Riot bans Valorant’s top-ranked European player Nisay for hacking

Riot Games has banned the top-ranked player on Valorant’s European leaderboards following three days of suspense. Yasin Nisay, a professional Valorant player formerly of Beşiktaş Esports, received the ban after grabbing the number one spot in Valorant’s European leaderboards. 

Nisay denied having cheated in Riot’s first-person shooter in a Twitlonger, while also claiming that Turkey’s First Strike Tournament couldn’t provide him with any evidence that he had cheated during its matches. Additionally, the former Counter-Strike player accused Riot of acting out of “community pressure” to remove Nisay from competition ahead of Turkey’s First Strike Tournament on February 14. But no matter who is telling the truth, Riot has banned Nisay banned from the 2021 Valorant Champions Tour for a total of 12 months whether he cheated or not.

Turkish Valorant pro Nisay banned by Riot for cheating in official tournament

The Twitlonger detailed what Nisay said in an extended conversation between himself and Riot Games, where the player repeatedly asked for evidence of a “third-party” program he had used to cheat in an official tournament. Oddly, Nisay’s account remains active and seemingly able to log into Valorant despite the ban. The player pointed to his account, as well as a sudden change in rank the day before, as signs that Riot wasn’t being honest. Nisay reported on February 2 that his account had been removed from the Valorant leaderboards and demoted down from the game’s Radiant rank.

Since Vanguard didn’t ban Nisay it looks as though Riot has manually handed down the ban but, with the game lacking any public replay features, Riot is seemingly unable to answer any questions over whether they acted too hastily. Nisay’s claim that Riot caved to community pressure to ban him may have stemmed from a tweet from a Twitter account called the “Anti-Cheat Police Department.”

Leading up to Nisay’s ban, the account had posted about the player, saying that it had passed on clips to hacker-turned-Riot Games developer Gamerdoc for analysis. The original tweet also featured responses from professional players including former Fortnite competitor and Method player Kevin “Noizeeh” Jaskiewicz questioning Nisay’s aim.

Most pointed towards Nisay’s sudden jump in accuracy since Valorant’s release in June as proof that he had started to cheat. Early headshot percentages in the 20s became close to 50% by January. After playing CSGO for several years, Nisay disappeared from the FPS scene before reappearing in June upon Valorant’s release. He’s played in two official tournaments since then but after the ban, the former Turkish star won’t be competing with anyone anytime soon. 

Beşiktaş Esports released Nisay soon after news of his ban went public, essentially dooming Beşiktaş’ upcoming season. But with Nisay already removed from the VCT, it was already over for Beşiktaş. The pro had been the team’s top player, carrying them in over 80% of the matches played since his addition.

“We have terminated the contract of our player Yasin “Nisay” Gök. We will make the necessary explanations about the future of our VALORANT team in the upcoming days. We present to the information of our fans,” Beşiktaş said.