The Initiator: Mixwell wins 3rd Valorant major
By Cameron Bray
G2 Esports triumphs at Vitality European Open, giving Mixwell 3rd major title since Valorant release
Completing a near-perfect tournament run in which it dropped only two maps to its opponents, G2 Esports won the Valorant Vitality European Open after defeating Prodigy 3-1 in the grand final Sunday, July 13.
The win netted G2 the grand prize of 10,000 euros, or roughly $11,348, and it gave superstar captain Oscar “Mixwell” Cañellas Colocho his third major European title since Valorant released from beta Tuesday, June 2.
Leading his team, Mixwell took home his first European championship Sunday, June 7, at the inaugural Twitch Rivals Tournament. And he won his second Valorant title Sunday, June 21, at the G2 Esports Invitational, where Team Mixwell swept Team Draken 2-0 in the finals.
During this weekend’s €15,000 Open, Mixwell and his teammates at G2 entered the grand final with a one-map lead over Prodigy. As the upper-bracket winners, they started with a 1-0 advantage — but Prodigy immediately evened the score with a 13-7 win on Haven.
Undaunted, G2 hit back with a dominant, 13-4 win on Ascent before closing out the grand final with a narrower, 13-8 win on Split.
Prodigy took home the silver-medal prize of €2,000 (or $2,272) for challenging G2 in the grand final.
Playing Jett throughout the Open, Mixwell finished with 272 kills on 177 deaths (an impressive kill-death ratio of 1.54). His teammate Ardis “Ardiis” Svarenieks, the newest addition to G2, racked up 245 kills on 170 deaths (a KD ratio of 1.44), playing Raze and Sova. (Note: Neither of these totals account for performance in the qualifiers before the Open.)
To reach the grand final, Mixwell and G2 defeated PartyParrots 2-1 and swept Prodigy 2-0 in the upper-bracket playoffs.
After sweeping through group play 3-0 Friday, July 10, G-2 opened the double-elimination playoffs Sunday with an unfortunate, 13-5 loss on Haven to PartyParrots.
It was the first of only two map losses sustained by G2, the other being the 13-7 loss on Haven in the grand final against Prodigy.
But G2 bounced back against PartyParrots with a strong, 13-4 win on Ascent, followed by a 13-5 win on Split. Meanwhile, Prodigy swept FABRIKEN 2-0 in the other first-round match, winning 13-6 on Split and again 13-6 on Bind.
Down in the lower bracket, PartyParrots won the first map, Split, 13-11 but lost to FABRIKEN 13-9 on Bind and 13-11 on Ascent, making it a 2-1 defeat. Then, immediately after G2 swept Prodigy 13-8 on Bind and 13-7 on Haven to win the upper bracket, Prodigy beat FABRIKEN 2-1 to win the lower bracket and challenge G2 in a grand-final rematch.
Prodigy lost the first map, Split, 13-7 to FABRIKEN, but recovered with a narrow, 13-11 win on Ascent, followed by a nail-biter, 13-12 win on Bind.
FABRIKEN and PartyParrots each took home €1,000 (roughly $1,137) for finishing in third and fourth, respectively.
Organized by French esports club Team Vitality, this weekend’s Open was the second European event of the recent Ignition Series and it was the first Valorant championship to be won by G2.
The next major Ignition Series event in Europe, the WePlay! Valorant Invitational, will begin group play Wednesday, July 15, with G2 and PartyParrots both participating. So be sure to follow it on Twitch this week to see more of Mixwell, his teammates and his opponents.
Gen.G Esports wins Pulse Invitational; Cloud9, upsetting titan TSM in quarterfinals, finishes in surprisingly strong 2nd overall
Gen.G Esports won the $10,000 Pulse Invitational Sunday, July 12, after sweeping Cloud9 2-0 in the grand final.
With its victory, Gen.G recovered from its disastrous quarterfinals losses Saturday, June 27, at the double-elimination T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown, earning its first Valorant title since the beta Pittsburgh Knights Tournament Series.
For its efforts, Gen.G took home the grand prize of $6,000, while C9 left with the silver-medal prize of $3,000.
During the grand final against C9, Gen.G opened with a solid, 13-8 win on Bind before capturing the title with an impressive, 13-7 win on Ascent.
Playing Phoenix for Gen.G, Anthony “gMd” Guimond racked up 178 kills on 133 deaths (a KD ratio of 1.34). As the fiery offensive Agent from Britain, he pushed into enemy territory, scouted ahead and staged an incredibly strong offensive performance, earning kill after kill with his life-saving Ultimate Ability, Run It Back.
His teammate Danny “Hunyh” Hunyh finished 147 kills on 114 deaths, providing support from behind as Sova and Jett with the Operator sniper rifle.
Meanwhile, Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, the 19-year-old star of C9, finished with 201 kills on 135 deaths (a stunning KD ratio of 1.49, almost 1.5). As Jett, the breezy offensive Agent from South Korea, he looked deadly on offense, finishing Day 2 of the Invitational alone with 24 kills (on 5 deaths, giving him an incredible KD ratio of 4.8) and an Average Combat Score above 400 — 455!
The Invitational was a stunning reversal of fortunes for TenZ and for C9, who had been struggling previously in competition. After winning the Elite Esports Rivalry Bowl North America, they struggled to make waves once Valorant was released from beta Tuesday, June 2.
TenZ lost the inaugural Twitch Rivals Tournament, where his team fell out of group play Saturday, June 6 with a 1-2 record. And he and his teammates at C9 fared no better together at last month’s Showdown, where they fell out groups Friday, June 26, with another 1-2 record, losing to amateur, qualifier teams Together We Are Terrific and Prospects.
Most shockingly of all, TenZ and C9 defeated TSM, the winner of the previous Showdown and one of the top teams in North America, in this weekend’s Invitational. They topped the giant 2-1 in the single-elimination quarterfinals before taking revenge on Together We Are Terrific in a 2-0 semifinals sweep.
During the quarterfinals, C9 opened with a near-perfect, 13-1 win on Bind before suffering a 13-7 loss on Bind to TSM; TenZ and his teammates recovered with a 13-10 win on Haven. Then in the semifinals, C9 opened with another solid win, 13-7 on Ascent, before advancing to the grand final with a dominant, 13-3 win on Split.
Meanwhile, Gen.G swept Charlotte Phoenix 2-0 in the quarterfinals and overpowered Sentinels 2-1 in the semifinals to reach the grand final against C9. Sentinels then took the bronze-medal prize of $1,000 after sweeping Together We Are Terrific 2-0 in the third-place match.
In the quarterfinals against Charlotte Phoenix, Gen.G opened with a nice, 13-8 on Haven and completed the sweep with a stronger, 13-4 win on Bind. Against Sentinels in the semifinals, Gen.G bookended a 13-8, middle-round loss on Ascent with a narrow, 13-12 on Bind and a slightly stronger, 13-10 win on Haven.
Sentinels recovered against Together We Are Terrific, (who fell to C9 in the semifinals), finishing the amateur team off with a 13-6 win on Ascent, followed by an impressive, 13-4 win on Haven.
This weekend’s Invitational was organized by Pulse Esports Arena, a new organizer based in New York City. Though not a part of Riot Games’ official Valorant Ignition Series, the Invitational gave us another look at some of the top teams (TSM, Gen.G and others) in North America, with Valorant now in its second month of open play.
The next major North American tournament — the PAX Arena Invitational, which is part of the developer’s Ignition Series — begins Wednesday, July 22, with preliminaries. So be sure to follow the tournament next week until Sunday, June 26, if you’re interested in who’s the best at Valorant in the game’s short lifespan so far.
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.