Riot Overturns Vivo Keyd’s VCT Victory Due to Cypher Exploit

Riot has overturned the results of yesterday’s Championship battle between Acend and Keyd Stars after Jonathan “JhoW” Gloria of Keyd Stars was caught using a cypher cam glitch while playing on the match’s third map, Breeze.

Hours earlier, the entire Valorant community were thrown into a frenzy after the Brazilian Valorant team pulled one of the craziest upsets against Acend in the ongoing Valorant Championship Tour in Berlin. While Brazilian fans rejoiced over the victory, everyone else was in awe, wondering if the organizers of the event, Riot Games will not take any actions about “JhoW’s” illegal use of a Cypher cam glitch which had been initially banned.

Vivo Keyd used a glitch

In a statement shared on social media, Riot addressed the player’s use of the glitch, restating that such acts are prohibited. They explained that using the Cypher glitch gives players a clear view of any opponents entering A site from Cave. The organizers reiterated that this act contravenes Rule 7.2.6 of the Valorant Global Competition Policy.

During the game, Vivo Keyd used the Cypher glitch to outsmart their opponents in six rounds, out of which they won four, and secured a 13-8 win. The organizers have now flipped the result, awarding all those dubiously acquired victories to Acend, resulting in a 12-9 score in Acend’s favor. In the statement, Riot claims that the decision was made “to account for the economic impact of the six forfeited rounds.”

Why didn’t Riot stop the game?

Addressing fans’ concerns on why they didn’t stop the match, Riot explained that they only stop a match if an exploit is so obvious, or a player from the other team reports the malpractice. Since Acend did not call the action of the tournament officials to inquire if the camera was legal, and the one-way view isn’t so conspicuous for everyone to see, they had to let the game continue, and make a decision later.

The forfeited rounds in which the cypher glitch was used include rounds 13, 14, 17, 19 and 20. Keyd Stars won 4 of these rounds to clinch their initial 13-8 victory, which Riot has upturned to a 12-9 score in Acend’s favor. While responding to the decision, JhoW apologized to his teammates for the mistake, stating that it wasn’t intentional.

He also claimed that they would have still won the series even if he didn’t use the camera. He assured fans that while they cannot change the rules that have already been made, they will still continue to dominate their future matches, and become victorious. Consequent to this, Acend will now face Envy in tomorrow’s group winners’ match, while Keyd Stars will slug it out with X10 CRIT in their group’s elimination match.