Valorant curse is real: Every world champion roster has fallen apart
Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesAs Evil Geniuses’ Valorant roster appears set to split in the off-season, the North American team will likely continue the trend of world champions splitting shortly after reaching the top.
The Valorant community was left stunned on Monday following reports that Evil Geniuses had given their players the choice between staying on the team for a reduced salary and exploring their options in the off-season.
This came a mere two weeks after Evil Geniuses completed a Cinderella run at Valorant Champions 2023, where they won the title in front of their crowd. The success seemed unthinkable just a few months earlier, as EG was regarded by many as one of the worst teams in the VCT Americas league.
According to Valorant insider ‘Flynn’, in-game leader Kelden ‘Boostio’ Pupello is the likeliest to leave Evil Geniuses at the moment, with 100 Thieves touted as a potential destination as they seek a replacement for Brenden ‘stellar’ McGrath. However, the future of the remaining EG players remains up in the air.
Boostio himself seemingly commented on the team’s uncertain situation as he posted on X/Twitter: “Wow, just f**king wow.”
Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold, who has won some of the biggest international tournaments in CS:GO and Valorant, said: “Winning is cool. Sucks it doesn’t matter anymore.”
While stunning to many, the news of the demise of a world champion is not unprecedented in the Valorant scene.
The ‘curse’ of the Valorant world champion
The first Valorant Champions was held in 2021 in Berlin, with Acend coming out on top after beating Gambit in the final.
Two months after the event, Acend tied the players down to one-year extensions, but that was not enough to keep the roster together. Santeri ‘BONECOLD’ Sassi and Vladyslav ‘Kiles’ Shvets were benched shortly afterward, and the team limped through the season before Acend was left out of the list of organizations for the VCT EMEA league.
Michal Konkol/Riot GamesIn 2022, LOUD beat OpTic Gaming to the Valorant Champions title in Istanbul, with Bryan ‘pANcada’ Luna and Gustavo ‘Sacy’ Rossi going on to join North American team Sentinels. The Brazilian team remained an elite team in 2023 but now faces another rebuild as star player Erick ‘aspas’ Santos is on his way out.
As Evil Geniuses reportedly move to trim their Valorant payroll, it appears likely that their team will look very different in 2024. Recent rumors suggest that Max ‘Demon1’ Mazanov has signed a multi-year deal with EG, which could indicate that the organization will build the team around its star duelist, who is regarded as one of the best players in the world.
Keep track of all the changes in the Valorant scene with our off-season rostermania tracker.