The Initiator: “WE JUST KEEP STACKING THE TROPHIES”
100 Thieves sign nitr0 to Valorant team, TSM wins Pittsburgh Knights Invitational Gauntlet Series, Dignitas signs successful amateur squad Homeless, G2 Esports wins 4th-straight Ignition Series championship in Europe, Absolute JUPITER sweeps Galleria Global Challenge 2020 in Japan and more
By Cameron Bray
“WE JUST KEEP STACKING THE TROPHIES”: G2 Esports wins 4th-consecutive Ignition Series championship at Allied Esports Odyssey
Cementing its place as the best Valorant team in Europe, despite the recent formation of rivals Team Liquid and FunPlus Phoenix, G2 Esports won the Allied Esports Odyssey after sweeping FPX 2-0 in the grand final Sunday, Aug. 16.
Against FPX, G2 opened with a strong, 13-5 win on Ascent and closed out the Odyssey with a narrower, 13-9 win on Bind.
The win not only netted G2 the grand prize of 6,500 euros (or roughly $7,662), but it also gave the European squad its fourth Ignition Series title since Valorant released from beta Tuesday, June 2. Plus, it gave superstar team captain Oscar “Mixwell” Cañellas Colocho his sixth Valorant championship in a row.
Leading his team, 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 Team Mixwell swept Team Draken 2-0 in the finals.
Then with G2 under his wing, 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, Mixwell won his fifth and G2 won its third at this month’s €10,000 Mandatory.gg Cup, where G2 swept Bonk 3-0 in the grand final Sunday, Aug. 2.
During this weekend’s Odyssey, Mixwell racked up a decent number of kills as Jett and Raze. He finished with 254 kills on 220 deaths (giving him a solid kill-death ratio of 1.15) and a good Average Combat Score of 236.7. He also drew first blood 41 times, putting him fifth in that category alongside Liquid’s star player, Adil “ScreaM” Benriltom.
The Odyssey — which took a tragic turn after David “Davidp” Prins announced the sudden death of his father Wednesday, Aug. 12 — saw a strong performance from G2 in the double-elimination playoffs.
G2 entered the playoffs with a 2-2-1 record from group play, having fallen to FPX 2-0 (10-13 on Split and 9-13 on Ascent) in Round 2. It swept BBL (13-10 on Haven and 13-9 on Ascent) and Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0 (13-11 on Ascent and 13-8 on Bind) in Rounds 1 and 3, respectively, and it tied Giants Gaming (9-13 on Ascent and 18-16 on Haven) and Liquid 1-1 (13-4 on Ascent and 8-13 on Haven) in Rounds 4 and 5.
In the playoffs, G2 swept FPX (13-10 on Split) and Liquid (13-9 on Split) in the upper bracket to reach the grand final. FPX fell to the lower, losers’ bracket where it swept Ninjas (13-4 on Haven) and Liquid (13-11 on Bind) to rechallenge G2 in the grand final.
Davidp, who played on despite his father’s passing, finished with 196 kills on 207 deaths, giving him a near-KD ratio of 0.95 as Sage. He also tallied a decent 178.7 ACS.
“I hope that from where my father is, he is proud of me and sees how much [I] fight,” Davidp tweeted after the event. “Dad, [I] dedicate this victory to you and [I] also dedicate to all the people who are going through difficult times in life, you are not alone.
Winning its 3rd-straight Valorant championship, Absolute JUPITER defeats REJECT 2-1 in grand final of GALLERIA GLOBAL CHALLENGE 2020
Absolute JUPITER, the best Valorant team to appear so far in Japan, crowned itself a champion a third time this weekend at the GALLERIA GLOBAL CHALLENGE 2020, where it overpowered REJECT 2-1 in the grand final Sunday, Aug. 16.
“Our THIRD straight victory of Japan's official VALORANT tournament,” JUPITER tweeted after the Challenge. “‘The last laugh is ours.’”
In the grand final against REJECT, JUPITER dropped the first map (13-5 on Bind), but it recovered quickly, posting an overtime, 15-13 win on Haven and a perfect, 13-0 sweep on Split to win the CHALLENGE.
JUPITER took home the grand prize of ¥1 million (or roughly $9,451) for its victory. No other prizes were awarded in the CHALLENGE, so REJECT left with nothing in its pocket but glory.
