Amidst another cryptic little tease from Riot Studios, what did we expect? Cypher went down again. The tweet reads, “Phaseguard target has been acquired. Sorry, Cypher,” and the community cracked up, partly because it was hilarious and partly because Cypher mains just never win.
The tweet, of course, has a picture meant to tease an in-game event or lore update concerning the Phaseguard faction. But, really, who cares? The replies are a grab bag consisting of sarcasm, exasperation, meme sharing, and the usual stir from VALORANT. One player, @tokibbi, nailed it by saying, “why is it always cypher😭😭😭😭.” Honestly? Spot on!
This unfortunate fellow has weathered everything. From nerfs to meta changes to now being the butt of Riot’s jokes-Moroccan intel broker sure hasn’t had a good break. Other players such as @VelocitiYRaptor added to the cruel irony, “You took his wife, his daughter, and now you use him as a meme… Honestly in brand.” Ouch!
It wasn’t the end of the world, though. @grok’s answer to why Cypher is singled out so much goes into the finer points: “The VALORANT community often focuses on Cypher due to his frequent balance changes… His high skill ceiling rewards mastery, as seen in pro play.” Maybe they keep letting him be the punching bag to keep him relevant.
Naturally, no VALORANT tweet can occur without some backstage drama. Players took the oppo(o)rtunity to air their grievances—@SnorlaxEleven ranted about “no rewards for ranking up” and “cosmetics [being] expensive as hell.” While at the same time, @supreme_ajf was laying down an entire saga about how he was “unfairly banned from Valorant just for plugging a USB-C charger into my PS5 controller.” (Riot, please explain??)
And then there was that weirdness—the odd shenanigans between @GameDayGlitch and @UltimateGangsty. Let’s just say it involved pronouns, opinions, and a meme that should probably not be ever quoted here. Classic Twitter.
Anyway, what’s the takeaway? Cypher is still the community’s favorite punching bag. VALORANT players complain about anything, and Riot has learned just how to stir that pot. Is Cypher ever going to get a W? Not likely. With that much suffering, he might as well be lore.
Sorry to disappoint for any actual Phaseguard news. Riot is keeping those a secret for now. On the bright side, though, it really just added one more element to the eternal joke of “Cypher dies in every cinematic.”
