The Initiator: “THE BEST IN THE WORLD”
Sentinels sweep Team Envy 3-0 in Pop Flash grand final to claim 2nd Ignition Series win, G2 Esports goes undefeated at LVL Clash 2 to claim its 5th-straight Ignition Series title
By Cameron Bray
“THE BEST IN THE WORLD”: Sentinels win 2nd Ignition Series title at Pop Flash, dropping only 1 map in series and sweeping party-crasher Team Envy 3-0 in heated grand final
Completing a near-perfect tournament run in which it dropped only one map to its opponents, Sentinels won Pop Flash after sweeping lower-bracket winner Team Envy 3-0 in the grand final Sunday, Aug. 30.
“CHAMPIONS OF THE POPFLASH IGNITION SERIES, SO PROUD OF MY TEAM,” Sentinels’ Shahzeeb “ShahZaM” Khan tweeted yesterday after the tournament.
During the best-of-five grand final — which Sentinels entered without a map advantage despite having won the upper bracket — Sentinels opened with a narrow, 13-9 win on Haven, Envy’s preferred choice of map. Sentinels then continued its dominant performance on Bind, the second map, where it opened with a 11-0 run against Envy. But Envy, still hanging on by a thread with strong performances by Anthony “mummAy” DiPaolo, brought the map back into contention with a 7-1 run before Sentinels closed it out 13-7.
Sentinels won the third map, Split, by a hard-fought, five-point margin (13-8) to win Pop Flash, the fourth and final Ignition Series event in North America.
The win netted Sentinels the grand prize of $25,000 and its second Ignition Series title since last month’s PAX Arena Invitational, where the team defeated Cloud9 3-1 in a stunning grand final Sunday, July 26.
With Pop Flash on its resume, Sentinels tied TSM two-love for Ignition Series championships. The team’s rival won its first title at the inaugural T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown and its second at the FaZe Clan Invitational, where it defeated Sentinels 3-2 in a grand-final, rivalry matchup Sunday, Aug. 9.
However, during this weekend’s Ignition Series event, TSM and Sentinels missed the chance to face each other once more. The fated rematch between these two titans never came to be, as TSM fell out of group play Friday, Aug. 28, with an embarrassing, 1-2 record.
In groups, TSM lost twice to Dignitas — newly formed from the four-man Homeless roster — getting swept 2-0 (13-5 on Haven and 13-4 on Bind) in the opening match and defeated 2-1 in the third, deciding match. During that fateful final match for TSM, Dignitas bookended a 13-3, middle-round loss on Bind with a 14-12 win on Haven and a strong, 13-7 win on Ascent.
“[B]een trying to write a tweet since we lost, just a humongous disappointment individually and as a team,” TSM’s Taylor “Drone” Johnson tweeted after the loss. “[A]ll I’m saying is every time you beat us you make us work harder so it's a lose lose for u tbh.”
Playing Sova exclusively throughout the event, Drone left Pop Flash with 99 kills on 94 deaths (a decent kill-death ratio of 1.05). Plus, he tallied a moderate Average Combat Score of 201.2.
TSM’s lone victory came against Gen.G Esports in the elimination match, where it swept its opponent 2-0 (13-9 on Bind and 13-10 on Haven) to retain some dignity.
“Great Learning experience overall,” Matthew “Wardell” Yu tweeted. “2/4 Ignition series won. Happy to look at all the progress we've made so far. Here's to many more! Big thanks to our supporters and haters. Y’all fuel me to become better every single day.”
Wardell, TSM’s star Jett player and sniper, finished third in ACS at 259.5 and second in kills per round, averaging 0.9 frags per round. He also left Pop Flash with the second highest kill-death ratio of any player (1.35: 128 kills on only 95 deaths), but that quotient took into account far fewer kills and deaths on Wardell’s part because of TSM’s early tournament exit.
For its part, Envy left Pop Flash with the silver-medal prize of $12,500 and its first grand-final appearance.
