Sheep Esports sources have confirmed that Apeks has come to a verbal agreement with Aliaksander "SimonD4rk" Skoubel to play in the VCT EMEA.

This move comes after Apeks’ run last month in the open qualifiers for the Esports World Cup, where SimonD4rk had already temporarily joined their roster as a stand-in player. There, the team faltered, continuing struggles that have persisted throughout 2025. Although last year Apeks won the 2024 Ascension, since their promotion to Tier 1, they’ve yet to place higher than ninth. For them to stay in the upper echelon, roster swaps appeared necessary, leading them to add Diogo “OLIZERA” Oliveira last week, and SimonD4rk now.

A new Apeks

The Belarusian duelist is 24 years old, with years of experience in Tier 2 VALORANT play. Joining Apeks would be his first foray above the Challengers leagues, where SimonD4rk has won multiple VCL trophies. He recently played on DNSTY, where he was eliminated from the VCL Spain Rising’s semifinals by a KOI Fénix squad featuring OLIZERA, his new teammate on Apeks.

Apeks has experienced myriad player changes this year, with their roster also seeing the entries and exits of Peter “Governor” No and Ava “Florescent” Eugene, as well as SimonD4rk’s fellow EWC Qualifiers stand-in Allesandro “Tag” Voci.

SimonD4rk’s move to Apeks is still on hold, pending approval of his visa. Should the move go through, SimonD4rk, OLIZERA, and the rest of Apeks will seek to turn their team’s results around and step it up in the next season of the VCT EMEA.