nAts parts ways with M3C roster after almost two years

Less than 24 hours from VCT 2022 - EMEA Last Chance Qualifier, M3C had gone public about separating ties for Gambit Esports indefinitely and each player on the roster corroborated the announcement with individual tweets of collective Free Agency contacts. In a recent tweet, however, Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin has announced his departure from M3 Champions consequently reaffirming his status as a sole Free Agent.

Despite having a flawless Upper Bracket run, they couldn’t find a way past Team Liquid in the Grand Finals of the event and were forced to surrender their opportunity to qualify for VCT 2022 - Champions Istanbul to their opponents. Considering the uncertainty that organizations face with the upcoming VCT season, it isn’t a surprise that the M3C roster hasn’t been signed yet. As opposed to an entire roster, earning an individual offer seems more plausible in the current scenario. However, there could be other factor behind nAts’ departure.

Regardless of the reason, this news was extremely heartbreaking for all Gambit Esports fans who have witnessed the roster compete together from September 2020 during the early days of Valorant esports. During his time with the team, the team won almost all CIS Challenger events, either won or became the runner-ups of European Challengers. Moreover, they also won VCT 2021 - Stage 3 - Masters Berlin - Playoffs, the 2nd International Valorant LAN and placed 2nd in the biggest event of the inaugural VCT season: VCT 2021 - VALORANT Champions 2021.

In VCT 2022, they haven’t had the best fortune in terms of regional or International wins; however, they had accumulated enough circuit points to earn a spot at the Last Chance Qualifiers. As mentioned above, they were unable to get pass Team Liquid in the Grand Finals and lost their chance at a Champions spot. During the last three months, nAts has had a decent 1.18 Rating, 235 ACS and 154 ADR. M3 Champions’ roster for the upcoming EMEA LCQ is as follows:

Vladimir "Kayos" Ivanov (Manager) Andre "ENGH" Sholokhov (Coach)