The contracts of three members of the Turkish team İstanbul Wildcats - Erdem “toronto” Soğukpınar, Cüneyd “hatex” Baş, and Muhammed “mini” Salman have ended, as announced in social media posts by the players themselves. As of July 14, 2023, the esports players have become free agents and left the club.

İstanbul Wildcats Roster

• Andrey “BraveAF” Gorchakov
• Artur “7ssk7” Kyurshin
• Göktuğ “XiSTOU” Canciğer
• Tolunay “Jonsyp” Pinarli (coach)

The season was not very successful for the Turkish team. Since the beginning of the year, İstanbul Wildcats have only participated in 2 splits, VALORANT Challengers 2023 Turkey: Birlik Split 1 which ended with the players in 5-6 place, and the next tournament stage Split 2, where they finished in 8th place.

Players are open for new offers

Former members of the Turkish team are not newcomers to the professional Valorant scene. Mini and hatex used to perform together in Galakticos and showed good results on the tier-2 stage. They have a victory at Wolvesden October and 3-4 place at Open Fire Stand United behind their backs. The most experienced of the trio is toronto, who has played for several prestigious clubs. While playing for the most famous of them, Oxygen Esports, he competed on the tier-1 stage, successfully fighting with the strongest teams of that time. His achievements include 3rd place at First Strike Turkey, 3-4 place at VCT 2021: Turkey Stage 1 Masters and 3-4 place at VCT 2021: EMEA Stage 2 Challengers Finals.

After their contracts ended, toronto and mini announced their readiness to continue playing professionally and that they are open to new offers.

Hatex, in turn, thanked his former teammates and the organization itself.

My contract with IWcats has expired. I would like to thank my colleagues with whom I worked during this period.

Interestingly, the player did not mention looking for a new team. This may mean that he already has relevant offers, or simply decided to take a break from Valorant.