Playing Phoenix and Breach, Takemori “takej” Shongo, JUPITER’s strongest player, finished the CHALLENGE with the second-most kills per round (0.88) and the fourth-highest kill-death ratio (1.29: 121 kills on only 94 deaths). He also drew first blood 27 times, tying two other players for first place in that category, and he left with a third-best Average Combat Score of 250.4.
Takej’s teammate Oshiro “Reita” Ryu, staging a strong performance as Jett, finished with an event-high KD ratio of 1.46 (118 kills on only 81 deaths) and a fifth-best ACS of 235.9. He averaged the third-most kills per round at 0.86.
By contrast, REJECT’s strongest player, Yuuma “Dep” Hisamoto (also playing Jett) finished first in kills per round, averaging nearly a kill per round at 0.97, and second in KD ratio at 1.42. He also tallied an event-high ACS of 277.6.
JUPITER reached the double-elimination playoffs after sweeping Sengoku Gaming (13-7 on Bind and 13-4 on Haven) and Crazy Raccoon (15-13 on Haven and 13-2 on Bind) 2-0 in group play. Meanwhile, REJECT overpowered Nora-Rengo (13-8 on Haven, 13-5 on Ascent and 13-5 on Bind) 2-1 and swept SunSister Rapid (13-3 on Bind and 13-5 on Haven) 2-0 to advance from groups.
In the playoffs, JUPITER swept Lag Gaming (13-7 on Haven and 13-3 on Bind) and REJECT (13-8 on Bind and 13-8 on Ascent) 2-0 to reach the grand final. REJECT fell to the lower, losers’ bracket, where it swept Cyclops 2-0 in a bounceback win. It opened with a narrow, 13-9 win on Split and closed out the lower-bracket final with a dominant, 13-3 win on Ascent to rechallenge JUPITER in the grand final.
In all, throughout the CHALLENGE, JUPITER dropped only one map to its opponents — Bind, which it lost 13-5 to REJECT in the grand final. It was another dominant, near-perfect performance for JUPITER overall, making it the king of Japanese Valorant.
The Initiator Programming update!
If you’re a regular reader of The Initiator, which I hope you are, you’ll have noticed by now that I didn’t release a newsletter Monday, Aug. 17.
The reason for this delay is simple: I moved! I’ve left my humble rural surroundings and moved to the big city where I’m a total stranger and a newcomer. It’s been a crazy week for me moving in to my new apartment — I only got my internet set up with Spectrum yesterday! — and exploring the city, so I delayed writing and publication of this newsletter until today. Although this move has disrupted my regular biweekly schedule with The Initiator, it also gives me an opportunity to introduce my new publishing schedule, which will be of great importance going forward. That said, we will no longer be writing and publishing The Initiator twice a week and will now be writing and releasing the newsletter on Mondays every so often so that it coincides with the end of major Valorant tournaments. My next issue will come out Monday, Aug. 31, following the end of Pop Flash, and from that point on, I will write and release The Initiator periodically so that it covers future Valorant tournaments in North America, Europe and Japan — the game’s three major regions.
That’s our plan moving forward. I hope you continue to enjoy reading The Initiator as much I’ve loved writing it since the beginning.
100 Thieves sign nitr0 to Valorant team, joining team captain and former Counter-Strike teammate Hiko; team releases other 4 starters
In a stunning grab, 100 Thieves signed former Counter-Strike Global Offensive legend Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella to its struggling Valorant squad Friday, Aug. 14.
The news came just four days after ESPN’s Tyler Erzberger reported that nitr0 would move from Counter-Strike to Riot Games’ new shooter, and it shows how quick the team was able to create a signing package that was perfect for nitr0.
Nitr0’s signing is part of a broader reconstruction within 100 Thieves’ Valorant roster, which will be designed around nitr0 and former Counter-Strike teammate Spencer “Hiko” Martin going forward. The team released all four of its other starters — Keane “Valliate” Alonso, Zachary “Venerated” Roach, Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond and Alfred “Pride” Choi — who were struggling in Valorant after making the switch from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
“Released from [100 Thieves],” YaBoiDre wrote Saturday, Aug. 15, on Twitter. “Plenty of things I could say but I’m not one to make excuses. We didn’t perform so this is expected. Now a free agent and gonna keep grinding.”
