Back in October, we saw teams fighting for the last available seeds for VALORANT Champions. Indeed, over in Europe, Guild Esports were one of the favourites, but couldn’t make it at the LCQ. Accordingly, it’s no surprise that Guild Esports VALORANT has in fact announced that they are dropping three players. Read on to learn more about the story!
They were responsible for some incredible highlights these past few months – and we know wherever they go next, they'll find amazing success. #GuildGang 🔴🔵 pic.twitter.com/GCwOgrv3kO
Indeed, it was an even tougher pill to swallow when they placed second, under Team Liquid. Although they performed very well, it wasn’t well enough to fly them off to VALORANT Champions.
In a recent press release through social media, the following three players have had their contracts expired and are no longer on the roster:
Malkolm “bonkar” Rench
Yacine “Yacine” Laghmari
William “draken” Sundin
Bearing this in mind, that only leaves two names on the roster, with the following two players being left behind:
Leo “Leo” Jannesson
Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel
Credits: Riot Games
Although a good team, they just weren’t good enough. Struggling to overcome regional giants, they never left a dent internationally:
2nd @ VCT 2021 EMEA Last Chance Qualifier
7-8th @ VCT EMEA Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs
3rd @ VCT 2021 Europe Stage 3 Challengers 1
We’re excited to see what roster the organization announces in the future.
So, we’re a week away from VALORANT Champions – the event’s awesome esports event for the year. Accordingly, we’re waiting for more and more details. Indeed, it’s been made public that VALORANT Champions 2021 Crowd-Funding will be official. Read on to understand why this is a big deal!
VALORANT Champions 2021 Crowd-Funding – Raising the Ceiling
Now in store and for limited time only: the #VALORANTChampions Collection!
When it comes to event prize pools, event organizers usually have a few options. They can either throw up a prize pool themselves, with the help of sponsors, which is fixed from the beginning. Or, another popular approach used by the largest events in the world such as The International, is crowd-funding.
By offering in-game purchases, in this case the Valorant Champions 2021 collection, players can contribute. Indeed, 50% of all net proceedings from the newly released in-game content will help inflate the prize pool.
In a few short weeks, the best team in the world will hoist the newly unveiled Champions trophy for the first time. This is The Art of Greatness. This is #VALORANTChampions
Accordingly, this is an awesome opportunity to truly gauge how committed the esports community is to competitive VALORANT only after a year or so of competition.
Indeed, we’ll be offering more details regarding the event in the coming days. Accordingly, competitive VALORANT looks to explode over the next week.
As we patiently wait for VALORANT Champions, we’re witnessing a lot of changes. Specifically, a bit of rostermania is taking place between the teams that couldn’t make it to the main event. Accordingly, the Luminosity VALORANT Roster is one such team which is making changes!
Luminosity VALORANT Roster – Looking for a Fifth
It’s been a little rough for the North Americans over at Luminosity. Indeed, check out some of their performances over the past competitive year:
Credits: Luminosity
7-8th @ VCT 2021 NA LCQ
7-8th @ VCT 2021 NA Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs
3rd @ VCT 2021 NA Stage 3 Challengers 2
As you can seee, it’s been somewhat disappointing for the esports organization. Accordingly, it’s no surprise to see that some changes are on the way. Indeed, it starts with Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond departing the team.
Specifically, he’s now a free agent looking for other opportunities in the region especially after leaving competitive PUBG. Bearing this in mind, this is what the current roster looks like:
As of today I’m allowed to look into offers as a restricted free agent. So thankful for everything LG has done for me and allowing me to represent them! I love all my teammates and wish them the best ❤️ Looking to play Flex/ Main smokes. Dm for info
Things can only go up from here. They’ll have to rebuild to make a stronger team to compete after VALORANT Champions is over. We’ll keep an eye out for any further changes.
A few months ago, Ninjas in Pyjamas announced a new global approach to esports. Indeed, this meant spreading to mobile esports and China as examples. Accordingly, it’s no surprise to see NiP VALORANT Brazil come to reality. Originally based in EU, the NiP VALORANT department is moving over the Brazil. Read on to learn more about this topic!
