Professional VALORANT players W3ak and Phox respond after cheating ban

Despite Riot’s controversial anti cheating software Vanguard, Valorant still has seen its fair share of cheaters. Considering its nature as a competitive game, a lot of time and effort is put into constantly trying to stay ahead of cheaters. However, as we have seen in countless other esports, not even tournaments are safe from cheating.

The Valorant scene has been graced by the presence of not one, but two competitive players cheating in the Nerd St. Gamers Open tournament. Playing for the team Echo 8, both players used cheating software during the tournament. After getting found out, they initially declined any allegations, as can be found on their respective twitters.

Not gonna try to prolong this anymore. None of our teammates knew we were cheating. I got a message from phox this morning saying he got banned, so I checked if I was too. I have now logged in to being banned, thought I could play it off.

— weak (@w3ak) July 20, 2020

However, after initial reluctance, both players admitted to using cheats, citing a variety of reasons. Both seemed to be disillusioned and bored of the game in general. Phox in particular has released two lengthy statements, detailing his issues with losing and his general compulsive habit of cheating in any game he plays. W3ak, on the other hand, refrained from any twitlongers or larger statements, and has announced that he would leave Valorant completely.

Both players have also stated that both their teammates and organisation were unaware of the fact that they were using cheats. Echo 8 is not expected to suffer any permanent damage, and their planned participation to the PAX Arena Invitational has not been cancelled. 

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Image Credit: Riot Games