The Initiator: 3 highlights and 3 surprises from the PAX Arena Invitational
By Cameron Bray
3 highlights and 3 surprises from the Invitational
Like I did in Issue 4 with last month’s T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown (won by titan TSM), I’m going to alternate between three highlights and three surprises I saw during this weekend's PAX Arena Invitational. There were some big surprises and some massive upsets that took place during this Invitational — my power rankings for North America are completely shaken — so I’m excited to give you my picks.
Highlight 1: SicK and Sentinels winning it all.
I never expected this much production from sinatraa, sicK and Sentinels; I thought they’d be good, but not that good, given their previous record in Valorant. When I saw that T1 had fallen to Homeless and that Sentinels had taken down TSM, I thought they might have a shot at winning this Invitational. But like so many others, I put my money, so to speak, on C9. I thought that TenZ, the magic man, would finally have his moment of glory in what has been a bright but troubled Valorant career so far. And I was wrong. SicK might just have the best battle Sage in the game right now, followed by C9’s mitch and possibly David “Davidp” Prins of G2 Esports battling it out for second. Mad props to TenZ, though, for picking Viper in Map 4 (Split) of the grand final — not my first choice. He certainly chose the chaotic pick for what was a whirlwind of a match.
Surprise 1: Brax and T1 falling to Homeless 2-0 in the quarterfinals.
In the short, two-month history of Valorant, this match will definitely go down as the game’s greatest upset so far. It was truly earth-shattering. T1, which was widely regarded as one of the top two Valorant teams in North America (the other being TSM), fell to an unsigned team of Valorant novices, now up-and-coming pros — and fell hard, getting swept 13-10 on Split and 13-6 on Ascent. My only hope now is that T1 can recover in time for the next tournament — yet to be announced — and that Homeless can find its home at a professional organization. They’ve earned it.
Highlight 2: Phat “supamen” Le as Brimstone and Omen.
I messaged Jordan “AYRIN” He, supamen’s former teammate and Echo 8 team captain, after the Invitational: “You see supamen go off at the Invitational? Wow, and Homeless swept T1 2-0.” He and I both agreed that supamen absolutely blew up during this tournament — and his numbers proved our point. Homeless’s breakout superstar, supamen racked up 238 kills on 183 deaths (an incredible KD ratio of 1.3), and he tallied an ACS of 239.4. During the second map (Ascent) against T1, which Homeless won 13-6, supamen led his team with 24 kills on 7 deaths (3.42 KD) and a 318 ACS. Meanwhile, Brax for T1 broke even with 15 kills on 15 deaths and talled only a 223 ACS. It was truly an incredible performance from supamen, and I hope to see more of him in the future. AYRIN and I are both so happy for him.
Surprise 2: Sentinels sweeping TSM 2-0 in the semifinals and upsetting the giant.
This upset was immediately going to be overshadowed by Homeless’s 2-0 upset of T1 in the quarterfinals, but it still shouldn’t be overlooked. Once I saw that TSM had lost to Sentinels 13-3 on Ascent (“Ascentinels” won its favorite map again), I knew that Sentinels was on the upswing and that TSM was on the down. TSM may have started out strong with that impressive victory at last month’s Showdown, but it’s been struggling lately and cracks in its armor have begun to show. TSM lost Gamers For Equality, where it fell out of groups Wednesday, July 8, and it fared little better at the recent Pulse Invitational, where it lost to Cloud9 2-1 in the quarterfinals Saturday, July 11. TSM may have superstars like Matthew “Wardell” Yu and Taylor “Drone” Johnson, who dominated the last Showdown, but it will need to train harder and play better if it is to compete at a high level against a newly emergent Sentinels and C9. If this weekend’s exciting Invitational taught us anything, it’s that the Valorant pantheon is still being sculpted in North America.
Highlight 3: Anthony “mummAy” DiPaolo and Team Envy’s strong Valorant debut.
In ISSUE X, where I gave you my three streamers to watch during the Invitational, I listed mummAy as the third player you needed to follow. I said that while mummAy may not be one of the game’s biggest superstars — unlike Wardell or sinatraa, who I listed before him — he was certainly worth watching at the Invitational. I wanted to see how he and his former teammates from Together We Are Terrific, now gone pro with Envy, would perform at their debut. And much to my pleasure, they performed excellently despite the stiff competition they faced from TSM and T1, the twin titans of North America, now fallen to the likes of Sentinels and — Homeless? (Where did they come from?) Leading Envy, mummAy staged an incredible performance as Jett and Sova, finishing with the second highest KD ratio in the Invitational (1.41: 174 kills on only 124 deaths) and a top-10 ACS of 237.4. Envy may not have made it past TSM, to whom it fell 2-0 in the quarterfinals Friday, July 24, but it certainly did put on a show and mummAy was its breakout star. I’m not disappointed in Envy because it lost. Both maps were incredibly close — 14-12 on Haven and 13-11 on Split — and I expect it will improve as mummAy and his teammates have more time to train. I’m excited to watch for them in the weeks to come.