NiP VALORANT Brazil – Great for the Brazilian Scene
Credits: NiP
Bearing in mind this exciting piece of news, with a move to LATAM, the current EU roster has all been released:
Emir “rhyme” Muminovic
Ego “chiwawa” Stepanyuk
Yaroslav “Jady” Nikolaev
Adam “ec1s” Eccles
Charles “CREA” Beauvois
Accordingly, Ninjas in Pyjamas has shared their thoughts in a press release. Indeed, read below for a snippet here:
Credits: NiP
Brazil is like our second home and after some great talks with Riot and the community down there, it became an obvious move for us to move our full Valorant operation. We’ll have an even stronger foothold in LATAM by building out a new HQ and further investing in bringing NIP entertainment to the fans.
Finally, after a slight delay, we have our next agent for competitive VALORANT. Accordingly, looking at the current lineup, everyone has been awaiting a new Sentinel role to join the game. Indeed, it was only a matter of time and Riot Games finally showed up. Read on to learn more about VALORANT Agent Chamber!
VALORANT Agent Chamber – Master the Economy
Before proceeding, take a look at the following trailer from the YouTube channel:
Indeed, this agent looks incredible for competitive play. Accordingly, offering some exciting opportunities to play with the economy thanks to the weaponry through abilities. Also, the teleportation and traps look to mix things up.
Apart from one seed, everyone is decided for VALORANT Champions in December. Indeed, the NA qualifier was delayed due to health issues. However, over the past few days, the VCT NA LCQ 2021 finally took place. Read on for a short recap of this event and how Cloud9 Blue claimed it all!
VCT NA LCQ 2021 Recap – Cloud9 Headed to Champions
The last ones standing. Congratulations to @Cloud9 Blue on earning the last NA spot at VALORANT Champions!
Indeed, it’s felt like forever since this event first kicked off on October 12th, together with the other regions.
Accordingly., inviting 8 of the best NA teams in the world, they’d be fighting for a last chance to make it to the Major in December. With $100,000 on the line, there was everything to play for.
That’s where the surprise starts – out of the 8 teams, Cloud9 Blue was ranked 7th based on Circuit Points.
Yet, that didn’t stop them from putting in the extra work and taking everyone by surprise. Starting in the Winners’ Bracket, they started with a 2-0 win over Version1.
However, then they went on to lose against Rise. Clawing their way to beat the top teams in the game: XSET, 100 Thieves and Rise, the boys in Blue earned their spot at Champions later on this year. Indeed, with all these surprises we can’t wait for the Major!
Recently, at the EMEA LCQ for VALORANT Champions 2021, we saw some of the best teams in Europe go at it for one last seed. Indeed, amongst these teams was Oxygen Esports. Accordingly, failing to qualify sent the team back to the drawing board. Bearing this in mind, the organization has added a player to their inactive roster!
Over the past year, Oxygen Esports has managed to stay on top of competitive VALORANT in Turkey thanks to their 5-man roster. However, the benching of Erdem “toronto” Sogukpinar might the start of some changes to the team to spice things up.
First, let’s reminisce over what achievements the team earned with this youngster on the roster:
Although placing strong within the region, Oxygen Esports has failed to reap success on a continental roster. With “toronto” now on the bench, here’s what the active roster looks like:
Goktug “XiSTOU” Canciger
Muhammed “m1tez” Tezcan
Burak “glovee” Yildirim
Cihan “Unity” Seferoglu
We’ll be on the look out to see who they add to this roster.
So far, the story for Team Envy has been rather bittersweet. Indeed, by this we mean that the North American has consistently played at the highest level but simply fail to take first place. Accordingly, before heading into VALORANT Champions, they’ve made a small move on the bench – Team Envy Drop mummAy!
Team Envy Drop mummAy – 1 Year Later
Joining back in July of last year, Anthony “mummAy” DiPaola has been a part of the organization for a long while now. However, this change is no surprise. Accordingly, the player has been a part of the bench for a while, ever since Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen stepped in back at Stage 3.
Today bid farewell to one of the members of our first VALORANT roster, @mummAy.
