Sources - VALORANT: Sheydos set to join Karmine Corp in the VCT EMEA

According to sources close to Sheep Esports, Bogdan “Sheydos” Naumov has reached a verbal agreement with Karmine Corp for the 2026 VALORANT VCT EMEA season. Per sources, the 24-year-old Russian player has been considered by many teams — most of them in the top of the EMEA. Karmine Corp eventually chose him because he was the best player during the tryout.

Sheydos has been a free agent since leaving KOI at the end of September 2025, concluding three almost years with the Spanish organization in the partnered league. Sheydos was inactive since May and the end of the Stage 1, when he decided to take a break.

When he announced his departure, he specified that his intention was to return to tier-one competition in 2026 : “After I took a break for the second stage to fully recover both physically and mentally. I'm more motivated than ever to win and move forward. I'm incredibly grateful for this opportunity.” Karmine Corp now appear to be the team prepared to offer that return

Sheydos remains most widely recognized for his time with Gambit Esports, where he was part of the roster that won Masters Berlin 2021 and reached the grand final of VALORANT Champions 2021, primarily playing Skye and Sage and averaging around a 1.08 rating across that period. That Initiator/Sentinel hybrid profile, able to trade, set up, and play backline utility, followed him to KOI. In 2025, he opened VCT EMEA Stage 1 for KOI on Breach and Killjoy and also appeared on the new Sentinel, Vyse.

The results, however, were far less convincing: KOI managed only a single win that stage, against Gentle Mates, who were themselves near the bottom of the table. Following that run, Sheydos therefore took a break and did not return to the server for KOI for the remainder of the season.

Karmine Corp’s 2025 campaign sets the context for this move. For KC, a cycle effectively ended and a sizable rebuild began. The club had assembled a high-profile roster in November 2024 built around Martin “marteen” Pátek, Hazem “avez” Khaled, Efe “Elite” Teber, Dmitry “SUYGETSU” Ilyushin and Matias “Saadhak” Delipetro. The team started 2025 in the middle of the pack: 7th–8th in VCT EMEA Stage 1 with two wins and five losses, then again 7th–8th in Stage 2. That level confirmed KC as a roster capable of reaching the playoffs but still short of the Champions qualification line.

Within that context, the addition of Sheydos addresses a very specific gap. In 2025, KC often lacked a second experienced support/flex voice alongside SUYGETSU, particularly on maps that required two sources of utility, layered defensive setups, or disciplined post-plants. sheydos has occupied that exact space for several years, first at Gambit under the lead of Andrey “ENGH” Sholokhov (the current Head Coach of KC) as the team’s Skye/Sage player during their peak, then at KOI alternating between Breach and Killjoy.

He also brings continuous tier-one experience dating back to the earliest international LAN’s in 2021, combined with recent EMEA league play, which makes him one of the few available players who can bridge an old, title-winning structure and the current partnered-league tempo. Sheydos is the second Karmine Corp’s recruit during this offseason, after Smoker Dastan "dos9" Zhumagali, as previously reported by Sheep Esports. Still per sources, KC should continue with avez and SUYGETSU.