Vivo Keyd has been punished with seven total round losses at Valorant Champions, resulting in a loss to Acend, for a Cypher exploit.
Valorant Champions is in full swing, and teams are looking for whatever edge they can get. However, it seems that one player, namely Vivo Keyd's Jonathan “JhoW” Glória, has gone a bit too far in the pursuit of glory.
Utilizing a Cypher glitch that was well known not to be legal, he utilized the glitch to obtain information that he should not have been able to get, by placing Cypher's camera in a location that clips through textures to see areas that it normally would not have been able to. Additionally, the glitch leaves the camera's hitbox unshootable, making it an immortal sentry.
"The six (6) rounds where the camera exploit was used will be forfeited by Team Vivo Keyd and granted to Team Acend, resulting in an adjusted score of Acend 12, Vivo Keyd 9," Riot said in their competitive ruling. "To account for the economic impact of the six (6) forfeited rounds on the subsequent rounds in the map, Acend will be additionally awarded one (1) round."
This means that Acend now goes on to win their opening match against Vivo Keyd, changing the entire look of Group A's proceedings.
Why wasn't play stopped?
While many have questioned Riot as to why this exploit from Vivo Keyd wasn't spotted and play not stopped as it was with the Sentinels match yesterday, the Valorant competitive team was ready with an answer to this as well.
"Tournament Officials will only stop a match if an exploit is clear and obvious, or reported by a participating team. The one-way view of the camera exploit is a small portion of the camera’s perspective, and was not immediately obvious when watching the player move the camera during the match. Additionally, Acend did not report the exploit.
Riot also stated that if Vivo Keyd was unsure about the legality of the camera placement, they could have asked - but they did not. Due to the economic impact and value of the information that was obtained, Riot awarded Acend the rounds. Additionally, Riot provided video evidence of the six rounds in question, which you can see over on their website.
What's the impact of this ruling?
As a result of the ruling, Group A will proceed as follows.
- Winner’s Match: December 4, 9 AM PST, Acend vs Envy
- Elimination Match: December 5, 6 AM PST, Vivo Keyd vs X10 Crit
No further punishment is expected from Riot for the player in question at this time. Be sure to keep up with all the matches at the event on our Valorant coverage hub for Champions.