Nitr0’s move to 100 Thieves followed a brief but highly eventful recruitment process, during which he received numerous offers from top organizations. Although several were competing for nitr0, sources told ESPN that 100 Thieves offered him the best signing package, giving him plenty of compensation and the ability to shape the roster alongside team captain Hiko.
Before switching to Valorant, Hiko and nitr0 played Counter-Strike together on Team Liquid and took the team to the grand final at ESL: Cologne, the equivalent of a world championship, in 2016. Hiko, nitr0 and Liquid were the runners-up at that major tournament four years ago, taking home the silver-medal prize of $150,000.
Nitr0 played for Liquid’s Counter-Strike squad from early 2015 to August 2020 when he announced his retirement from Valve’s popular competitive shooter. As the squad’s talented in-game leader, he helped the team accomplish the IEM Grand Slam in 2019, winning four S-tier tournaments organized by Dreamhack or ESL over the course of 10 consecutive events and taking home the $1 million grand prize. During nitr0’s time as IGL, Liquid won six S-tier events overall in 2019 and became HLTV’s No. 1 ranked Counter-Strike team worldwide.
In North American Valorant, 100 Thieves have competed in all three Ignition Series tournaments so far — the inaugural T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown (won by TSM), last month’s PAX Arena Invitational (won by Sentinels) and the recent FaZe Clan Invitational (TSM’s second title) — and have struggled to advance. During the Showdown, 100 Thieves finished in fifth-sixth place, falling to Immortals 13-12 in the second lower-bracket round Saturday, June 27. And during both of the previous Invitationals, the team failed to make it out of group play.
In the PAX, 100 Thieves fell out in groups with a 1-3 record Thursday, July 23. And in FaZe’s marquee event, the team failed to qualify for the double-elimination playoffs, abruptly leaving the Invitational with a 0-2 record from groups Thursday, Aug. 6.
With nitr0’s signing and the team’s restructuring, 100 Thieves will not take part in the fourth and final Ignition Series tournament, Pop Flash, taking place from Wednesday, Aug. 26, to Sunday, Aug. 30.
The team also sat out this weekend’s Pittsburgh Knights Invitational Gauntlet Series, won by TSM 2-1 in the grand final Sunday, Aug. 16, against Gen.G Esports.
Back-to-back wins: TSM wins Pittsburgh Knights Invitational Gauntlet Series to earn 2nd-consecutive Valorant championship, defeating Gen.G Esports 2-1 in grand final
Winning its second Valorant championship in a row and its third title overall, TSM emerged victorious at this weekend’s Pittsburgh Knights Invitational Gauntlet Series where it defeated Gen.G Esports 2-1 in the grand final Sunday, Aug. 16.
The win netted TSM the modest grand prize of $6,000 and it gave the team its second-consecutive victory since the recent FaZe Clan Invitational, where it defeated fellow Ignition Series winner Sentinels 3-2 in a heated grand final Sunday, Aug. 5, that went into overtime on Map 4 (Bind).
TSM’s first Valorant championship was the $50,000 T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown — the inaugural event of the ongoing, four-part Valorant Ignition Series — where the team swept tournament host T1 3-0 in the grand final Sunday, June 28.
In this weekend’s bygone Series, TSM opened with a one-map disadvantage against Gen.G, having reached the grand final from the lower, losers’ bracket, while Gen.G entered from the upper, winners’ bracket. But TSM quickly evened the score and took an insurmountable lead, sweeping Gen.G two maps in a row to win the grand final and the Series: 13-9 on Haven and 13-9 (again) on Ascent.
Matthew “Wardell” Yu, TSM’s superstar Jett main, staged an incredible performance throughout the day and led the Series in nearly all statistical categories. He finished first in kills (200), kills per death (1.77: 200 kills on only 113 deaths), kills per round (1.08), first-blood kills per round (0.23) and Average Combat Score (289.9). The only category where he failed to finish first was his Average Econ Rating (73.2), where he finished second, still in great shape, behind Oliver “figment” Thompson (76.3) for Spot Up.
For comparison, Cloud9's superstar captain Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, who usually leads Valorant tournaments in ACS and kills per round, finished second in both categories, averaging 0.97 kills per round and tallying a strong 281 ACS.
