Florescent will not be playing for the remainder of the 2025 VCT season

Ever since she started put up monster numbers during her time in the North American Game Changers scene, Ava "florescent" Eugene has been heralded as one of the best players in the world. Her world-class talent helped her make history by becoming the first Game Changers players to join a VCT roster when she was picked up by Apeks for the 2025 season. Throughout VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - EMEA Stage 1, Florescent played like a superstar, but she still couldn't help this floundering Apeks squad. The team finished the first stage as the only team in EMEA without a series win, having only won two maps throughout the tournament.

A fleeting shooting star

Apeks has announced that Florescent will be stepping away from the competitive scene for the remainder of the 2025 VCT season. The 18-year-old said that she may return to competitive play at another time, but that it "isn't something [she's] putting much thought into right now." Apeks and Florescent said that she has been dealing with a plethora of issues that have started to take a toll on her. For example, she left for Europe as soon as she won VCT Game Changers 2024 - Championship in order to bootcamp with Apeks, which left her no time to rest and recover.

Additionally, Florescent has been pretty vocal about her struggles settling into life in EMEA, and in her own personal statement, she admitted that she was dealing with "personal and family emergencies" since VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - EMEA Kickoff. She wants her teammates on Apeks to be able to focus on the next stage without any problems as well. She also revealed that there were multiple VCT teams that showed interest in buying out her contract from Apeks, and that the organization told her she could explore those options. Overall, the team has been very supportive of Florescent during her time in the region.

"The relocation to EMEA was very challenging and I didn’t always feel at home while in Germany," Florescent said. "I want to quickly thank Apeks management and my teammates who all welcomed and supported me over the last few months. Also, thank you to Riot ops and the other pros in VCT EMEA who have all been really kind to me and go out of their way to make sure I’m doing well."

Despite dealing with multiple issues off-stage and the team struggling on-stage, Florescent proved that she belonged on a VCT team, ending as a top player in multiple major combat statistics. She had many incredible highlights in EMEA, that helped silence the doubters while earning herself even more fans around the world. When the news was announced, Florescent got supportive comments from various players and teams in the VCT scene, including her former teammate Alexis "alexis" Guarrasi, Sean "bang" Bezerra and Austin "crashies" Roberts

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