With the VALORANT Champions Tour set to start up in about a month’s time, teams are already practicing with their shiny new rosters. Most squads have already been finalized, letting us take a look at who the big winners of the off-season are. Here are the changes for VCT 2025 rosters.
Jawgemo to G2
G2 Esports made waves last year after promoting to the VCT Americas league following their successful run through Ascension. Unlike a typical promotion team, G2 was immediately a contender. They earned a third place finish at VCT Masters Shanghai, then got runner up in VCT Americas Stage 2. Sadly, G2 couldn’t upgrade their placement to a first at Champions, as they fell short in the playoffs.
This off-season, G2 has made the move to grab Alexander “jawgemo” Mor from Evil Geniuses. This is a huge pick up on paper, and one I’m very happy to see. Jawgemo is one of the highest rated Duelist players in the VCT Americas scene. He was an instrumental part of EG’s championship run in 2023 and was a bright spot on a struggling squad last year.
Jawgemo could be the firepower and aggression upgrade that G2 needs to push themselves to the next level. This is a team that has very real title aspirations, and the willingness to make such a change to an already successful squad shows that they have a plan in motion. G2 will be very fun to watch this year.
Derke & Less to Vitality
Team Vitality broke out last year, qualifying for their first VCT LAN after an impressive Stage 2 run. However, they failed to make a splash at Champs and went back to the drawing board. Vitality’s solution was to go big in free agency,
Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev and Felipe “Less” Basso have been signed from Fnatic and LOUD respectively. Both players have a wealth of LAN experience and are no strangers to hoisting trophies.
The Derke signing is especially wild, considering that Fnatic’s core has been so strong and cohesive for so long. Regardless, they decided it was time for a change, and the mechanical star player is now with the Golden Hornets. Conversely, Less brings a stable anchor presence and a driving voice in comms.
This new look Vitality lineup has the potential to be very dangerous. It could take a bit for them to iron out the synergy and communication, but as far as potential ceilings go, Vitality definitely fancies themselves as title contenders.
Demon1 to Leviatán/Aspas to MIBR
As for the most drama-filled exchange of the off-season, Max “Demon1” Mazanov has been air-lifted off of NRG’s bench and onto Leviatán. Despite being the most promising North American talent in 2023, Demon1 spent much of this year in the background. He ended up as a backup for NRG after a five-month stint on the roster that was largely unsuccessful.
Demon1 has big shoes to fill, as he is directly replacing the current best Duelist in the world, Erick “aspas” Santos. Aspas’s huge carry performances were the driving force behind LEV’s ascension to being Stage 2 victors and bronze medalists at Champs.
Leviatán still has a solid roster on paper, especially if Demon1 can regain some of his prime form. Ironically, this is now a Latin American org that has a majority American roster. The fan base and community opinion of them is going to sway like a metronome, especially if they end up missing aspas.
Speaking of which, aspas is now on MIBR. This org has not been successful in their VALORANT endeavors as of yet, constantly being near the bottom of VCT. The aspas signing is obviously huge, but what’s interesting is that they’ve also signed three new players alongside him.
None of the new signings have much weight behind their names yet, and the team is now very young overall. Still, MIBR could be the biggest wildcard of VCT Americas this year. Either the team all gels together and they become dangerous, aspas tries his best to carry dead weight, or a full on circus reveals itself in grand fashion.
Meteor & BuZz to T1
A decent amount of shuffling took place over in VCT Pacific between the Korean squads. DRX and Gen.G made changes despite having decent years, though the ending was sour for Gen.G in particular. When looking at the new arrivals, T1 is welcoming a pair of players who were big parts of their rivals’ success.
Kim “Meteor” Tae-o and Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul are the new additions to T1’s VALORANT squad. For being so dominant in League of Legends, T1 has struggled to find the same level of success in Riot’s other esports title. They’ve never made it to a top eight at any VCT LAN and have never won a VCT Pacific trophy.
Adding Meteor and BuZz is a power move. Both players have enough experience and composure to fill a truckload (hopefully not one outside the T1 headquarters). T1 currently has seven active players, so they’re likely trying to figure out exactly what combination will mesh the best.
Hopefully this roster shuffle brings some chaos to VCT Pacific. With Paper Rex keeping the same squad, and DRX, Gen.G, and T1 changing it up, it would be great to see some real heavyweight bouts.
Florescent to Apeks
One of the biggest stories this off-season is the arrival of Ava “florescent” Eugene to tier one VALORANT. For whose who don’t follow the Game Changers scene, florescent was the Duelist player for Shopify Rebellion. With her at the helm, SR (previously Version1) has won back-to-back Game Changers World Championships and took five of the six North American titles since the start of 2023.
Florescent has just become eligible to join a VCT Partnership team due to turning 18 years old. Many big names have advocated for her to get a shot at tier one, but it was unclear where she could find a team with an open Duelist spot, especially when the role is so stacked in North America.
Enter Apeks, a European squad that just promoted to VCT EMEA after a successful run in Ascension. It’s been a long time coming for Apeks; they’ve put together a pair of successful tier two rosters, and only failed to ascend last year after a loss in the Grand Finals to Gentle Mates. Now, Apeks is looking to bolster their forces heading into their debut year by signing the first ever Game Changers eligible player to a VCT Partnership team.
Make no mistake, florescent is GOOD good. This isn’t some kind of stunt made by the new team in town in an attempt to get a following. There is real promise behind this signing, and Apeks is hoping that they can have a breakout year just like G2 did in North America after ascending last year. Even just being able to go toe-to-toe with some of the established squads would be a great start.
The full VCT 2025 schedule has already been announced with kick offs starting in January.
