Female VALORANT team accused of cheating

An all-female VALORANT team, Team Fallacy have been accused of cheating in the Astral Clash Last Chance Qualifiers. According to a report, former TSM FTX star Nate ‘Payen’ Lopez was standing in for one of the team members, using her account during the event to help the team secure a spot at the main event.

Team Fallacy secured a spot at the main event of Astral Clash along with Dignitas Female through the Last Chance Qualifiers. However, the team is allegedly under investigation for account sharing at the Last Chance Qualifiers after a document supporting the claims surfaced online.

The document claims that MarsArxa, a member of team Fallacy, shared her account with her boyfriend, former TSM FTX star Payen. To support the claims, the document compares the game settings of Mars and Payen, emphasizing how the crosshair and minimap are placed differently in each.

Evidence supporting the claims

The suspicions were first sparked by a video of Mars holding on to a 1v5 battle versus Dignitas. Several fans have claimed that the clip Mars posted to her Twitter account is fake, claiming that the person in the clip is Payen, not Mars. The thorough document supported the accusations further by pointing out that Mars is known to utilize the keybind ‘F’ for the drone ability, however, Sova’s drone ability in the clip was connected to ‘C,’ which is often used by Payen.

The document also highlighted that Mars remained silent following the clutch, suggesting that this was an odd reaction, particularly coming from someone who had just clutched out an entire team during a key game. The frame rate, placement of the in-game minimap, and crosshair during the 1v5 were different from what Mars uses normally, implying that Payen instead of Mars was playing Sova in the clip.

Additionally, the document also pointed to a sharp improvement in Mars’ performance. Prior to the Astral Clash, her ACS average was in the mid-100s, but she recorded a 297 on average during the Last Chance Qualifiers. Neither Payen nor Fallacy have issued an official statement, while Mars has made her Twitter private shortly after the dossier was published.

It has been reported by Jake Sucky that Riot is investigating the account sharing accusations ahead of Astral Clash’s main event, which will take place on August 7th. Despite having qualified for the Astral Clash finals, which will take place in Southern California, the team’s ability to go to the LAN event currently hinges on Riot’s findings.

Header: Riot Games