Here’s a look at how some of North America’s biggest Valorant teams have changed in preparation for their final push to qualify for Valorant Champions.
The pressure is on for the rest of the field
With only one Master’s tournament left to earn the oh-so-sweet VCT points that will help qualify a team qualify for the Champions Tournament later this year, every major organization is looking to build the best possible roster to secure their qualifications. Some of North America’s most prominent teams have made significant changes to their roster.
Renegades
Chuck “CP2” Proud left the roster on May 31, and Justin “Jerk” MIlani was added to the roster on June 12, completing the five-person team. According to thespike.gg, Jerk is mostly a Raze main and has the third-most Showstopper kills in North America. The new-look roster has already won Open #9 of the Nerd Street Gamers: Summer Championship with a 2-0 win over Virtuoso in the Grand Finals.
The current Renegades roster is as follows:
- Ryan “winsum” Johns
- Devon “randySavage” Breard
- Alexander “retrQ” Kadan
- Roy “StrongLegs” Ahad
- Justin “Jerk” MIlani
- Evan “Warbirds” Olzem (Coach)
Immortals
Jonah “JonahP” Pulice filled the 5th slot of the roster on June 4. The former Complexity Gaming player JonahP fills the void left by Noah “jcStani” Smith, who decided not to renew his contract with Immortals after a one-year stint on the side. As part of Complexity, JonahP was a regular Sova main and sometimes Skye.
The current Immortals roster is as follows:
- Amgalan “Genghsta” Nemekhbayar
- Andrew “ShoT_UP” Orlowski
- Rhett “Kehmicals” Lynch
- Daniel “Rossy” Abedrabbo
- Jonah “JonahP” Pulice
NRG
On June 12, 27-year-old Damian “daps” Steele has announced his retirement from competitive esports. He spent three years with NRG, two of which were on the CS:GO squad. Fifteen days later, NRG announced Matthew “Wedid” Suchan from XSET as his replacement.
The current NRG roster is as follows:
- Sam “s0m” Oh
- Daniel “eeiu” Vucenovic
- Bradley “ANDROID” Fodor
- Ian “tex” Botsch
- Josh “JoshRT” Lee (Head coach)
XSET
On May 12, XSET benched Viper pioneer and core team member Matthew “Wedid” Suchan. On June 15, Rory “dephh” Jackson filled the vacant roster spot. The former Dignitas sentinel is also the team’s new in-game leader.
Zachary “Zekken” Patrone joining XSET on June 27 was one of the most interesting pickups ahead of VCT Stage 3. Zekken spent all of Stage 2 with lower-tier org Noble but amassed a staggering 263 ACS and an impressive 1.35 KD ratio. He’s one to look out for whenever he picks up Sova or Raze.
The current XSET roster is as follows:
- Rory “dephh” Jackson
- Brendan “bcJ” Jensen
- Bryce “PureR” Lovell
- Jordan “AYRIN” He
- Zander “thwifo” Kim
- Zachary “Zekken” Patrone
Evil Geniuses
Many expected a mammoth organization like Evil Geniuses to cast an impressive roster to hunt for Valorant glory. Instead, EG fell short every time so far and failed to get past the round of 16 at any Challengers event. With barely over a week left before VCT Stage 3 kicking off, EG announced that Daniel “roca” Gustaferri, Brandon “Branted” Ballard and Mike “pho” Panza would round out their roster after several lengthy trials.
Roca was primarily the Reyna on Spacestation Gaming before they dissolved. Pho impressed the pro scene with outings on BBG and eUnited. Branted, on the other hand, will make his professional debut with EG.
The current EG roster is as follows:
- Nolan “Temperature” Pepper
- Christine “potter” Chi
- Mike “Pho” Panza
- Brandon “Branted” Ballard
- Daniel “roca” Gustaferri
- Jimmy “LiN” Lin (coach)
Complexity Gaming
Complexity Gaming are another titan of North American esports that has failed to hit the mark with Valorant so far. With JonahP heading over to Immortals in May, the organization brought in former Spacestation Gaming and Moon Racoons standout Magno “Pr0phie” Ramos to fill the void.
It’s been so far so good for the new addition as Pr0phie helped his new team win the Nerd Street Gamers May Championship. He led CLG with 233 ACS at the end of the tournament on Sage and Sova.
The current Complexity Gaming roster is as follows:
- Riley “ohai” Nguyen
- Mike “agm” Abood
- Jacob “valyn” Batio
- Joel “JCruel” Cruel
- Magno “Pr0phie” Ramos
T1
T1 teased a new Valorant roster on Twitter on June 25. A day later, the organization said goodbye to one of its core members Sam “DaZeD” Marine. Earlier in February, the team also benched Braxton “Brax” Pierce and Keven “AZK” Larivière. T1 revealed on the same dy that Ha “Spyder” Jung-woo would be out with a hand injury and won’t be participating in the first Stage 3 qualifier.
With that, Brax was brought back in, and the team promoted academy stand-out Anthony “dawn” Hagopian. Before joining the T1 academy, Dawn was a longtime member of the Pittsburgh Knights, where he had duelist duties and racked up an ACS of 206 and a rating of 1.09.
The open qualifiers of Stage 3 Challengers 1 begin on July 1st, which means we’ll soon know whether these roster changes will help these organizations secure a seed into Masters Berlin.
