Vivo KeyD punished for Cypher Cam exploit at VCT Champions Berlin

December 4, 2021 | 0 | 60| |

VIvo KeyD has been handed a seven-map penalty at the VCT Champions Berlin. This punishment means Acend is now the official winner of the match against Vivo KeyD going ahead.

The Valorant Championship Tour Champions event in Berlin is the pinnacle of Valorant esports. It will crown the first-ever Valorant champions. Needless to say teams are pulling out every strat possible to try to win their matches. It seems Vivo KeyD might have gone one step too far in their quest for victory.

Vivo Keyd faced off against Acend in the Group A opener. On the final map Vivo KeyD’s Jonathan “JhoW” Glória used a Cypher camera glitch to his advantage.

The six (6) rounds where the camera exploit was used will be forfeited by Team Vivo Keyd and granted to Team Acend, resulting in an adjusted score of Acend 12, Vivo Keyd 9. To account for the economic impact of the six (6) forfeited rounds on the subsequent rounds in the map, Acend will be additionally awarded one (1) round.
Therefore, the adjusted final score of map three is: Acend 13, Vivo Keyd 9.

What is the Cyper cam exploit?

The exploit allows Cypher players to place their camera behind a texture. The purpose of this texture is to block the player’s view. So from the other side, the player cannot see the camera hovering behind the solid texture.

The camera glitch allows Cypher players uninterrupted views which gives them a massive strategic advantage.

The exploit allows the camera placement to be behind a texture. An opponent cannot see the camera and therefore cannot shoot it down. Image Credit: Valorant/Riot Games.

Why wasn’t the match stopped?

Vivo KeyD players used the Cypher cam exploit for six rounds against Acend.

If this was a known glitch, why did the admins not stop the match before?

Riot has the answer.

Tournament Officials will only stop a match if an exploit is clear and obvious, or reported by a participating team. The one-way view of the camera exploit is a small portion of the camera’s perspective, and was not immediately obvious when watching the player move the camera during the match. Additionally, Acend did not report the exploit.

JhoW used the camera for six rounds over the course of the match. These rounds provided the Vivo KeyD players with crucial information about the enemy players’ position and movement. Needless to say, it had a massive impact on the final outcome of the series.

Vivo Keyd players did not contact Riot to enquire about the exploit’s legality in competitive matches. With no doubts about the intent behind using the camera at this angle, Riot had an easy decision to make.

Riot provides evidence

In the official ruling, Riot Games has also attached evidence for each of the six rounds. The evidence clearly shows JhoW using the Cypher cam exploit to help his team gain valuable information.

In the video above, JhoW is clearly using the camera to ping the Acend players as they enter the site. On camera he is visibly talking to his teammates at the very moment, possibly relaying information about the enemy’s whereabouts.

Vivo KeyD will now face X10 while Acend play the winners’ match against Team Envy.

Stay tuned to tnl.media for the latest Valorant news and updates.

Featured image credit: Photo by Michal Konkol/Riot Games.

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Rohan

The author

Esports journalist. An esports fan, former wannabe pro and occasional angry young man. You can find him trying to climb the Dota 2 MMR or just chilling in Rocket League. Or maybe building an entire city in Cities: Skylines. The current mood is always a surprise.