The team, consisting of former amateurs from Together We Are Terrific has risen steadily over the past two months since its formation, placing fourth Sunday, Aug. 16, at the recent Pittsburgh Knights Invitational Gauntlet Series (won by TSM).
Playing both Sova and Jett, mummAy, whose high-impact plays helped keep Envy alive in the grand final against Sentinels, finished with 281 kills on 257 deaths (a decent KD ratio of 1.09) and tallied a solid, 206.2 ACS.
Jake “kaboose” McDonald, another high-impact player for Envy, racked up 298 kills on only 289 deaths (1:03 KD ratio) as Phoenix and Raze and tallied a strong, 220.6 ACS.
Jay “sinatraa” Won, the young wizard of Sentinels, finished second in ACS at 261.5 and fourth in kills per round, averaging 0.88 frags per round. Playing Sova, Phoenix, and Raze, he also tallied the second-highest KD ratio (1.22: 213 kills on 174 deaths) in Pop Flash behind only C9’s Tyson “TenZ” Ngo.
TenZ, whose team fell to Envy 2-0 in the lower-bracket final, finished with an event-high ACS (a remarkable 282.2) and KD ratio (1.4: 263 kills on only 188 deaths). Despite his team finishing third and failing to take home another Ignition Series title, TenZ left Pop Flash having led the Ignition Series in ACS each of the four events: 282 in Pop Flash, 277 in the FaZe, 311 in the PAX and 305 in the Showdown.
To reach the Pop Flash grand final, Sentinels entered the double-elimination playoffs with a perfect 2-0 record from groups, having swept both Envy (13-9 on Haven and 13-4 on Bind) and Immortals (13-10 on Bind and 13-7 on Split) 2-0.
It swept Dignitas 2-0 (13-0 on Split and 13-3 on Haven) in the first upper-bracket round and narrowly overcame C9 2-1 in the upper-bracket final, sending both to the lower, losers’ bracket where they later challenged Envy.
Against C9 in the final, Sentinels opened with a narrow, 13-11 loss on Split — its one map loss of the tournament — but recovered with a strong, 13-7 win on Bind, followed by a 13-11 win on Haven.
Meanwhile, Envy entered the playoffs with a 2-1 record from groups, having lost only to Sentinels 2-0 (13-9 on Haven and 13-4 on Bind) in the opening match. It defeated T1 2-1 in the elimination match and swept Immortals 2-0 (13-9 on Bind and 13-4 on Split) in the decider match. During the elimination match against T1, Envy opened with an overtime, 17-15 loss on Split but recovered with a 13-11 win on Ascent, followed by a 13-7 win on Haven.
In the playoffs, Envy opened with a 2-1 loss to C9 in the first upper-bracket round. The team began with a promising, 13-4 win on Split, but fell defeated with a 13-11 loss on Ascent, followed by an overtime, 15-13 loss on Haven.
That loss sent Envy to the lower bracket, where it overcame Dignitas 2-1 and swept C9 2-0 (13-11 on Ascent and 13-7 on Split) in the lower-bracket rematch to advance and rechallenge Sentinels in the grand final.
Against Dignitas in the first lower-bracket round, Envy opened with a 13-7 loss on Bind but recovered with a strong, 13-4 win on Split, followed by a narrow, 13-8 win on Haven.
C9 left Pop Flash with the bronze-medal prize of $7,500 for challenging Envy in the lower-bracket final, while Dignitas took home fourth place and $5,000.
“HERE WE GO AGAIN”: G2 Esports goes undefeated at LVL Clash 2 to claim team’s 5th-straight Ignition Series title, team captain Mixwell’s 7th-straight Valorant championship
In its latest tour de force, G2 Esports went undefeated at this weekend’s LVL Clash 2, sweeping each of its opponents 1-0 in group play and 2-0 in the single-elimination playoffs to win the Clash.