Surprise 3: Spencer “Hiko” Martin and 100 Thieves’ second disappointing finish.
Hiko and his team debuted their starting five a day (Thursday, July 25) before last month’s Showdown began, so I hardly expected them to win it all. I thought they needed more time to practice together, train and build chemistry in-game. And I was proven right when they fell to Immortals 13-12 in the second lower-bracket round Saturday, June 27. I might’ve expected them to go a bit farther, but I kept my expectations low and decided not to hold that loss against them. It was their first Valorant tournament together, after all. But now they’ve lost again, falling out of the Invitational with a 1-3 record in groups Thursday, July 23. This time there are fewer excuses I can give them for this poor performance — sure, they were in the same group as TSM and no one could’ve seen Homeless coming, but they could’ve at least beaten BBG to even their record at 2-2. It was anyone’s game: BBG won the first map (Haven) 13-10; 100 Thieves countered with a strong, 13-8 win on Bind; and BBG closed it out with a 13-9 win on Ascent. The bitter loss at this weekend’s Invitational was the second of Hiko’s woes last week, along with his persistently unstable internet, and at least he was able to hire a repairman for that. I sincerely hope that Hiko and his team will be able to improve before the next tournament and reverse the bad course upon which they’ve already sailed.
The true kings of North America? Sentinels win PAX Arena Invitational with hard-fought, 3-1 victory over Cloud9, earning 1st Valorant championship plus 1st Ignition Series title
Completing a hard-fought, near-perfect tournament run in which dropped only two maps to its playoff opponents, Sentinels won the $25,000 PAX Arena Invitational after defeating Cloud9 3-1 in a nail-biter, best-of-five grand final Sunday, July 27.
In the grand final — a rematch of an earlier group-stage game Thursday, July 23, in which Sentinels swept C9 2-0 — Sentinels opened with a narrow, 13-11 win on Ascent that saw runs from both teams (“Ascentinels” and C9) and almost went into overtime.
It then dropped Haven to C9 in a disheartening, 13-6 loss. But it recovered with grit and won both of its next two next maps in a fiery, back-and-forth series: first, another narrow, 13-11 win — this time on Bind — and then a more decisive, 13-7 win on Split.
With its victory, Sentinels took home the grand prize of $10,000 and earned the title of possibly the best Valorant team in North America; C9 won the silver-medal prize of $5,000.
“THE TRUE KINGS OF [NORTH AMERICA]!” Sentinels tweeted yesterday after the match.
The second Ignition Series event to be based in North America — after last month’s inaugural T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown — this weekend’s Invitational gave the Sentinels its first Valorant championship and its first Ignition Series title. The Invitational also drew an
For both Sentinels and C9, it was a rollercoaster ride of a journey to reach yesterday’s grand final, making their rise to the top — past the twin titans of T1 and TSM, who ruled last month’s Showdown — all the more impressive. Unlike T1 and TSM, who have been competing consistently at a high level and have been heavy favorites each time they appear, Sentinels and C9 have had their share of difficulties in competitive play.
Before the Invitational, Sentinels had struggled to make headway in Valorant. The team signed reigning Overwatch League champion and MVP Jay “sinatraa” Won, formerly of the league’s San Francisco Shock, in the hopes of winning titles in Valorant. Plus, it added former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive star Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan to give him support. But those hopes never materialized during the game’s beta, as Sentinels fared poorly in all of its early tournaments.
The team’s last beta appearance was in the Elite Esports Rivalry Bowl North America — which C9 won, actually — where Sentinels was eliminated Sunday, May 17, by the amateur Valorant squad Full Focus in a 13-8, lower-bracket loss.
Sentinels began to stabilize once it signed its fifth full-time player, Michael “Dapr” Gulino, who brought life and energy to an unconventional, highly charged offense. The team finished in 5th-6th place at last month’s Showdown after falling to FaZe Clan in a 13-7, lower-bracket loss Saturday, June 27.
