FUT Esports bench qRaxs from active VALORANT Roster

Doğukan “qRaxs” Balaban announced he will not be part of the FUT Esports VALORANT roster, as he takes a break from competitive play.

The 25-year-old announced the news on Saturday, December 6 via an X post, stating he is taking a short hiatus from competitive VALORANT to focus on himself and improving as a player.

The former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro has been part of FUT Esports since February 2021, when he made his first foray into Riot Games’ first-person shooter title.

Since joining FUT Esports, qRaxs has reached the VALORANT Champions stage twice and helped his team win several trophies. However, he has never hoisted a VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) trophy, with a third-place finish in VCT 2023 EMEA and 2024 EMEA Stage 1 marking his best results in the circuit.

Despite the team’s success in 2024, when they qualified for VALORANT Champions as EMEA’s fourth seed, the Turkish squad struggled in 2025, failing to reach either of the two Masters tournaments or the world championship.

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  Fast Payouts

With a fourth-place finish in EMEA Kickoff, fifth-sixth in Stage 1, and ninth-10th in Stage 2, FUT ranked as the eighth-best team from the region with 6 VCT points.

Individually, qRaxs struggled too. He averaged a 0.90 performance rating in the Kickoff event, 0.91 in Stage 1, and 0.95 in Stage 2. While he was not the worst-performing player on FUT Esports, qRaxs was let go from the active lineup amid major roster changes.

Besides qRaxs, FUT have also parted ways with Mehmet “cNed” İpek and Uğurcan “Anima” Aydin who were let go in October.

The Turkish squad have since added Okan “KROSTALY” Alaçam and Baha “baha” Gözmen, while reinstating Ata “ATA KAPTAN” Tan to the main lineup.

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  The bookies' bookie

The new-look roster has already debuted at Project Blender, where FUT are 3-1 in Phase 3 after four rounds of play, having beaten Abyss, Corrode, and Eternal Fire.

With that, they have secured a spot in the fourth and final phase of the tournament, where they’ll battle for the lion’s share of the €40,000 prize pool between December 8 and 14.