The Initiator: The Competitive Scene Begins
Welcome to the The Initiator, a biweekly newsletter about Valorant.
By Cameron Bray
Team Mixwell triumphs at G2 Esports Invitational, 1st Ignition Series event in Europe
At the inaugural G2 Esports Valorant Invitational this past weekend, Team Mixwell certainly didn’t disappoint.
The team, led by recent G2 Esports signee and captain Oscar “Mixwell” Cañellas Colocho, overpowered its first three opponents Friday, June 19, to reach the playoffs. Then it swept both of its opponents Sunday, June 21, to win it all: 10,000 euros in prize money, or about $11,178 in winnings. Team Draken, the runner-up, took home the remaining €5,000 from the €15,000 pool, worth about $16,772 in total.
William “draken” Sundin himself won the MVP award.
And as I wrote in my previous newsletter, Mixwell was definitely the man to watch during this exciting weekend tournament, the first of the new Ignition Series and the first competition to be based in Europe.
In the grand final, Mixwell racked up 30 kills on only four deaths (giving him a kill-death ratio of 7.5) as he played Jett, the breezy and aggressive Agent from South Korea. He had dozens of other highlight moments throughout the tournament, such as when he hung an ace on Team Draken with the Operator or when he and his team secured an unlikely retake against Team ANGE1.
Playing both Jett and Viper, Mixwell finished the Invitational with soaring, event-high numbers. He led the Invitational in kills per round (averaging 1.12 frags per round) and he had the highest KD ratio at 1.66: a whopping 261 kills on only 157 deaths. He also drew first blood 57 times, nine more than his next opponent, and finished with an event-high Average Combat Score of 322.6, 29.1 points higher than the next man.
With his championship from the Invitational, Mixwell added another title to his formidable resume, which already includes a title from the Twitch Rivals Tournament 17 days ago and four other championships from the Valorant beta.
Over the course of this weekend’s three-day, eight-team Invitational, Team Mixwell looked unstoppable as it rolled over its opponents one by one.
Starting in Group A, which consisted of teams Mixwell, Draken, ZeratoR and Arch, Mixwell and his teammates forged their path ahead toward a championship and trampled their opponents.
First, Team Mixwell opened with a 2-1 victory over Team Draken, thanks to a 13-11 win on Haven and a 13-6 win on Ascent bookending a 13-6, second-round loss to Draken on Bind. Then Team Mixwell swept Team Arch 2-0 with a 13-6 win on Bind and a 13-2 win on Haven before finally finishing Friday with another 2-1 victory against Team ZeratoR; Mixwell and his teammates beat ZeratoR 13-3 on Haven and 13-7 on Split to overcome a 13-12, middle-round loss on Ascent.
This perfect 3-0 start gave Team Mixwell a first-round bye in the playoffs and seeded it in the Sunday semifinals, where it swept Team ANGE1 2-0 before also sweeping Team Draken 2-0 in the grand final. Mixwell and his teammates beat ANGE1 13-6 on Haven and 13-10 on Ascent, then defeated Draken 13-7 on Haven and 13-1 on Split.
In Group B, which consisted of teams Taimou, ANGE1, Ex6TenZ and Izak, Team Taimou also defeated its three opponents Saturday, June 20, to earn a first-round bye in the playoffs and move to the semifinals. First, Team Taimou opened with a 13-5 win on Bind and a 13-10 win on Haven to sweep Team ANGE1 2-0. Then Team Taimou edged out Team Ex6TenZ 2-1, with a 13-9 win on Bind and 13-9 win on Ascent to overcome an 13-8, middle-round loss on Ascent. Finally, Taimou and his teammates closed out the day with a 2-0 sweep against Team Izak, thanks to a 13-3 win on Bind and a 13-10 win on Haven.
But Timo “Taimou” Kettunen and his teammates lost their momentum in the semifinals, where they fell 2-1 to Team Draken, which lost next to Team Mixwell in the grand final. Team Taimou opened with a hopeful 13-10 win on Bind but fell flat with a 13-7 loss on Split followed by a narrow, 13-12 loss again on Bind.
Meanwhile, at inaugural RAGE Valorant Japan Invitational, Absolute JUPITER cruises to victory with dominant 1st performance
Absolute JUPITER, a team of Japanese former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players, won the RAGE Valorant Japan Invitational Sunday, June 21, with a 2-0 sweep over Lag Gaming in the grand final preceded by an impressive two-day run.
Ending the 16-team weekend tournament, JUPITER took home the prize of 500,000 yen, or about $4,660, with dominant wins over Avalon GAMING (13-1), SunSister Rapid (13-0) and Nora-Rengo (13-1). Then in the best-of-three grand final, JUPITER swept Lag Gaming with a narrow, 13-8 win on Ascent before earning a more dominant, 13-6 win on Bind.