And more recently, Sentinels won Gamers For Equality after defeating Together We Are Terrific (now gone pro with Team Envy) 2-1 in the best-of-three grand final Wednesday, July 8. It also finished in third at the Pulse Invitational, where it won the third-place match Sunday, July 12, (again) against Together We Are Terrific.
C9 also struggled until recently. It lost last month’s Showdown after falling out of group play Friday, June 26, with a 1-2 record — which made it the only pro team to not reach the playoffs. But it began to show signs of life during the recent Invitational, in which it finished second, and the EsportsDoug x eUnited Charity Clash, which it won Saturday, July 18.
Known casually as “TenZ and FriendZ,” after superstar team captain Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, C9 still doesn’t have a full five-man roster, but it recently signed Mitch “mitch” Semago as its third player Wednesday. July 15.
Both teams — Sentinels and C9 — overcame some difficult opponents to reach the grand final at this weekend’s Invitational.
After sweeping its group 4-0, Sentinels overpowered Gen.G Esports 2-1 in the quarterfinals Friday, July 24, and it swept reigning Showdown champion TSM 2-0 in a shocking semifinals upset Saturday, July 25.
During the quarterfinals, Sentinels dropped its first map, Bind, 9-13 to Gen.G, but it recovered with a strong, 13-8 win on Ascent, followed by a slightly narrower, 13-9 win on Split. Its loss on Bind was its first of only two map losses in the Invitational, the other being the second-round, 13-6 loss on Haven to C9 in the grand final.
Sentinels then swept TSM in an incredible, 13-3 win on Ascent, followed by an equally impressive, 13-4 win on Bind, to reach the grand final.
C9 swept both Immortals in the quarterfinals and Homeless in the semifinals 2-0 to challenge Sentinels in an explosive grand final.
Shockingly, the unsigned amateur squad Homeless — whose team didn’t even have a logo — had swept T1 (led by prodigy Braxton “Brax” Pierce) 2-0 in the quarterfinals, toppling the titan.
Homeless opened with a narrow, 13-10 win on Bind and completed the upset with a strong, 13-6 win on Ascent.
C9 finished off Immortals with a 13-9 win on Ascent and a 13-8 win on Bind, and then vanquished the partycrasher Homeless with a 13-8 win on Bind, followed by a strong, 13-6 win on Ascent.
TSM and Homeless both took home $3,000 for finishing in third- and fourth-place.
TenZ, the magical Sage, Raze and Viper of C9, finished this weekend’s Invitational with a grand total of 349 kills on 247 deaths (a spectacular, tournament-high kill-death ratio of 1.41) and a tournament-high 79 first-blood kills (39 more than his next opponent), averaging a most deadly 1.04 kills per round.
He also finished with the highest Average Combat Score at 310.8 — 40 points above his next highest opponent, sinatraa, who finished with a second-place ACS of 261.8.
Sinatraa, the mad, Odin-wielding Sova, Phoenix and Raze of Sentinels, finished the Invitational with 298 kills on 256 deaths (a good KD ratio of 1.16) and drew first blood 46 times, putting him third in that category.
His partner in crime, ShahZaM, finished with 292 kills on 223 deaths (an incredibly solid KD ratio of 1.31) and a 229.6 ACS, playing Breach, Jett and Sova.
Finally, Hunter “SicK” Mims, who had several clutch moments as Sentinels’ battle-ready Sage, finished with 274 kills on 204 deaths (a strong 1.34 KD), drew first blood 42 times and tallied a 222.5 ACS.
Team Launch wins ORDER Oceanic Open, 1st Ignition Series tournament of 2 to be based in Australia, New Zealand
In a perfect show of force, Team Launch won the ORDER Oceanic Open after sweeping each of its three opponents in groups and both of its playoff opponents in single-elimination matches.
It took home the grand prize of 5,000 Australian dollars (or roughly US$3,352) after sweeping EXO Clan 2-0 in the grand final Sunday, July 26.
EXO won the silver-medal prize of AU$3,000 (or US$2,131) for challenging Launch.
Hosted by the Australian esports club ORDER, the Open was the first Ignition Series event to be based in Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), and it featured 16 veteran qualifier teams (out of 1,024 challengers) battling it out for a share of the AU$10,000 prize pool.
Launch now appears to be the best new team in the Oceanic region, but more will be decided once developer Riot Games announces its second Ignition Series tournament (of two) to be held in the region.
During the grand final, Launch opened with a nice, 13-5 win on Haven and closed out the match against EXO with another 13-5 win on Ascent.
