An investigation by Riot Games this week has concluded that former VALORANT Game Changers players Madelyn “malibu” Campos and James “Summertime” Edwards violated Riot’s VCT Game Changers ruleset, resulting in lengthy bans for both players.
One of the biggest storylines from the 2023 VALORANT Game Changers circuit was the disqualification of Noot Noot, a team that had risen through the ranks and eliminated content creator Disguised Toast’s team in the process. Now, over three months after the match that saw Noot Noot forfeit their spot in the Game Changers tournament, Riot’s ruling has been revealed: malibu is now permanently banned from all Riot-sanctioned competition, while Summertime faces a one-year ban.
The official competitive ruling, published on the VALORANT esports website on Jan. 16, details the extent to which both malibu and Summertime violated Riot’s policies regarding cheating and player verification for the Game Changers circuit.
Malibu’s ban is so severe because the player had previously “circumvented a hardware ban imposed on her by the Riot Games Anti-Cheat team,” according to Riot. Malibu also provided false information during the Game Changer’s verification process, including an AI-generated profile photo. Summertime assisted in providing this false information to their teammate.
Both players deactivated their social media accounts some time after the disqualification, but teammate Allison “xann” Angel commented again after Riot’s official ruling. The ruling did not specify any in-game enhancements aside from malibu’s previous hardware ban, which led xann to focus on the verification process circumvention.
“Oh so they weren’t cheating, and everyone just immediately jumped to conclusions because they see a good player,” xann said. However, other users in the replies were quick to point out that lying during the verification process still represents a form of cheating.
Though the players are now receiving punishment for their actions, Noot Noot’s disqualification from the Game Changers event last October came just a match too late for one of their opponents.
A member of Noot Noot was found to have violated a competitive rule during their Oct. 5, 2023 match against Complexity GX3, a team that includes former Cloud9 White star Jazzy “Jazzyk1ns” Manankil. That match was forfeited by Noot Noot after the second map with Complexity moving on in the tournament. Yet, just one day earlier, Disguised Toast’s own VALORANT squad was knocked out by the same Noot Noot roster that received the disqualification in their following match.
The Disguised roster included a plethora of Game Changers talent that was thrown together last minute but still made an incredible run in the tournament. Unfortunately, Disguised will not be competing in Game Changers in 2024. Instead, the team will reportedly find a new home in the Asia-Pacific region.
