Christian “nightz” Smith, Max “Demon1” Mazanov, Angelo “keznit” Mori, Conner “GLYPH” Garcia, with Dakota “Stunner” MacLeod as head coach and Alvaro “WKN” Bustos as coach. Whether Rossy stays on that roster for the rest of 2026 hasn’t been addressed.

    Sources: @RossyUA, vlr.gg

  • Boaster to explore options outside FNATIC after six years

    FNATIC in-game leader Jake “Boaster” Howlett has announced he has been allowed to explore options outside the organization after six years with the team. Boaster made the announcement via X (@OfficialBoaster), and FNATIC posted a separate statement on its own account the same day.

    Boaster first joined FNATIC in February 2021 as part of the original SUMN FC lineup, which became the org’s first Valorant roster. Under his lead, FNATIC took second place at the original Masters Reykjavik in 2021, then won back-to-back titles at LOCK//IN and Masters Tokyo in 2023, and reached second-place finishes at Masters Toronto and Champions Paris in 2025. FNATIC picked up three EMEA stage titles across his tenure.

    “I am still in talks with Fnatic and they’ve also allowed me to explore other options as well,” Boaster said. “I’m very hungry and motivated to continue to compete as an IGL, open to offers from all regions, especially EMEA and China.”

    FNATIC’s statement read: “given some members of the team permission to explore other opportunities.”

    The announcement comes off a rough 2026 for FNATIC. The team missed out on Masters Santiago by one placement at Kickoff, then lost to Joblife in the VCT 2026 EMEA Stage 2 play-ins. It marks FNATIC’s first year missing Champions, and the first year the org has missed all three international events.

    FNATIC’s roster is currently listed as crashies, kaajak, Cloud, and Alfajer, with CoJo as manager, ENGH as head coach, Desmo as assistant coach, and Szed as performance coach. FNATIC sits at Europe Rank #16 per VLR.gg.