Why Florescent stepped away for remainder of 2025 VCT season

Ava “Florescent” Eugene has announced that she will step back from the ongoing VCT EMEA 2025 season and has given hints about her future in Valorant competitive esports.

Florescent started her career with Misfits Black in 2022 and came into the limelight during the Game Changers Championship 2024 while playing for Shopify Rebellion. The player was commended for her crisp gameplay and quick reflexes while being named MVP as her team went on to become champions of the event.

Florescent’s success led to her signing with the VCT EMEA team Apeks for its 2025 roster, becoming the first woman to do so. The VCT EMEA 2025 season is currently ongoing but Apeks has already announced that Florescent won’t be playing anymore and will instead step back.

Florescent drops out of VCT, may return to competitive play in the future

Florescent has said that she will take the remainder of the VCT 2025 season off and may return to competing in the future, but hasn’t decided just yet.

Apeks made clear in its announcement that Florescent has been competing since an early age and has had to sacrifice many things for the game during that time, which has begun to take its toll on her. The team went on to say it worked closely with Florescent and her manager to try to find a solution, but everyone ultimately decided it was better for the player not to play any longer.

Apex stated its wish to see Florescent benefit from the time off and hopefully return to competitive play in the future. The announcement ended with the team claiming that when Florescent was announced as part of the team’s VCT 2025 roster, the decision was met with much criticism, but that Florescent had managed to silence everyone with her stellar performance since, making the team proud.

Florescent tweeted that she is taking time off from competitive play and will indeed sit out the remainder of the VCT 2025. The player claimed she may return in the future but isn’t thinking about it right now. She went on to inform fans that she has been dealing with personal and family emergencies that her team supported her throughout, but that she wants them to focus on the game without interruptions.

Florescent claimed that the decision to step back was hers and not Apeks’ or the coaching staff’s, and that Apeks even allowed her to explore other options or to play for another team if she wanted. She said she is stating this publicly to make sure her fans don’t talk negatively about Apeks following her departure.