ENVY has terminated the contract of their Valorant player, Alex ‘canezerra’ Banyasz, after Riot Games issued the player with a 12-month ban for breaking Riot TOS.
The ban is a hardware ban, preventing canezerra from playing or streaming the game for the 12-month period. As a result, ENVY has taken the decision to terminate canezerra’s contract, effective immediately.
ENVY lose a piece of their future
canezerra stood out as one of the stars of the ENVY Valorant Challengers League (VCL) project. The Duelist showed consistent impact in Tier 2 across the three stages of VCL in 2025.
Strong performances over the year ultimately earned ENVY a spot in VCT Ascension Americas, which they converted into a VCT Americas spot by defeating regional rivals TSM back-to-back, 2-1, 3-1.
canezerra showed strong performances across the VCT Ascension run, dropping over 20 kills on five occasions in ENVY’s playoff run.
However, VCT Americas berth meant the removal of canezerra and Ayan ‘ion2x’ Rastogi from the active roster due to age restrictions, removing two of the team’s crucial pieces.
As a result, canezerra’s removal has no immediate impact on the ENVY roster, but removes a significant part of the roster’s future potential as the player prepares to turn 18 in June.
ENVY finished 9th-10th in VCT Americas Kickoff 2026 and currently sit at a 0-1 record in VCT Americas Stage 1.
canezerra “fully committed” to return
canezerra shared a statement following his release, saying that he is, “really sorry to my fans, Envy, Riot, and everyone who supports me. I’ve let you down.
While there has been no formal confirmation of what violations the player made, canezerra’s statement states, “I made a serious mistake and said things I deeply regret.”
The player added, “especially in ranked, I’ve acted immaturely, and this is a clear wake-up call that I need to be better.”
As for the source of the ban, the player implied that actions during his streams contributed, saying, “This year I started taking streaming seriously… I always try to be entertaining, but I got lost and understand that doesn’t excuse what I said.”
The player confirmed that he wishes to return to Valorant, stating that he is “fully committed to this game and to coming back the right way,” stating that he wishes to “grow and make sure it never happens again.”
You can discuss the future of ENVY’s Valorant roster on our Discord.
For more news, see the details of Sentinels’ Partnership with Blue Otter.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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