Aurora Gaming won VCT EMEA Kickoff Europe Qualifier 1 on Tuesday, November 10, four days after BONK knocked them out of it. In between, Riot Games disqualified BONK, said a participant on the team was using cheating software, and had part of the bracket played again.
What Riot said
On November 8, VALORANT Esports EMEA posted a two page competition update. Riot said its anti-cheat team had been reviewing matches throughout the Kickoff qualifiers, and that suspicious behavior involving BONK in Qualifier 1 was reported. Then came this line: "Further investigation by our team confirmed that a participant on Team BONK was using unauthorised cheating software."
BONK was disqualified from the qualifier. Riot has not named the participant.
The suspensions go wider than one person for now. "All players and other registered team participants have been provisionally suspended from Riot-sanctioned competitions while we complete our investigation into individual involvement," the statement reads. Riot called those suspensions interim measures and said any final sanctions will be determined based on the findings for each individual.
The statement also says Riot has "a zero-tolerance policy for cheating, including knowingly enabling, assisting or concealing cheating by others."
Dexerto reported that Riot told ycatble, one of the teams BONK beat, that the disqualification followed a dispute that team filed. Dexerto also quoted Leo Faria, Riot's global head of VALORANT esports, posting on X: "Imagine cheating in OQs and thinking we wouldn't catch you."
How Aurora got back in
BONK beat Aurora 2-1 in the Round of 32 on November 6. That sent Derke, a Masters champion, and the rest of Aurora out of the first qualifier.
Riot's fix was to replay "the two subsequent rounds of matches in the affected portion" of the bracket. That means the Round of 16 and the quarterfinal, the two rounds that came after BONK's win over Aurora. Aurora, Project 100K and ycatble all agreed to replay their matches that same day.
Aurora beat Project 100K 2-0, then beat ycatble 2-0 for a place in the Kickoff Europe Qualifier Playoffs, going off VLR.gg's results. The semifinal and the final were moved to November 10. Aurora beat Pixel Lumina 2-0 in the semifinal and F9 EICAR 2-1 in the Grand Final.
Riot says this replay is a one off
"Replaying tournament matches is an exceptional measure and will not always be possible," the statement reads. It adds that the decision "reflects the specific circumstances of this case and does not establish a precedent for how future incidents will be handled."
What is still open
Riot has not said which participant used the software, and it has not announced final sanctions. Everyone registered with BONK is provisionally suspended while Riot looks at each person, and Riot has not said the other players were involved. We did not find a public response from BONK as of November 11.
Aurora now heads to the Qualifier Playoffs. Insider Gaming reports that the playoffs decide which two European rosters reach VCT EMEA Kickoff 2027.
What do you make of Riot replaying the bracket? Come tell us in the CXM Discord.
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