Playing Sage solely for Launch, Matthew “Texta” O’Rourke finished with 158 kills on 100 deaths (an impressive kill-death ratio of 1.58) and an Average Combat Score of 253.3. His teammate, Travis “wizard” Richardson, racked up 144 kills on 94 deaths (a strong KD ratio of 1.53) and tallied a 226.4 ACS, as Omen and Brimstone. Third man Tyler “tucks” Reilly, playing Sage and Phoenix, finished with 138 kills on 107 deaths (a good KD ratio of 1.29) and a 238.6 ACS; he also drew first blood 49 times, seven more than the next highest player, in a tournament-high performance.
Launch’s solid teamwork allowed it to overcome a strong performance and a heroic effort by Chris “pl1xx” Li for EXO. Playing Phoenix and Raze, pl1xx had the highest KD ratio in the Open (an incredible 1.74: 127 kills on 73 deaths), averaging more than a kill per round, and he finished with the third-highest ACS at 301.9.
To reach the grand final, EXO overpowered Control 2-1 in the semifinals Saturday, July 25, and then Launch swept Unnamed 2-0.
Both EXO and Launch seeded in the semifinals after sweeping their opponents 3-0 in double-elimination group play Saturday, July 18, and winning the upper brackets.
Against Control in the semifinals, EXO bookended a 13-11, middle-round loss on Ascent with a narrow, 13-7 win on Haven and a decisive, 13-4 win on Bind.
Launch took down Unnamed in a clean sweep, with a dominant, 13-3 win on Haven, followed by a still-strong, 13-5 win on Ascent.
Former Overwatch League pro ZachaREEE joins FaZe Clan as 3rd Valorant starter
FaZe Clan announced Friday, July 24, the signing of its latest Valorant team member: former Overwatch League pro Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo, who played for the Dallas Fuel.
ZachaREEE, 19, joins former fellow Overwatch competitor Corey “Corey” Nigra and teammate Jason “jasonR” Ruchelski as the third official member of FaZe’s Valorant roster.
“I’m super excited to be joining FaZe,” ZachaREEE said in a two-minute introductory video on Twitter. “I’ve been watching their videos since (Call of Duty) Modern Warfare 2, and they were a really big inspiration for me back in the day when I first started playing FPS (first-person shooters).”
ZachaREEE played for FaZe previously as part of the team’s unofficial, trial roster, taking part in last month’s T1 x Nerd Street Games Showdown alongside Corey, Rory “dephh” Johnson, Johnny “Marved” Nguyen and Harrison “psalm” Cheng. FaZe finished first in its group, going 2-1, and it finished fourth overall in the Showdown after falling to Immortals 13-6 in the third lower-bracket round Sunday, June 28.
During the Showdown, FaZe saw a strong performance from Corey, playing both Phoenix and Raze, who finished with 259 kills on 227 deaths (a strong kill-death ratio of 1.14) and an Average Combat Score of 256.6.
ZachaREEE, as Omen and Sage, had a slightly weak performance at the Showdown, finishing with 184 kills on 196 deaths (a subpar KD ratio of 0.94) and an ACS of 170.3.
“Transitioning from Overwatch to Valorant, though, has been pretty smooth in my opinion,” ZachaREEE said of his gameplay so far. “A lot of the ability usage is really similar. It kind of carries over really easily. The big difference from Valorant and Overwatch is the aim style, so I've been working on my aim and making sure my crosshair placement’s good and just focusing on flicks.”
Because of recent roster issues — psalm and dephh both jumped ship and joined the amateur squad Homeless, which saw great success at the PAX Arena Invitational and upset T1 in the quarterfinals Friday, July 24, in a 2-0 sweep — FaZe pulled out of last week’s Invitational before it began.
It was replaced by Way 2 French, PAX announced Sunday, July 19, on Twitter. Way 2 French then fell out of groups Thursday, July 23, with a 2-2 record in the Invitational.
Previously, ZachaREEE played as a flex DPS (“Damage Per Second,” referring to a high-damage, offensive-focused Hero) in the Overwatch League for Fusion University and later the Dallas Fuel.
He retired from the league Wednesday, June 3, to pursue a career in Riot Games’ new shooter, Valorant.
Cameron Bray is the lead writer for The Initiator, a recently created newsletter about Valorant sponsored by Numlock News. He also contributes to No Bid Nation, a new sports blog about William and Mary basketball. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @spike_cameron or send him an email at cameron@numlock.news.