From Wall Street to clicking heads, thank you for your time with us, and we wish you the best of luck in your next journey! pic.twitter.com/j89T0txNXv
Here at esportsguide, we love getting discussions going. Accordingly, with the recent upwards trends behind VALORANT Female Esports, there’s a lot to discuss behind this curious structure. Indeed, in this episode of State of the Community, we’ll be taking a look at the scene to see exactly what’s going on – read on to learn more!
VALORANT Female Esports – Riot Games Breaking the Trend
Credits: Riot Games
Firstly, we need to discuss Riot Game’s approach to integrating women into competitive VALORANT. Accordingly, it’s commonly observed in the esports industry that female-only esports are less popular than their counterpart.
Regardless of the reason, while creating the competitive VALORANT scene, Riot Game knew to place a priority here. Indeed, here are some comments in an interview with Gamesbeat:
We’re creating this ecosystem, where it’s not just also about bringing women to be a professional gamer, but also getting them into the space into coaching or into production or into casting,
What’s really amazing here is that it’s not just there’s a singular path to pro for one person to become the next great player.
Credit: GamesBeat with Matthew Archambault (Head of Esports Partnerships at Riot Games
Accordingly, by doing this, competitive VALORANT is trying to address a gap in the esports industry, and it seems to be paying off.
VALORANT Female Esports – Creating a Counterpart Ecosystem
Credits: Riot Games
Putting this into action, Riot Games has also offered an equal framework. Indeed, like the more mainstream counterpart, there is also a VCT Game Changers league together with an accompanying Academy program too.
Below, let’s take a look at some of the recent events for some context:
VCT 2021: Game Changers North America Series 3 – $50,000
VCT 2021: Game Changers SEA Wildcare – $5,000
VALORANT Champions Tour 2021: Game Changers Academy – October – $2,000
Apart from the events themselves, they’re being held across multiple regions such as the following:
North America
Brazil
Europe and CIS
South America
Southeast Asia
Credits: TSM
Bearing this in mind, VALORANT Female Esports is offering a steady stream of events, opportunities for professionals to compete and plenty to watch.
With regards to viewership, there is definitely an audience. Indeed, as an example, VCT 2021 Game Changers NA 2 offered 29,106 Peak Viewers and 13,767 Average Viewers which are great numbers for a growing secondary league.
Mainstream Organizations Signing Rosters – A Great Sign
Apart from our own opinion regarding competitive female VALORANT, what’s more important is what esports organizations are thinking.
Indeed, usually larger organizations will be attracted to sustainable and growing esports. Bearing this in mind, some of the most popular names in mainstream VALORANT are also fielding a female roster too. With examples such as TSM, XSET, Complexity and Cloud9, the following rosters were announced in the past week:
Credits: Riot Games
G2 Esports
Julia “juliano” Kiran
Michaela “mimi” Lintrup
Petra “Petra” Stoker
Zainab “zAAz” Turkie
Anja “aNNja” Vasalic
Version1
Kiara “Milkyway” Blue
Natalia “Natty” Jackson
Rachel Lynn “Rush” Hang
Katherine “Karra” Lee
Naomi Sauvalo
Female CS:GO Professionals Moving to VALORANT
Credits: Gen.G
One storyline back when VALORANT was taking off, was being regarded as the “CS:GO killer”. While this reigned true for the mainstream competition, the same process took place for the female side of things.
Due to the lack of life in female competitive CS:GO, most rosters here have moved to competitive VALORANT too, which is a great sign for the growing scene.
We can’t wait to see how this side of VALORANT takes off!
Ending the year on a note is always a good idea for esports. Accordingly, that’s what Riot Games looks to plan this with a bang thanks to their upcoming Major for VALORANT. Indeed, the VALORANT Champions 2021 event is looking to be the best event of the year. Read on a we share the official list of competitors so far.
Here are some facts. Accordingly, the event will kicck off on December 1st, running up to 12th December in an offline venue in Berlin.
Heading to this event are the best 16 teams in the world. Qualifying through many means, the list of seeds was meant to be complete today. However, with the NA LCQ delayed, let’s look at who’s confirmed right now:
Indeed, despite an undisclosed prize pool so far, we’re very excited for this S-tier event later this year. With regards to the final seed, the NA LCQ is looking to take place in roughly 10 days should nothing go wrong.
