Official statement by Gambit Valorant: Gambit players to play VCT EMEA as an independent team amid the Russia-Ukraine Crisis

Gambit has allowed its players to participate in the VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA under a neutral name. 

“This continues to be a very difficult time for everyone, not least for all us with family and friends living in Ukraine,” Gambit said in a statement on social media today.

“We sincerely wish for tournaments to continue and players to focus on competition and sportsmanship. We’ve therefore taken the decision to empower our players, Redgar, Chronicle, d3ffo, Sheydos, and nAts, to take part in the upcoming VCT Competition as an independent team.”

Also read: Looks like Sean Gares might finally join the Sentinels Valorant roster after all

Future for Gambit’s Valorant Roster

According to Gambit in-game leader Redgar, the team is set to take part in VCT EMEA under the name “M3C”.

Gambit made a similar decision with its VALORANT roster to its CS: GO lineup. On March 11, the org revealed that its players will be allowed to compete in ESL Pro League Season 15 under a neutral banner. In contrast to Riot, though, ESL made it clear. Organizations with “apparent ties” to the Russian government were strictly forbidden from being represented in the EPL.

Also read: Valorant NA Playoffs: Teams, Schedule and When & Where the matches live

Impact of Russian-Ukrainian crisis on ESports

Riot Games canceled week three of the European competition due to the conflict in Ukraine. Later on, three matches from week four were played, with 10 more as a part of a super week. Gambit, however, didn’t take part. Riot didn’t mention the absence of the team in this period.

100T Member Asuna, also was nervous due to him having family in Ukraine. Many EMEA organizations in VALORANT and many other games went through major problems. Hopefully, we can look past this, and soon the humanitarian crisis is solved. And everything gets back to the way things were before, but all we can do is hope.