Riot reportedly blocked FlyQuest from buying Evil Geniuses’ VCT slot

Riot Games reportedly blocked FlyQuest from entering into VCT Americas via purchasing a spot from Evil Geniuses in the 2023/34 offseason.

Evil Geniuses and its Valorant roster were a hot story during the 2023/24 offseason as the World Championship-winning team dealt with the implosion of the esports organization. EG went through massive layoffs over 2022 and 2023 but still managed to put together an incredible Valorant roster that placed second at Masters Tokyo and first at Valorant Champions.

Thanks to the downsizing throughout the year, however, the organization was faced with a dilemma as it reportedly needed to cut costs by reducing player salaries. Players were faced with pay cuts and were also put in “contract jail” as the organization negotiated for the highest buyout for their contracts.

Evil Geniuses reportedly turned down $100,000 buyouts for star players Max ‘Demon1’ Mazanov and Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold, according to Richard Lewis.

Things were even wilder behind the scenes as EG was also reportedly negotiating with FlyQuest to sell their VCT slot and roster before Riot shut the deal down.

FlyQuest were almost in VCT Americas

According to a report from Sheep Esports, FlyQuest and Evil Geniuses held negotiations over the acquisition of EG’s VCT slot and team over several months. The two organizations reportedly reached an agreement, but it was left up to Riot Games for the final approval of the deal.

However, the Valorant developer blocked the move according to the report. Unlike Riot’s other esports leagues in League of Legends, VCT leagues feature partnered teams instead of franchised organizations.

Esports orgs signed a four-year contract with Riot Games to play in their respective VCT leagues around the world, and do not own the slot. The report claims EG and FlyQuest were hopeful that Riot would allow this transaction to go through because of G2 Esports’ recent acquisition of The Guard’s roster and VCT slot.

FlyQuest were also reportedly in the running to sign the former Guard players and take over the temporary VCT Americas slot.

Evil Geniuses are currently set to take on the rest of the VCT Americas teams in the Kickoff tournament with an almost completely different roster from last year. Whether the organization will continue on in Valorant after its four-year contract with Riot for VCT runs out has yet to be seen.