The biggest VALORANT roster moves of the 2026 cycle landed months before kickoff: Per official team announcements compiled by esports.gg's VCT 2026 roster tracker, Karmine Corp signed world-champion in-game leader Saadhak away from LOUD, while Team Vitality assembled a super team by uniting Less, Derke, Chronicle, Sayf and Sayonara — the two most aggressive bets of the offseason, now being tested as the 2026 VCT season runs its opening weeks.
Academia Hagi is an independent online publication covering competitive gaming — not a broadcaster, streamer, or event organizer — and rounds up only official announcements and named reporting here.
When did the 2026 VCT season actually start?
Per Riot's official season-start guide, published December 2, 2025, Kickoff ran on triple-elimination brackets of 12 teams per league, beginning January 15 in the Americas, January 20 in EMEA, and January 22 in both Pacific and China. The top four Champions 2025 finishers in each league received first-round byes, and only the top three per league advanced to the 12-team Masters Santiago. That structure put every rebuilt roster on a short leash: one bad week in Kickoff and a super team's offseason spending buys five weeks of nothing.
Which rosters changed the most?
Per the official announcements tracked across the offseason, the shuffle touched nearly every contender:
- Vitality paired Less with Derke, Chronicle, Sayf and Sayonara, with Faded moving to the inactive roster, per the organization's announced moves.
- Karmine Corp installed Saadhak — the LOUD championship shot-caller — as its new in-game leader, adding Engh as head coach, per the club's announcements.
- Fnatic retooled around Boaster, Alfajer and kaajak by adding crashies and Veqaj, per the team's roster news.
- MIBR kept aspas and promoted Verno into the lineup, per MIBR's announcement.
- 100 Thieves brought bang back and rebuilt around Asuna, Timotino and Vora with NBS as head coach, per the team's official roster update.
- PCIFIC entered VCT 2026 with an entirely new roster, per the league's announcement — headline movement for Filipino players in tier one.
What about the newly promoted teams?
The 2026 leagues absorbed a fresh class per Riot's December 2, 2025 guide: ENVY, PCIFIC, ULT and SLT Seongnam ascended, while Nongshim Redforce and Dragon Ranger Gaming returned after requalifying. The same guide confirmed a wider Path to Pro, a $75,000 travel and visa stipend for Challengers teams reaching Stage 2 Playoffs, and the removal of Ascension from the system — meaning promoted rosters arrive without the safety net the old model provided. Their roster spending, per the tracked announcements, has been modest; the gap between ascending and established orgs now gets settled on the server.
Why does the Vitality bet matter most?
Because it compresses the talent market. One roster holding Less, Derke and Chronicle simultaneously removes three franchise-level players from other teams' reach, per the announced lineups — the kind of consolidation the VCT's partner-slot system was supposed to prevent. If it works, expect copycats in the 2026-27 window; if it stalls in Stage 1's best-of-three round robins, per the format published December 2, 2025, the lesson lands just as loudly. Either way, the February stretch of the calendar is where the receipts get printed.
For more context, read Team Spirit cuts chopper and zweih as the CS2 winter shuffle begins.
For more context, read esports summer 2026 calendar.
For more context, read worlds 2026.