Breeze removed from VALORANT Masters Reykjavík after player backlash

The newest Valorant map, Breeze, will not be used during offline finals of VCT: Stage 2 Masters in Reykjavík. 

The change was made due to players’ appeals. “After conferring with pro players globally, in the interest of competitive integrity, Breeze has been removed from the map rotation at Masters Reykjavík” we can read in the league’s statement on social media. 

In the light of other tournaments, such as Challenger playoffs taking place, and lengthy travel time to Iceland, Riot Games decided that “4 weeks is not enough time to practice a new map”. 

The game's newest map, Breeze, will not be appearing at Masters Reykjavík. (Picture: Riot Games)

Breeze was one of the couple highlights of the previous Valorant 2.08 patch, which went live last week. The decision to make it available for VCT Masters Reykjavík was somewhat controversial at the outset since the event starts on May 24th.

Many personalities from VALORANT ecosystem criticized it, saying that it wasn’t enough to prepare to play it professionally. 

With Breeze being removed from VCT Masters Reykjavík there are five maps left in the active map rotation. Those are Icebox, Ascent, Bind, Haven and Split. This resolution should be healthy for the tournament, as it doesn’t force the participants to learn a new map, often a recipe for wildly inconsistent performances.