Lifted up by strong performances from Wardell, TSM reached the grand final after an interrupted tournament run in the double-elimination playoffs. The team entered the playoffs with a perfect 3-0 record from group play and quickly defeated Renegades (13-5 on Split) and Immortals (13-5 on Split again) to reach the upper-bracket final.
But TSM fell to its future grand-final opponent Gen.G 13-10 on Haven, sending it to the lower-bracket final, where it recovered and defeated C9 13-6 on Bind.
Gen.G also entered the playoffs with a perfect 3-0 record from groups.
It defeated Team Complexity (13-9 on Ascent) and Homeless (13-10 on Ascent) to reach the upper-bracket final, where it narrowly overcame TSM in their first Series matchup of two. Sadly, it lost the second, more important matchup against its Series rival.
For reaching the grand final against TSM, Gen.G took home the silver-medal prize of $3,000. C9, the third-place winner, left with $1,000.
Homeless no more: Dignitas signs 4-person core of successful Valorant amateur squad Homeless
American esports organization Dignitas made waves Thursday, Aug. 20, as it announced it was signing the four-person core of Homeless for its new Valorant squad.
Its fifth player, it promised, would be announced separately and at a later date. According to ESPN’s Tyler Erzberger, the team is looking for a fifth who can “play the primary Operator role and is adept on Jett.”
“This place is nice. Let’s take it,” Dignitas wrote, tweeting out a two-and-a-half-minute highlight video of each of its players.
With four out of five players now on its roster, Dignitas’s new Valorant squad consists of Harrison “psalm” Chang, Rory “dephh” Jackson, Kevin “POISED” Ngo and Phat “supamen” Le in all.
“We have our eyes set on making a big splash into Valorant,” dephh recently told Forbes’s Mike Stubbs. “We are here to form storylines and rivalries that Dignitas fans can be a part of. Knowing that Dignitas was originally founded in the UK is a big inspiration for me personally to join the organisation. I’ve competed against Dignitas multiple times over my gaming career and I’m proud to join such a prestigious organisation.”
Under the unsigned Homeless banner, supamen and his teammates saw incredible success, particularly during last month’s PAX Arena Invitational, the third Ignition Series tournament in North America. During the Invitational, Homeless upset T1 in a shocking quarterfinals victory — perhaps the greatest upset in the short, three-month history of Valorant so far — sweeping the titan 2-0 in the first round of the single-elimination playoffs.
The team opened with a narrow, 13-10 win on Bind and completed the upset with a stronger, 13-6 win on Ascent.
Homeless finished in respectable third-fourth place at the Invitational after falling to Cloud9 2-0 in the semifinals Saturday, July 25.
Supamen, the breakout star of Homeless who previously played with fellow amateur team Echo 8, left the Invitational with an astonishing 1.30 kill-death ratio (238 kills on 183 deaths) and a strong 239.4 Average Combat Score. Playing both Brimstone and Omen, supamen tallied the 10th-highest KD ratio in the Invitational.
Dephh, the team’s Cypher main, left with a solid 210.9 ACS and 195 kills on 211 deaths, giving him a near-even KD ratio of 0.92.
“Dignitas have proven that they can provide the resources and expertise to their players to become world champions,” dephh added in his recent Forbes interview. “We as a team plan on doing everything in our power to use this opportunity and support to go win one for ourselves. There is nothing else on our minds right now, we are not frightened of anybody and plan on showing it.”
More recently, at the Pittsburgh Knights Invitational Gauntlet Series, Homeless finished in fifth-sixth place, having fallen to C9 (14-12 on Haven) in the second lower-bracket round Sunday, Aug. 16.
Widely considered the best amateur team in Valorant — besides Together We Are Terrific, which went pro Monday, July 13, with Team Envy — Homeless (now Dignitas) came together from a variety of different backgrounds.
While supamen played for Echo 8, both psalm and dephh played previously for FaZe Clan, where they featured unsigned at the inaugural T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown.
FaZe finished in fourth at the Showdown after falling to Immortals 13-6 in the third lower-bracket round Sunday, June 28.
POISED, meanwhile, competed for the now-inactive amateur squad Team Underrated, which played its last major event at the Showdown’s community qualifier.
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.