Light Mates marteen at VCT EMEA Kickoff

After two years beneath the Karmine Corp (KC) banner, VALORANT athlete Martin ‘marteen’ Pátek joined Light Mates for the 2026 VCT season.

Regardless of Light Mates being relegated to Challengers following a disappointing 2025 season, the removing of KOI from VCT EMEA has given the organisation a second probability in VALORANT’s tier-one league.

For 2026, marteen joins a closely re-worked Light Mates roster that features a reunion together with his former tier-two duo, Taranvir ‘bipo’ Singh.

“I actually needed to play with bipo. I believed in bipo. After two years, we lastly reunite,” shared marteen in an interview with Esports Insider. “I used to be very completely satisfied, and I consider in everybody on the staff. I believe everyone seems to be insane.”

UPDATE 23/01/26: This text beforehand acknowledged that Patryk ‘starxo’ Kopczyński was making his VCT debut. Nonetheless, he had beforehand performed for KOI in 2023 and 2024. The article has been modified to replicate this error.

Marteen started his esports journey as a Fortnite participant earlier than switching to VALORANT in early 2021. 

The participant and bipo beforehand met on the Azerbaijani esports organisation GMT Esports, the place they competed in Italy’s Challengers circuit between 2022 and 2023. Whereas bipo stayed in tier-two, taking part in for NOVO Esports and MOUZ, marteen was picked up by French powerhouse Karmine Corp for his VCT debut in 2024.

Marteen’s debut yr with Karmine Corp arguably began in one of the best ways doable, profitable 2024’s EMEA Kickoff match and qualifying for Masters Madrid. Nonetheless, following the primary international occasion of the season, Karmine Corp slowed down, failing to succeed in one other worldwide occasion.

This development continued all through 2025, with the Frecnh staff steadily remaining on the backside half of VCT EMEA’s leaderboard. In November 2025, Karmine Corp parted methods with marteen and IGL Matias ‘Saadhak’ Delipetro.

“To only make it clear for everybody, it’s nothing private. I like KC and everybody on the staff. I’ve good associates on KC,” clarified marteen.

In response to the Czech participant, his want for a job change was the principle motivation behind becoming a member of Light Mates this yr. “I simply felt like, for my private profession, the choices I had — and I used to be exploring after my contract — I simply felt like I wanna make a change in my function,” he mentioned.

“I needed to play a second duelist/smoker and enhance on it, and Light Mates gave me a extremely good alternative.”

For its third yr in VCT, Light Mates has gone for a near-complete roster overhaul. Solely Patrik ‘Minny’ Hušek stays from final yr’s beginning line-up. Nonetheless, he has handed his in-game chief (IGL) tasks to Patryk ‘starxo’ Kopczyński.

Starxo, a VALORANT Champions winner with Acend, has 5 years of VALORANT esports expertise and is now getting the chance to compete in VCT once more after spending a yr within the tier-two scene.

Bipo and Americas import Conner ‘GLYPH’ Garcia, each spent a number of years within the tier-two scene with out beforehand making the leap to tier-one.

When requested whether or not being one of many extra skilled gamers on Light Mates may put stress on his shoulders, marteen responded confidently: “I’m the second youngest on the staff, however I’m in all probability probably the most skilled. I attempt to give my expertise when it comes to the way it ought to work and the way issues ought to go. 

“And I believe individuals are taking notes and attempting to implement what I’m saying. I believe they respect me. I don’t really feel a lot stress simply because I’ve two years. I simply assume that I’m the second youngest nonetheless. I’m not that outdated.” 

Marteen additionally mentioned how the present meta might influence his agent decisions throughout VCT Kickoff. Though he joined Light Mates as a smokes participant, the staff nonetheless likes to leverage his proficiency on Yoru, who stays one of many strongest duelists regardless of slight nerfs all through the final yr.

“I can flex something if I simply have sufficient time to kinda get the expertise going,” assured marteen relating to a doable main nerf to Yoru mid-season.

Two days in the past (January twentieth), Light Mates performed its opening collection at VCT EMEA Kickoff 2026, confidently taking down FUT Esports 2-0.

“It felt actually good to be sincere,” commented marteen on his first match of the yr. “There was plenty of hype however plenty of calm on the similar time. For positive, it could possibly be higher in some conditions, however we managed to calm it down once we wanted to and simply performed the spherical fairly calmly.”

He additional emphasised his confidence within the roster and its potential to go far this season.

“Simply based mostly on observe and what we did and what we’ve labored on, I believe we will go very far so long as we hold our composure and we don’t get confused, don’t get nervous, don’t make silly errors,” the 21-year-old acknowledged.

“So long as we hold our degree sort of the identical as we did in observe for the final months, I believe we will do actually good.”

Light Mates will re-enter the VCT EMEA stage later at this time in its higher bracket collection versus GIANTX. Followers can tune into the motion by way of the league’s official Twitch and YouTube channels.