A former Valorant world champion is on the move ahead of the VCT 2023 season.
Acend’s star player and Valorant Champions 2021 winner, Mehmet Yağız “cNed” İpek, is reportedly in talks with French esports organization Team Vitality, according to a report by Esporist.
The 20-year-old was one of the best performers during the VCT 2021 season and arguably the best Jett main in the world.
He led his team to win the VCT 2021 Europe Stage 1 Masters and the VCT 2021 Europe Stage 3 Challengers 1, beating out teams like FunPlus Phoenix and G2 Esports.
This move could reunite him with his former Acend in-game leader, Santeri “BONECOLD” Sassi, who is currently the captain of Vitality’s Valorant roster.
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CNed set to join an EMEA partnered team next season
After not making it into the Valorant partnership program, cNed announced that he is exploring his options as a restricted free agent for next year.
Vitality recently opened up two roster spots after Nathan “nataNk” Bocqueho and Joona “H1ber” Parviainen announced that they were also looking to join a new team next season.
CNed will likely step into H1bers or Jokūbas “ceNder” Labutis’ role on the team. H1ber was the primary duelist for the team, while ceNder played Chamber on certain maps.
Team Vitality’s Valorant roster
- Jokūbas “ceNder” Labutis
- Santeri “BONECOLD” Sassi
- Kamil “baddyG” Graniczka
- Mehmet Yağız “cNed” İpek
Vitality is set to compete against Fnatic, Team Liquid, Karmine Corp, Team Heretics, Giants, Natus Vincere, FUT Esports, BBL Esports, and KOI in the VCT 2023 EMEA League.
Team Vitality’s new team will make its debut when all 30 of the Valorant partnered teams head to São Paulo, Brazil where Riot Games is set to host its biggest VCT tournament yet.
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