In this article
Valorant's offseason moved from rumor to paperwork on Monday, November 2. That was the day the transfer market opened, according to The Spike, and the day it says all of FURIA's players and coaching staff became free agents. In the days around it, FURIA announced it was stepping away from the top tier, T1 cleared most of its roster and coaching staff, and a Duelist moved between two American teams.
This article walks through the moves reported between October 30 and November 2, using reporting from The Spike and from a Valorant news outlet that tracks the scene, and it says where each move stands. Several of them are releases, not signings. A release is not a retirement: a released player simply no longer belongs to the team and can sign elsewhere.
The Spike's reports of October 30 and November 2, 2026.
What the transfer window means
Riot Games runs the top level of Valorant esports as the Valorant Champions Tour, known as the VCT. Its teams are split into regions, and in each region a set group of partner teams holds a place in the circuit. For the 2027-2028 seasons, The Spike reports that eight teams were chosen as partners in the Americas. It also reports that T1 has been announced as a partner team on a two-year contract, which secures its place in the Pacific region.
A team that is not in that group does not hold one of those places. FURIA and Cloud9 are both named by The Spike as teams left out of the Americas partnership.
A Valorant team fields five players, so each departure leaves a role to fill, and a coach's exit leaves a gap in the staff as well. A free agent is a player or coach whose contract has ended or been released, so that any team may sign them. The Spike says the transfer market opened on November 2, and that all of FURIA's players and coaching staff became free agents that day.
Related readTeam Falcons sign jume as Shaiiko leaves for G2 Esports in Siege| Team | Move | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| FURIA | Steps away from the top tier | Players and staff free agents from November 2 |
| T1 | Five departures | Three players and two coaches leave |
| Sentinels | Sign OXY | Duelist arrives from Cloud9 |
| Paper Rex | Release Jinggg | Player leaves after five years |
| Mandatory | Announce a 2027 roster | Five players and two coaches |
Reports by The Spike and a Valorant news outlet, October 30 to November 2, 2026.
FURIA step away from the top tier
FURIA announced that it will step away from the mixed Valorant competitive scene in 2027, The Spike reports. The organization was not among the eight partner teams chosen for the VCT 2027-2028 seasons and did not secure a new partnership contract. The Spike's report carries an update stamp of October 30.
"Valorant has been our home," the organization said in its statement. It added that it would share more about its future in the inclusive Valorant scene. The Spike notes that FURIA recently announced a Game Changers roster for the inclusive scene, and says FURIA is expected to share further details on that roster in the coming weeks.
The Spike says FURIA spent four years as a partnered team in the Americas and, until 2026, had never won a regional title. It then won the VCT Americas 2026 Kickoff. Its first international appearance since 2023 ended without advancing past the first round of the playoffs. A Valorant news outlet describes the departure as coming after five years of fielding a team in the game.
The Spike notes that FURIA is the latest Americas team to leave the circuit, following Evil Geniuses, which exited esports altogether. All of FURIA's players and coaching staff on the main team became free agents on November 2.
T1 clears most of its roster and staff
T1 announced it was parting ways with five people: the players Meteor, Munchkin and DH, the head coach KDG and the coach CheongGak, The Spike reports. Both The Spike and the Valorant news outlet covered the announcement in the first two days of November.
Related readFalcons sign karrigan from FaZe and bench kyxsan before the MajorThe Spike gives the background of each. Meteor joined in October 2024 and is described as a two-time Masters winner, and his contract has expired. Munchkin joined in November 2025 and had previously won a Masters with Gen.G. DH returned to the main roster in July 2026 after a stint in the T1 academy, and his contract has ended. On the staff side, KDG joined as head coach in October 2025, and CheongGak's tenure began in March 2023, according to The Spike.
The Spike lists three players who remain on the roster: iZu, stax and BuZz. The organization also parted with its academy coach and five academy players on October 26, according to The Spike, and chose not to promote from within.
