Editors note: This story has been updated with more information Polaris in their Game Changers Series III campaign.
Polaris, the only team not signed to an organization to qualify for the main event of Game Changers, have had one of their players, Slaze, suspended. According to Slaze, the suspension is specifically for boosting, a violation of VALORANT’s terms of service.
According to leaked screenshots from the Game Changers Discord, Riot Game’s anti-cheat found conclusive evidence of this infraction. Polaris will have until Wednesday to find a substitute for the suspended player. If the team does not field a sub in that time frame, 24Haven, the team they defeated to qualify for the tournament, will take their spot.
“A player violated terms of service and has been removed from Polaris,” a VALORANT NA Esports spokesperson told Upcomer. “The wider team was unaware of the player’s violation and did not sustain a competitive advantage during VCT Game Changers qualifiers,”
https://twitter.com/slaze444/status/1442593844474761219?s=20
Since the leak, slaze has denied boosting and violating Riot’s TOS. Polaris released a statement from their team Twitter account and claim they had no knowledge of the violations.
Due to unforseen circumstances, Slaze has been suspended and will not be participating in this weekend's VCT:GC for her account being associated with boosting. All of us at Polaris do not condone or have had any knowledge of these actions outside of our matches and practice.
— Polaris (@PolarisVAL) September 27, 2021
“Due to unforseen circumstances, Slaze has been suspended and will not be participating in this weekend’s VCT:GC for her account being associated with boosting,” the team’s statement said. “All of us at Polaris do not condone or have had any knowledge of these actions outside of our matches and practice.”
Polaris at Game Changers
Polaris qualified for Game Changers Series III after going through the Swiss-style groups qualifying stage and the final double elimination bracket. In the group stage, Polaris went 3-1, only losing to NOTHING2LOSE 1-2 and defeating the recently signed Complexity squad.
They went into the elimination bracket as one of the top seeds. Polaris first faced off against CLG Red, the runners up at both previous Game Changers events, and won, 2-0, going into overtime in the second map. They were then trounced by the two-time Game Changers champions in Cloud9 White in a 0-2 loss.
In the lower bracket, Polaris slotted directly into Round 2 and played against 24Haven. They won the match 2-1 and qualified for Game Changers Series III as the only unsigned team to make the main event.
Polaris announced Tuesday that they will field a substitute, Katie, for the tournament and keep their spot at the event.
“For the remainder of the tournament, @kxtieoh will be filling in as our emergency sub in place of Slaze,” the tweet said.
For the remainder of the tournament, @kxtieoh will be filling in as our emergency sub in place of Slaze.
— Polaris (@PolarisVAL) September 28, 2021
