Cheaters have no place in Valorant and two North American professional players learned. phox and w3ak have been permanently banned and won't be seen in-game anytime soon. Their professional aspirations stop there.
While there was a false accusation during the WePlay! Invitational, both players actually cheated competitively during the Nerd St. Gamers Open Tournament with the A.S.M.R. team. Their former teammates were unaware of this and therefore didn't receive any penalties.
phox was even supposed to take part in the next big American tournament, the PAX Arena Invitational, with Team Echo 8 as a stand-in. He's now without a team and with a more than degraded image.
The two players explained themselves on social networks. w3ak understands the sanction but still split some rather confusing messages, explaining that he and his friend are among the best players in Valorant, with or without cheating.
phox was much more sober. He cited poor mental health and depression as reasons for his actions. He invested a lot —12-15 hours of play per day — and felt compelled to perform well to get by. He will now take a (forced) break and focus on his personal life and schooling.
Recently, many Valorant players have complained about a bug that was affecting the competitive mode. Riot Games reacted quickly and fixed the issue right away.