In all, JUPITER held its opponents to just one round win or less during each of its first three matches, and it won the tournament without losing a single map to any of its opponents.
Although Lag Gaming lost both maps to JUPITER in the grand final, they won significantly more rounds than all three of its previous opponents combined, with 14 rounds won against JUPITER compared to only two previously. In addition, Lag Gaming staged a strong performance in the semifinals, overcoming an 8-0 deficit with 13-straight round wins against BAKEMON.
Of the winning team JUPITER, Takemori “takej” Shongo won the MVP for his dominant performance as Reyna, Sage and Breach. Takej finished the tournament with an Average Combat Score of 260, a kill-death ratio of 1.55 (74 kills on 48 deaths) and 14 first-blood kills. He also racked up 46 kills alone against Lag Gaming in the grand final, showing off his versatility as he switched from playing the aggressive vampiress Reyna to the defensive healing specialist Sage.
With the 2-0 sweep of Lag Gaming in the grand final, JUPITER won its first championship in what was the first event of the Valorant Ignition Series in Japan. It could be the start of many championships for the strong, newly formed JUPITER team, which came together in March as the Japanese club signed its starting five from the No. 1 Counter-Strike team.
The Ignition Series will continue with the T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown, its first event in North America, next weekend. From Friday, June 26, to Sunday, June 28, 16 teams from the region will compete for a share of the $50,000 prize pool.
Qualifier teams — Together We Are Terrific, Prospects, Spot Up and Echo 8 — ready for T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Valorant Showdown; invited teams begin to be announced
Four teams have qualified so far for the T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Valorant Showdown next weekend, T1 announced on its Twitter. In addition, four teams (not including the host, T1 itself) have been officially invited to the $50,000, 16-team competition, which will take place from Friday, June 26, to Sunday, June 28.
The first team — Together We Are Terrific, composed of mummAy, aKis, FNS, c4Lypso and kaboose — earned its spot Saturday, June 20, after finishing first place in its qualifier match, winning also a prize of $1,800.
The second team — Prospects, composed of JoshRTz, vice, diceyzx, skelly and babyj — also earned its spot after the qualifier match Saturday, taking second place and the silver-medal prize of $900.
The third team — Spot Up, made up of tem-tem, TuckerGG,figment, Bunny and khai — won its spot Sunday, June 21, after finishing second in its qualifying match and taking home the prize of $900.
The fourth team — Echo 8, made up of AYRIN, Brando, req, Reformed and supamen — won the final qualifying spot at the Showdown after finishing in first at the qualifier match Sunday and taking the first-place prize of $1,800.
Of the invited teams that have been announced so far for the Showdown, they include Gen.G Esports, Sentinels, Immortals, and TSM — besides T1 itself.
Additional team invitations will be announced throughout the week leading up to the Showdown. Seven of the 12 spots for invited teams remain unfilled; the remaining four spots (of all 16 total) will be filled by the qualifier teams.
The Showdown kicks off Friday, June 26, and will last until Sunday, June 28.
Ranked play coming to Valorant this week, promises game director Ziegler
Since the release of Valorant from beta Tuesday, June 2, fans have been asking the question: “When is ranked play returning to the game?”
And now they have an answer: this week.
Assuming all goes well, ranked play will return to Valorant this very week, Valorant game director Joe Ziegler wrote last week on Twitter. He said that he and the development team were working hard to ready their competitive mode for release, testing it and likely making some improvements from beta in response to criticism.
Ranked play was available throughout the closed, three-month beta, when players could rise and fall in the leaderboards. But it was removed by Riot Games to give everyone a level playing field at launch.
The removal of ranked play was meant to give every player — especially those who were new to Valorant and who hadn’t been invited to play the game in beta — a fair chance at rising up in the leaderboards.
During beta, ranked play in Valorant received some harsh criticism from players who felt it was insignificant to be at the topmost rank, so it’s likely that Ziegler and his team will try to address this complaint in the reintroduction of ranked play this week.
With ranked play returning, Ziegler and Riot Games will also address another problem that has troubled Valorant since release: unbalanced matchmaking. Since then, many players have complained of being pitted against opponents either too high above or too far below their skill level, so the return of ranked play will likely redress this issue.
In response to Riot Games’ announcement, Valorant pros such as Spencer “Hiko” Martin said they would look forward to the return of ranked play this week.
And finally, some breaking news from The Onion
The Onion released a crucial report Wednesday, June 17, on the state of the newly emerging Valorant community.
Cameron Bray is the lead writer for The Initiator, a recently created newsletter about Valorant produced 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.