100 Thieves announces 2026 rebrand, parts ways with five players and three coaches

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Following their announcement of a new brand for 2026, 100 Thieves has temporarily removed five players and three coaches from their active roster.

100 Thieves, a North American esports organization, is completely changing its VALORANT team before the 2026 season. This decision comes after the team missed qualifying for the VALORANT Champions tournament for the third year in a row, leading them to pursue a major roster rebuild.

100 Thieves reflects on the 2025 season

Following a strong start in 2024 with a VCT Americas Stage 1 victory and a top-four finish at Masters Shanghai, 100 Thieves anticipated continued success. However, 2025 proved disappointing: they were quickly eliminated from the Kickoff tournament, didn’t make it to Masters Toronto, finished sixth in Stage 2, and ultimately failed to qualify for the Champions tournament.

Vice President Joseph Jang acknowledged the team started 2025 with a lot of potential, but they consistently fell short of their goals. While individual players performed well, the team as a whole didn’t achieve what it set out to do, and significant changes are now needed.

The organization understands fans are disappointed and has committed to thoroughly review how they build their team, their overall strategy, the support they provide, and how everything is carried out. They’re now focused on creating a team that can compete for championships by 2026. As part of this change, five players and two coaches are no longer active and are free to join other organizations.

Inactive roster

Players

100 Thieves benched Kelden “Boostio” Pupello before the second stage of the VCT Americas tournament, and he hasn’t competed since. Boostio was previously a champion, winning the 2023 VALORANT Champions title with Evil Geniuses, and is now impacted by 100 Thieves’ plans for a team overhaul in 2026.

Man, the recent changes really hit hard, especially seeing Asuna leave. He’s been a huge part of 100 Thieves since 2020, basically a core player for five years, and now he’s been moved to the inactive list. It doesn’t look like he’ll be back for the 2026 season, which is a bummer. Honestly, it’s a tough situation, and a lot of us are already starting to look at options with other teams.

Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiban, who’s been with the team since 2022 and is also known as Cryo, is another player unexpectedly leaving. It’s uncertain if he’ll return to 100 Thieves for the 2026 season. He was famous for his impressive plays as a duelist, particularly when using Yoru and Chamber.

Controller player Alexander “Zander” Dituri is also leaving 100 Thieves as part of their 2026 roster changes. Like the rest of the team, he’s now looking for a new team for the upcoming season.

Drew “Kess” Lee, a Korean Valorant player, is now looking for a new team after recent decisions impacted his position. The 23-year-old joined his current team in July 2025.

Currently, Daniel “eeiu” Vucenovic is the only player confirmed to be staying with 100 Thieves for the 2026 season. He hasn’t been benched or indicated he’s looking to join another team, and his future role with the organization remains unclear, as does whether he’ll continue in his current position alongside any new players.

Coaches

As part of 100 Thieves’ planned changes for 2026, the entire coaching staff has been let go. This includes Head Coach Anthony “Zikz” Gray, and assistant coaches Yury “frenya” Elkin and Rudi “rudi” Mcken, all of whom have been moved to inactive roles.

It’s currently unclear what 100 Thieves’ plans are for the 2026 season, including which players they’ll sign. We’ll share all the details as soon as we have them.

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2025-09-16 17:42