Miłosz "
westside" Duda is set to join GIANTX, sources told Sheep Esports, after a verbal agreement was found on Friday. The 18 years old player will make his debut on the
VALORANT Champions Tour Stage, after one year spent in the VCL East with Diamant Esports. GIANTX is willing to redirect their sporting focus on young talent and future after an underwhelming 2024 season with a team mostly made of veterans. The organization is obviously looking for better results as soon as next year, but its first and foremost priority is to build a clear project for the two years to come.
New blood for a fresh start
Westside, is a very new player on the competitive scene as he started playing in VALORANT East: United (Second Division) in 2023, and made his first steps in VCL this year. With Diamant Esports, the Polish ended his first split on a good note with the third place. On the second split, he would end up with an even better note, despite falling short to winning the trophy against GoNext Esports (1-3). Nevertheless, the team from Eastern Europe accumulated enough points to qualify for Ascension, the EMEA promotion tournament. In the end, Diamant Esports failed to survive the play-ins in Group B (against Galakticos and Valiant). Though his team was eliminated early, westside managed to make a good impression, even arousing the interest of Movistar KOI during this offseason.
GIANTX is looking for a fresh start after a year made of disappointment in VCT EMEA. The organization indeed didn’t make a single better result than 9th-10th across the three 2024 splits. However, the team stayed more or less the same than in 2023, when they won the EMEA Last Chance Qualifier and made it to Champions to end the season on a 9 - 12th place worldwide, which was an encouraging sign for the future. The core of this team, Aaro "hoody" Peltokangas, Adolfo "Fit1nho" Gallego but most of all captain Kirill "Cloud" Nekhozhin and head coach Daniil "pipsoN" Meshcheryakov did not live up to their ambitions which automatically, lead to some changes for 2025.
Sources also said that Fit1nho is allowed to explore options despite GX offering him to renew some time ago, his future remains uncertain : both him and GIANTX are mutually exploring for options on their side, GX on Fit1nho's role, and Fit1nho on his side. In addition, Aaro "hoody" Peltokangas has also been allowed to explore options on his side.
