The Initiator: Valorant Amateurs Getting Poached by Pros
By Cameron Bray
Team Envy signs recent amateur success story, Together We Are Terrific, for its new Valorant squad
Team Envy officially entered the Valorant arena Monday, July 13, as the American esports club tweeted it was signing Together We Are Terrific as its new starting five.
On Twitter, Envy posted the announcement alongside a two-minute hype video, showcasing each of the players and highlights from their recent tournaments together.
Players such as Taylor “Drone” Johnson cheered the announcement on Twitter. Just 20 minutes after the story broke, TSM’s Drone tweeted, “congrats fellas bout time.”
Widely considered one of the best amateur teams, Together We Are Terrific consists of five former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pros: Adam “aKis” Kisseberth, Abdo “c4Lypso” Agha, Pujan “FNS” Mehta, Anthony “mummAy” DiPaolo and Jake “kaboose” McDonald.
As Together We Are Terrific, these five North American players have competed in numerous Valorant tournaments together since the beta and have found success. They finished in second at Gamers For Equality, an eight-team charity event hosted by 100Thieves, where they reached the grand final Wednesday, July 8, before falling narrowly to Sentinels, 2-1.
And more recently, they finished in fourth at last weekend’s Pulse invitational, where they lost the third-place match Sunday, July 12, to Sentinels (again) in a 2-0 sweep.
In addition to signing Together We Are Terrific, one of the best Valorant teams in North America without a major club behind them, Envy also owns the Dallas Empire in the Call of Duty League, the Dallas Fuel in the Overwatch League and numerous professional teams in Counter-Strike, Super Smash Bros.Melee and other esports.
Team Liquid recruits amateur team fish123, former Counter-Strike pro ScreaM for Valorant roster, sources tell ESPN
Besides Team Envy, Dutch esports club Team Liquid had a busy week signing star players for its competitive Valorant roster; and like its American counterpart, Liquid found some success, reportedly recruiting both fish123 and former Counter-Strike pro Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom to its new Valorant team.
ESPN’s Jacob Wolf and Tyler Erzberger reported Monday, July 13, that Liquid would sign both the British amateur team fish123 and the Belgian superstar free agent ScreaM.
Though the deal has yet to be disclosed by Liquid, ScreaM or fish123 — which is currently competing under its own banner at the WePlay! Valorant Invitational, until Sunday, July 19 — the announcement is expected imminently.
ScreaM and fish123’s negotiations with Liquid were first reported Monday this week by French gaming website 1pv. Sources also told ESPN’s Wolf and Erzerberger that the deal was far more formalized than previously reported and that Liquid beat out several teams interested in fish123, led by British captain and former Counter-Strike pro Adam “ec1s” Eccles.
With his new contract, ScreaM joins Liquid as one of the most popular European players, in both Counter-Strike formerlyand Valorant presently. In Counter-Strike, the French-speaking superstar competed for some of the top French nationality teams, including Titan, G2 Esports and Envy.
Since the Valorant beta went online Tuesday, April 7, and the game officially launched Tuesday, June 2, fish123 has competed in various tournaments for Valorant, becoming one of Europe’s best teams, though unsigned by a major organization.
The amateur crew took first place in the Mandatory Cup, where it swept HypHypHyp 2-0 in the grand final Sunday, May 10. And it won the Solary Cup, where it overpowered Prodigy (featuring Oscar “Mixwell” Cañellas Colocho, ScreaM and others represented by Prodigy Agency) 2-1 in the grand final Sunday, May 17.
The team lost its fifth player Ardis “Ardiis” Svarenieks, the Latvian superstar, who announced Friday, July 3, that he would join Mixwell at G2 Esports and leave fish123.
Mitch joins “TenZ and FriendZ” Cloud9 roster as 3rd Valorant pro
North American esports club Cloud9 also joined the list of Valorant teams recruiting new players this week. It announced Wednesday, July 15, the signing of Mitch “mitch” Semago as its third Valorant pro, posting a one-minute video on Twitter of Mitch’s in-game highlights.
Mitch has already competed for C9 in several Valorant tournaments, but now the arrangement is under contract.
Previously, the 23-year-old played for C9 at last month’s T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown, where the team was eliminated from group play Friday, June 26, with a 1-2 record. And more recently, he competed at last weekend’s Pulse Invitational, where C9 finished in a much-better, second place after reaching the grand final Sunday, July 12, against Gen.G Esports.
Mitch joins team captain Tyson “TenZ” Ngo and Skyler “Relyks” Weaver on C9. TenZ was the first to be recruited by the team — C9 announced his signing Sunday, April 12 — and for a while he competed with a variety of unsigned players, known to fans as “TenZ and FriendZ.”
Relyks joined the team Wednesday, June 24, giving TenZ a partner and C9 its second Valorant pro.
With Mitch’s signing, only two roster spots remain open on C9’s Valorant team. C9 will compete in the PAX Arena Invitational, running from Wednesday, July 22, to Sunday, July 26. So be sure to watch for any more roster changes before the tournament, and follow “TenZ and FriendZ” live during the Invitational.
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.