Welcome to the first installment of Spike Drop, a weekly VALORANT newsletter covering the game and its competitive scene.

For those that don’t know me, my name is Scott Robertson, and I’ve covered competitive VALORANT since the game’s inception, most notably for Dot Esports. In addition to the hundreds of articles and dozens of interviews I’ve done, I’ve also produced some original reporting on the working conditions at Evil Geniuses, a court case between XSET and its former players, and pANcada’s departure from Sentinels.

Who’s this newsletter for? I’m not entirely sure yet, but I wanted to put together a weekly roundup of the big news and talking points, highlighting both the major stories and content from other writer/creators in the scene. Think of it like SparkNotes (do people still use that?) but for a week’s worth of VALORANT news.

Generally, this will be more NA and Americas-focused, but big international news or news that affects the global scene will also be covered.

Table of Contents

• Dawn of the First Day of Rostermania

  • A new Sentinels era

  • G2 got that jawg in them

  • Wake up babe, new 7am content just dropped

  • Did Cloud9 cook?

  • The rumor mill

• Future Spike Drop plans

Dawn of the First Day of Rostermania

We’re starting this right in the midst of the offseason, so we’re hopping into the changes right away, beginning with the official ones.

A new Sentinels era

✅ Sentinels has signed Marshall "N4RRATE" Massey from Karmine Corp and Sean "bang" Bezerra from 100 Thieves, filling the gaps left by the retirements of Tyson “TenZ” Ngo and Gustavo "Sacy" Rossi.

📈 Sentinels’ cultural impact takes a hit with TenZ and Sacy departing, but when it comes to replacing those roles, the team can do no better than bang at smokes and N4RRATE at initiator. N4RRATE joins after a breakout season in EMEA, while bang has steadily been one of the best controllers in the Americas region for a couple of years now. Sentinels’ business plan of prioritizing VALORANT competitive relevancy, merchandise, and content out the wazoo seems to be going smoothly, with company leadership believing they will finally “break even” next year.

G2 got that jawg in them

✅ G2 has signed Alexander "jawgemo" Mor after his release from Evil Geniuses.

🏀 Slam dunk pickup from G2. The whole Carlos-Andrew Tate thing occurred at the worst time for their VALORANT program, but the performance-based changes have given them a path to stay in the VCT long term. Unlike other partner teams, G2 has to consistently be a top team to keep their spot, but adding a world champion to a core that’s already reached Champions should do the trick (excluding NRG 2023).

🗑️ EG remains the proverbial punching bag for the rest of VCT Americas. They receive a healthy dose of trash talk and get mocked when they try and clap back. Talk around the EG camp has been pretty quiet so far this offseason, and no one is on contract going into 2025, even coach Potter.

Wake up babe, new 7am content just dropped

✅ 100 Thieves has signed Alexander "Zander" Dituri from M80.

💯 I don’t think swapping Zander in for bang moves the needle too much for 100T, but I was already really high on this team going into year two with Boostio and Zikz at the helm. Last year we saw a revitalized and re-energized Cryocells and Asuna, and they should take another step forward this year.

Did Cloud9 cook?

✅ Cloud9 has signed Daniel "Rossy" Abedrabbo and Victor "v1c" Truong.

☁️ I love the v1c pickup. I’ve been high on this guy ever since Shopify snagged him at the end of 2022; he’s a terrific smokes player that I think could rival bang when it comes to anchoring at that position, and he showed that potential at the NA qualifier for Red Bull Home Ground. But this is a big bet on Rossy to figure out the IGL role quickly, and on Xeppaa to be the secondary star next to Oxy.

🔗 Check out Brandon Moore’s interview with v1c following C9’s win at Red Bull Home Ground on esports.gg.

The rumor mill

These moves aren’t official yet, but reporters like Alejandro “anonimotum” Gomis and Max “purest” Katz have been posting and publishing all sorts of reports about moves happening around the world.

🔵 Karmine Corp are reportedly bringing on an entirely new roster featuring Matias "Saadhak" Delipetro, Dmitrii "SUYGETSU" Iliushin, Hazem "avez" Khaled, and Efe "Elite" Teber. KC’s young breakout star from last year Martin "marteen" Pátek will reportedly stay with the team. Two proven winners in Saadhak and SUYGETSU with a trio of on-the-rise stars? KC cooked this offseason.

🐝 Vitality are reportedly closing in on two all-star acquisitions in Felipe "Less" Basso from LOUD and Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev from Fnatic, who will both move on after three seasons with their respective teams.

🐴 Liquid are reportedly bringing in a Polish trio in Kamil "kamo" Frąckowiak, Patryk "paTiTek" Fabrowski, and Maks "kamyk" Rychlewski. Kamo’s checkered past makes this a very risky move from a brand perspective.

Future Spike Drop plans

Looking ahead to next week, I’m planning to talk about the upcoming map pool changes while I finalize my thoughts on the incredibly pointless third split being held for NA Challengers.

We’ve also got NA Game Changers Series 3 next week, with the Championship in Berlin next month!

In future installments, I’m planning to include tidbits and links to one-on-one interviews that will go on YouTube. If any players, coaches, or personalities are interested in sitting down for a chat, my DMs are open on X/Twitter (@counterscottGO) or on Discord (@hopscottch). Team of the week will also make its return once VCT resumes.