More transphobia in Game Changers, AI graphics, and Masters London criticism: VALORANT’s turbulent week

Masters London officially kicked off last Saturday, but there’s been plenty of VALORANT esports shake-ups even beyond VCT’s second global event of the year. 

From concerning Game Changers backlash to the highlights (and lowlights) of Masters London, here’s everything you need to know about last week’s VALORANT shenanigans!

A week ago, Team Liquid fans were hit by several sources claiming that Wayne “wayne” Chang would be moved to the organization’s bench ahead of VCT EMEA Stage 2 in July.

However, following an initial wave of disappointment from the VALORANT community, Team Liquid’s official announcement painted a clearer picture. The decision to step away from active competition was not made by the organization’s management but by Wayne himself, as the player later confirmed in his statement.

“The past few months haven’t been the easiest for me. Being away from home was tough, and I struggled a lot mentally during the whole of stage 1,” shared Wayne on social media

“It shows that there is a lot of room for me to grow, and I’ll need to work harder. That being said, I’ll be taking an indefinite break to rest and recover mentally to be in the best possible shape when I do come back to competitive play. I would like to thank the fans that supported me throughout the year, and sorry for not giving the results you expected.”

Wayne joined Team Liquid ahead of the 2026 VCT season as a rookie hailing from Singaporean esports organization Motiv Esports. Although the rebuilt roster finished third at EMEA Kickoff, Team Liquid failed to advance past the Swiss Stage at Masters Santiago, the first global VCT event of the year.

The disappointing international result was followed by an early elimination from the Playoffs in VCT EMEA Stage 1.

To fill the roster gap left by Wayne’s departure, Team Liquid has allegedly signed its former player Nikita “trexx” Cherednichenko. While this rumor has yet to be confirmed, one thing’s for certain: Wayne is by far not the only international signing to struggle in a new region. Rookie players, in particular, have reported mental health-related challenges after relocating to another region.

Adjusting to a different country, a new team environment, and playing on the VCT stage for the very first time is an enormous task. Being away from friends and family can also be a major factor. It might be a difficult decision, but one’s well-being should always come first.

Shortly after Wayne’s benching, Team Liquid found itself under scrutiny from the VALORANT community again – this time, for its AI usage on social media. The organization posted a call for participants in “Guess The Rank.” But X (formerly Twitter) users quickly noticed that certain parts of the posted graphic seemed to have been generated by AI.

“Good, but why u need to use AI for this ehhhh?” commented a user on the platform. Interestingly, Team Liquid’s Senior Producer, Andrew “Cav” C., replied to the user’s comment, confirming that AI was used. Cav also explained that he was on vacation and would take the post down once he found the necessary participants.

Indeed, Team Liquid removed the post shortly after. However, the incident raises an interesting question: whether factors such as staff shortages or limited access to content-production tools can “excuse” AI use. In my opinion, AI will always be more convenient than relying on real artists. That’s its only major selling point as of now. But given the ethical and environmental implications of generative AI, I don’t see any excusable way to use it.

Concerning this, it is also not the first time we’ve encountered AI graphics on the social media accounts of top-tier VALORANT esports organizations. A recent example is Team Heretics’ “Final boarding call.” post, which was thankfully met with heavy criticism.

In Team Liquid’s case, we can only hope that the organization will stand by its words and avoid AI for the majority of its social media graphics.

Another concerning incident occurred following the VCT Game Changers (GC) North America Stage 1 Grand Final last weekend. SwimTrek Blue defeated GC icon Shopify Rebellion Gold in a decisive manner, but was met with a wave of transphobic comments targeting its players’ gender identity and presentation.

What should have been a celebration of new competitive heights for the North American GC scene was quickly overshadowed by online hate striving to drive a divide between cis-women and other marginalized genders. Something that has plagued the VALORANT community a lot lately.

As pointed out by many GC fans and participants, cis- and trans-women as well as non-binary players all face barriers connected to their gender when competing in esports. Therefore, they all belong in a movement that aims to reduce these gender inequalities. 

In turn, the only reasons for directing hate at trans and non-binary GC players are if you do not recognize the existence of these gender identities or if you believe there’s a biological advantage in esports competition. (The latter belief also invalidates trans and non-binary gender identities.) So, if you look at the victory graphic above, and your first thought is “How can this be a thing in GC?”, then I suggest looking inwards first and foremost.

“These players put so much of their lives into competing, into winning, just to get scrutinized by people that don’t actually give a f**k about what the scene actually stands for,” highlighted GIANTX GC athlete Nadia “adora” Sasnauskaite. “At some point, it just gets so tiring because how can any other trans person take inspiration from this incredible moment when all it seemingly does is rile up every senseless bigot in the community?”

Others argued that it would be primarily individuals from outside GC or even outside the esports scene as a whole who spread hate in response to the successes of trans folks. Either way, it has once again become evident that we still have a long way to go toward gender inclusion in esports and beyond.

Masters London kicked off last weekend, and its Swiss Stage didn’t go down without community criticism. The Round 2 Swiss Stage draws, in particular, caused major disappointment among fans and competitors, as all four games were regional match-ups.

“Regional matchups suck. Regional matchups in lowers suck a** even more,” remarked Paper Rex Assistant Coach Ashton “Wendler” Wendler on social media. 

For a high-stakes international competition, regional match-ups indeed feel underwhelming, especially given that VCT fans have watched most of these teams face each other not long ago on their regional stages. Some participating teams were disappointed, too. After all, they fought hard to qualify for one of the rare annual opportunities to compete against opponents from other regions.

As a result, some community members questioned whether regional match-ups should be allowed during global Swiss Stage draws to begin with. This could introduce complications in the third Swiss Round, where repeat match-ups are also forbidden, but I think it could be a good change specifically for Round 2.

Luckily for VCT viewers, Masters London’s Swiss Stage turned out fairly competitive despite the Round 2 draws. Team Vitality versus FUT Esports was one of the most entertaining series of the event so far. And with the Playoffs just around the corner, we can now look forward to the debut games of the four regional first seeds!

The all-regional Round 2 draw wasn’t the only hiccup during Masters London’s Swiss Stage. 

Following a close victory over FUT Esports, Team Vitality’s Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev raised integrity concerns on social media: “There has been a few occasions this year, and even previous ones, where a player during a 1v1 post-plant clutch starts to look at his opponent’s keyboard and mouse to read their movement if they’re defusing or not, for an example.”

The post was seemingly prompted by a 1v1 post-plant scenario between Derke and FUT Esports’ Eray “yetujey” Budak. The FUT Esports player secured the attack round by gambling several times on Derke faking his Spike defuse instead of sticking it. Importantly, though, Derke emphasized in his statement that no hate should be directed at specific players.

When asked for his opinion on the matter, VALORANT co-streamer and former Team Liquid coach, Connor “Sliggy” Blomfield, agreed with Derke’s sentiment to some extent: “It’s just LAN things, man. It is what it is. Can’t hate the player is all I’m saying. Gotta hate the game.” 

Sliggy added that he himself taught his players early on to watch for a green light on the opponents’ faces during LAN events to determine which of them is standing inside a Viper ultimate. Both Sliggy and Derke also highlighted that such issues are unique to VALORANT esports as Riot Games positions opposing teams across each other to encourage banter and interaction between rivals.

Interestingly, Global Head of VALORANT Esports, Leo Faria, directly addressed these concerns underneath Derke’s post. According to Faria, Riot Games will add a lip to the Masters London desks that covers players’ hands and wrists. This solution was previously implemented in VCT Americas and is planned to become the standard across all global VCT leagues starting in Stage 2.