This is the first real roster change in Gentle Mates' history on VALORANT. According to sources close to Sheep Esports, Thomas “kAdavra” Johner has reached an agreement with M8 to join the team in VCT EMEA. It's the end of an era, as the team of Lucas "Squeezie" Hauchard, Corentin "Gotaga" Houssein and Kevin "Brawks" Georges, which won everything in VCL France in its first season on VALORANT in 2023 - and even earned promotion to VCT by winning the Ascension tournament - had remained unchanged for the start of 2024.

However, the player who will leave his place to kAdavra has not yet been chosen. The coaching staff has until 20 June (the day of M8's first match in Stage 2) to decide on his starting five. It will be complicated for the club to change its roster after that, as Gentle Mates may only have five games to play if the team misses out on play-off qualification. The team began training for the first time in Berlin on Tuesday, May 28, and so has an important decision to make in the coming weeks.

Additionally, player roles may change depending on the map to be played or the opponent. For example, in kAdavra's case, the French player could play three different roles. At DVM, where he has played since last November in VCL France, he was expected to play Flex or Initiator, but he is also expected to play Sentinel at Gentle Mates, too.

Two-time VCL France finalist

kAdavra was on the radar of several other VCT teams during the previous offseasons. In fact, he had twice reached the final of the VCL France in 2023 while playing for Mandatory. He was therefore beaten both times by the same team... Gentle Mates (formerly SBG). kAdavra did, however, make a name for himself in the Split 2 of the french competition by having the best rating in the league over the whole season, on a par with one of his new team-mates at M8, Jonathan “TakaS” Paupard.

DVM had a Two-Way Player partnership agreement with Gentle Mates for the player Wassim "keloqz" Cista, who is no longer part of the organization. This agreement was to enable M8 to promote Keloqz for the VCT main roster. For kAdavra, both teams negotiated a buyout for the player's transfer, sources close to Sheep Esports confirmed.