Two failures were one too many apparently, with four out of five players today departing M80’s VALORANT <\/em>roster to enter unrestricted free agency. The only remaining member is Zander, but it’s likely only a matter of time until the 22-year-old follows suit too.<\/p>
Just last weekend, M80, the heavy favorite to break through Champions Tour Americas and make it to Riot Games’ franchising league, instead ran straight into a misstep at the final hurdle<\/a>. After missing out on the VCT Americas League for the second time in a row, the end of the second division North American VALORANT<\/a><\/em> roster now seems imminent.<\/p>
Four out of five VALORANT <\/em>players have already confirmed their departure from M80. The former players include NiSMO<\/a> (flex), koalanoob<\/a> (duelist), BcJ<\/a> (recon), and neT<\/a> (sentinel\/lurker). NiSMO and koalanoob were original members of the M80 squad that faltered in Ascension 2023<\/a>, while BcJ and neT were new to join the ride in 2024.<\/p>
All the players from the M80 squad can still find a way into the VCT Americas League in 2025<\/a>, but only if franchised teams acquire them. We recently learned numerous players in the league<\/a>, including TenZ<\/a> and Saadhak, would either be retiring or jumping ship to other competitive regions\u2014potentially opening up slots for the ex-M80 players to join the franchise competition.<\/p>
Running a VCT team, even if it\u2019s only a Challenger-level squad, can be very costly. In 2023, DisguisedToast revealed he spent $500,000 a year<\/a> running his VALORANT<\/a> <\/em>team Disguised. We\u2019d speculate M80 spent even more\u00a0every year since its team runs at a larger scale, with additional support staff also included.<\/p>