The departures follow results that The Spike summarizes. T1 finished second at the VCT Pacific Kickoff in both 2025 and 2026, and third at VCT 2026 Pacific Stage 2. It reached its first Champions playoffs at Champions Shanghai, where it finished fifth to sixth. Separately, The Spike credits CheongGak and Meteor with leading T1 to its Masters Bangkok title, a 3-2 grand final win over G2 Esports, and the Valorant news outlet dates that event to 2025.
Sentinels sign OXY from Cloud9
Sentinels officially announced the signing of OXY, a Duelist, after three years at Cloud9, The Spike reports, and the Valorant news outlet lists the move under November 2. A Duelist is the role built around entering a site first and creating space for the team.
The signing filled a place that had just opened. The Spike says the Duelist Jerrwin had already left, and the Valorant news outlet's listing for October 30 shows Sentinels releasing both JonahP and Jerrwin. The Spike calls OXY's arrival the first confirmed major change in a Sentinels offseason that had been the subject of rumors.
Related readG2 and Liquid swap malbsMd and NertZ three weeks before the Major cut-offIn a video quoted by The Spike, OXY said, "All good things come to an end." The Spike says he consistently ranks among the region's top Duelists statistically but has no titles to show for it. It adds that Cloud9 has not won a regional championship or reached an international event since VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN.
Sentinels are one of the eight Americas partner teams for 2027-2028, so the signing lets OXY compete for a partnered team, The Spike says. Cloud9 was left out of the partnership, and The Spike says another Cloud9 player, Zellsis, is also leaving this offseason. His next team has not been announced.
Paper Rex part with Jinggg
Paper Rex announced that it was parting ways with the player Jinggg after five years, according to the Valorant news outlet, which lists the announcement under November 1. It reports that he first joined the organization in September 2021 from Team SMG and that the team also released d4v41, who had earlier announced he was looking for a new team.
The outlet lists Masters Toronto 2025, Pacific Stage 2 in 2025 and Pacific Stage 1 in 2026 among the titles he won with the team. It adds that he later moved into a substitute role because of mandatory military service obligations, and returned to the starting lineup in March 2024. His next destination has not been reported.
New rosters and staff
Not every announcement was a departure. The Valorant news outlet reports that the organization Mandatory announced its 2027 roster on November 1, with five players it describes as former VCT talents: starxo as in-game leader, runneR, MiniBoo, Veqaj and Kicks. Larsson is the head coach and SKAZZ the assistant coach. The outlet lists the roles as starxo in-game leader, runneR Sentinel, MiniBoo Duelist, Veqaj flex and Kicks Controller. The in-game leader is the player who calls the team's strategy during a match. A Sentinel anchors a site on defense, a Controller uses abilities to block sight lines, and a flex player covers different roles depending on the map.
The outlet's listing shows that Fnatic parted ways with Veqaj on October 30, and Mandatory's announced five include him. The outlet's report on the Fnatic split describes Mandatory's roster of Veqaj, starxo, runneR, MiniBoo and Kicks as an Open Qualifier roster.
Aurora Gaming, which entered Valorant on October 29, added a head coach on November 2, according to the same outlet. It reports that hvoya joins after nearly three years at Xi Lai Gaming, where his contract was due to expire at the end of the 2026 season.
What the reports do not say
The coverage so far leaves several points open. None of the reports gives contract lengths or fees for any of the signings, and the outlets describe the moves as announcements, not deals with disclosed terms. Zellsis has no announced team. The Spike expects FURIA to share more about its Game Changers roster in the coming weeks, and T1 has not said whom it plans to sign next.
The market has only just opened, and each of these teams still has roles to fill before the 2027 season. Further announcements will follow from the organizations themselves.
The name this team could hold, in the standings and everywhere else.
An example of the format. It does not mean the name is registered, used or endorsed by anyone named in this article.
Discover .esports →The .esports registry publishes Esports Observer, so the whole scene can read its news for free.