“Didn’t drop a single map the whole event, once again,” G2’s David “Davidp” Prins tweeted after the Clash. “Stop doubting about the Kings of Europe, [thank you].”
For the best-of-three grand final Sunday, Aug. 29, G2 rolled over Bonk — its previous opponent during this month’s Mandatory.gg Cup — twice to win the Clash.
G2 opened with a good, 13-8 win on Split and closed out the championship with a more dominant, 13-4 win on Ascent.
The win not only netted G2 the grand prize of 7,500 euros (or roughly $8,959), but it also gave G2 its fifth-straight Ignition Series title since Valorant released from beta Tuesday, June 2. Bonk left with the silver-medal prize of €3,500 (about $4,177).
For superstar team captain Oscar “Mixwell” Cañellas Colocho, it was his seventh personal championship in a row.
Leading his team in the days before G2, Mixwell won his first championship Sunday, June 7, at the game’s inaugural Twitch Rivals Tournament. He took home his second title Sunday, June 21, at the first European Ignition Series event, the €15,000 G2 Esports Invitational, where a randomly assembled Team Mixwell swept Team Draken 2-0 in the finals.
Then with G2 finally formed, Mixwell won his third championship Sunday, July 12, at the €10,000 Vitality European Open, leading the team to its first Ignition Series title.
Mixwell took home his fourth title at the $50,000 WePlay! Invitational, where G2 won its second Ignition Series championship Sunday, 19.
And more recently, G2 took home its third and fourth Ignition Series championships at this month’s €10,000 Cup and the €6,500 Allied Esports Odyssey, where Mixwell won his fifth and sixth titles Sunday, Aug. 2, and Sunday, Aug. 16, respectively.
With this weekend’s Clash concluded, G2’s Valorant tournament winnings now total roughly €54,925 (or about $65,693).
Playing Jett throughout the Clash, Mixwell racked up 135 kills on 118 deaths (which gave him a solid kill-death ratio of 1.14), and he tallied a good Average Combat Score of 238.4. He also drew first blood 27 times, putting him third in that category.
Mixwell’s teammate and second shooter, Ardis “Ardiis” Svarenieks, left the Clash with 147 kills on 114 deaths (a good KD ratio of 1.29) as Sova and Raze. He finished third in ACS at 261 and eighth in kills per round, averaging 0.88 frags per round.
DavidP, G2’s veteran Sage player, finished with a decent ACS of 181.1 and a solid KD ratio of 1.09 (116 kills on 106 deaths).
“I can tell you something real today,” DavidP tweeted, posting a screenshot of G2’s five tournament wins. “I have never been happier in my video game career than in the last few months. Joining G2, playing with these teammates is incredible, I love this team and it's the first time that I feel so good in a team environment.”
“Feeling blessed,” he added to conclude the tweet.
For G2, the Clash started off well from the get-go, as G2 went 2-0 in group play Saturday, Aug. 28. The team swept VALORANDO (13-9 on Split) and need more DM (13-7 on Ascent) 1-0 to reach the best-of-three playoffs.
There, it swept Rix.GG and FunPlus Phoenix 2-0 to challenge Bonk in the grand final.
Against Rix.GG in the quarterfinals, G2 opened with a narrow, 13-8 on Ascent and closed out the match with a wide-open, 13-2 win on Bind.
And against FPX, its old League of Legends rival, G2 secured a hard-fought, 15-13 win on Bind in overtime. It then survived another overtime match on Split, winning 13-10 to claim a nail-biter semifinals victory.
Earlier that day, Bonk swept Angry Titans 2-0 (13-0 on Bind and 13-9 on Ascent) and overcame Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 to reach the grand final. It entered the playoffs, having gone 2-0 in groups like G2. Against Ninjas in the semifinals, Bonk bookended a 13-3, middle-round loss on Bind with an overtime, 14-12 win on Ascent and a strong, 13-5 win on Haven.
FPX and NInjas left with €1,500 (roughly $1,789) each, with both of them finishing in third-fourth place.
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.