Hello, Agents.

It’s time to enjoy Episode 3 of your favorite weekly VALORANT newsletter, Spike Drop. I’m still experimenting with this project, so we’re trying a new title format under a new banner I threw together real quick.

In this week’s installment, we’ll quickly run through the latest confirmed and reported roster moves before jumping into the two main stories: the utter dominance of Shopify Rebellion in NA Game Changers, and the leaked changes supposedly coming to the game in the next VALORANT episode.

Roster Moves Roundup

Leviatán’s star swap

✅ Leviatán has confirmed the acquisition of 2023 world champion Max "Demon1" Mazanov, reuniting him with former Evil Geniuses teammate Corbin "C0M" Lee. With Erick "aspas" Santos’ move to BLEED now up in smoke, the 2022 champion has been linked to a return to Brazil via MIBR.

😈 Demon1’s redemption tour is now scheduled for 2025. Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the young superstar who was the biggest offseason acquisition immediately clashes with his coach over role issues and is benched before the midway point of the season. There’s been a lot of back-and-forth finger-pointing regarding what happened at NRG, with some unconfirmed but not unbelievable accusations of complacency on Demon1’s part floating around. With LEV, he now has the chance to silence the doubters on a team that’s core just reached top 3 at Champions, and who still have another move to make.

🌪️ This is a great get for MIBR if it comes to fruition. Their one lasting cultural moment is beating 100 Thieves in 2023 to give Evil Geniuses a chance to go on their run. Last year, they only won a single series after Kickoff. They’ve got to land this.

M80 continues to be picked apart

💛 Former M80 duelist GianFranco "koalanoob" Potestio and coach Vincent "Happy" Schopenhauer are reportedly heading to NAVI for the 2025 season.

💣 This latest report follows Zander’s departure from the team for 100 Thieves, and the release of the rest of the roster. The team’s assistant coach Luke "GUNTER" Clives has already found his new role as assistant coach for Sentinels. M80’s future in VALORANT is very much up in the air. The team’s VP of Esports (and former Sentinels head coach) Don “SyykoNT” Muir said recently that they “have a couple of coals in the oven,” but also added that they are “assessing” their opportunities in the scene.

Of course El Diablo is Evil

🦹 According to purest, my former colleague at Dot, Evil Geniuses are set to bring on Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker and former TSM/Moist Moguls player Tyler "sym" Porter. The two will reportedly play alongside Nicholas "NaturE" Garrison, Nicholas "NaturE" Garrison, and Derrek "Derrek" Ha under coach Christine "potter" Chi.

😲 Well I feel stupid. After what’s been a rough couple of years, yay is back. He’s actually never played a VCT Americas match before, only playing at LOCK//IN with Cloud at the start of 2023. This is the perfect fit: both yay and EG were once on top of the world, albeit at different times, but have been relegated to being the butt of jokes in recent memory. And this roster is kinda nice?!? I think this is a playoff team!

Can’t Stop-ify Shopify

Another Game Changers main event trophy has been added to the case of Shopify Rebellion, having now claimed all three NA main events this year and qualifying for the world championship. The defending world champions didn’t lose a single series during Game Changers main events this year, losing just twice during the Series 3 qualifiers against YFP and FlyQuest Red.

Here are some stats worth noting:

🏆 Between their stints at Cloud9, Version1, and now Shopify Rebellion, Melanie "meL" Capone and Alexis "alexis" Guarrasi have won every single NA Game Changers main event, except for one. The one they lost was at the end of 2023 to Evil Geniuses, but they would make up for that just a couple months later by winning the Game Changers Championship.

🤯 Ava "florescent" Eugene has been the highest rated player on VLR at all three NA main events this year. They’ve averaged over 320 ACS and and 1.87 K/D.

The goal this year remains winning another championship, but just reaching the world championship has unlocked a path for Shopify Rebellion to accomplish the goal that’s eluded them: qualifying for NA Challengers. By reaching the GCC, Shopify Rebellion have earned an invite to the NA Challengers qualifier.

🔒 Tier two in NA (and globally for that matter) is kind of a mess right now. Can you name a single organization that you can guarantee is competing in Challengers next year? M80, Oxygen, DarkZero, MxS, and TSM are all questionable. I think there’s no better time for Shopify Rebellion to finally break through and reach Challengers. This group has now been together since the start of 2023, and with the rule changes they no longer have to worry about splitting their time between qualifying for both Challengers and Game Changers.

The Game is About to Change

While Patch 9.08 just went live, some new details surrounding Patch 9.10 have already begun to leak. Phoenix is getting a pretty drastic rework, and a new regenerating shield has been spotted.

🔥 Phoenix’s Curveball flash is taking over the signature ability spot, meaning players get one free each round, and can restore a charge with two kills. His Blaze wall can also go through walls.

🛡️ A regenerating shield has been spotted in the leaks, but we’ve only seen a short clip with no further details.

⁉️ I’ll repeat what Sliggy said during the most recent Plat Chat: we should wait for more information before dishing out hot takes on the regen shield. But the Phoenix changes are pretty important; being able to cast the Blaze wall through other walls is a huge boon to his ability to set up entry plays and retakes, and a third flash allows him to be really disruptive during those plays.

Hey y’all. Hope everyone’s enjoying Spike Drop so far. I’m still looking for full-time and part-time work while imposter syndrome is beating my ass, so I’m glad I can keep this going. Who knows what the future entails?