Canadian Valorant pro Erik ‘penny’ Penny will get his chance to compete at the Tier 1 level again in VCT EMEA.
According to reports from Sheep Esports, he has signed with Apeks to compete in the second split of VCT EMEA.
Penny will try to save Apeks, last year’s Ascension EMEA champions, from relegation back to Tier 2.
Penny announced himself to a global audience in May by competing in front of a home crowd at Valorant Masters Toronto.
Team Liquid temporarily signed him as an emergency sub when in-game leader Ayaz ‘nAts’ Akhmetshin had his visa delayed.
Eventually, nAts secured his visa in time to try to save Team Liquid at Valorant Masters Toronto.
However, Penny was still able to play in all three of Team Liquid’s matches in the Swiss Stage and impressed.
Penny starred in Liquid’s 16-14 overtime win on Haven versus Bilibili Gaming with a 30-18 KD on Phoenix.
There had been reports that Team Liquid had signed Penny permanently as a sixth man.
However, these reports proved to be false and were due to a misunderstanding.
Liquid’s Director of Esports, John ‘Tephus’ Lewis, was responding to claims on Reddit that they had broken tournament rules.
Tephus clarified that, as defined by Riot, Penny was registered as a substitute before the roster lock for the tournament and therefore was not an emergency sub.
This was then misquoted as Penny not being an emergency sub, with false claims that the Canadian had signed permanently.
Penny was still a player for Tier 2 NA team YFP, but is now joining Apeks for the remainder of the year.
The Canadian confirmed earlier this morning that he is in Berlin, Germany, after teasing that he had signed a contract.
Penny will replace American Peter ‘Governor’ No, who departed Apeks in April to take a break from competing due to a persistent injury.
Though Governor recently returned to competing after joining Winthrop Esports, a university team based in South Carolina.
Reports had stated that Apeks were signing Belarusian Aliaksander ‘SimonD4rk’ Skoubel, but that deal is now seemingly off the table.
In order to avoid relegation, Apeks will need to have a strong season. Finishing outside of the Playoffs will automatically relegate them.
VCT EMEA kicks off on July 16th as Masters Toronto finalists Fnatic try to win a second consecutive EMEA split.
You can find the latest odds on favourites to win VCT EMEA with Valorant betting sites.
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