Based on that and the reputation of the players on the team, we curated a tier list predicting which team is going to be the best coming out of the Americas region in 2024. It is going to be an exciting year for Valorant Esports as the best of the best in the Americas face off against each other in the Kickoff tournament to determine Masters seeding. Let us rank the teams that have the potential to be the best in the business.

VCT Americas 2024 Teams Tier List

We will divide this list into four separate tiers. The best of the best will be in the S-Tier while others will rank among the A, B, and C-Tier. S Tier teams are the ones that have championship-caliber talent and are the favorites in the tournament. A Tier ones are better than most of the other teams in the tournament and have the chance to upset the S-tier teams. B-Tier ones are the ones that have a good team but may struggle against S and A-Tier teams while C-Tier ones might just struggle to remain in the franchise.

(Note: This list is based on the writer’s opinion and is not the final list)

S Tier Teams

• NRG Esports
• LOUD
• Leviatan

NRG Esports have former world champions on their team. All of them have won Valorant championships in their career and their core looks strong. LOUD has largely remained unchanged with just the exception of Erick ‘aspas‘ Santos leaving the team for Leviatan. Speaking of, Leviatan has picked up aspas, Corbin ‘c0m‘ Lee, and Ian “tex” Botsch to better their roster, bringing them into the S Tier category.

A Tier Teams

• Cloud9
• Sentinels
• G2 Esports

Cloud9 has looked in dominant form in the off-season tournaments and their core has played together a ton. Their experience together sets them apart from the rest. Sentinels have upset everyone in the off-season and have bolstered their roster with Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro and Mouhamed “johnqt” Ouarid. They can pull off miracles in this season if they play well.

G2 Esports, on the other hand, has The Guard core who have more than 2 years of experience playing together. With the induction of Nathan ‘leaf’ Orf, they are sure to surprise everyone with their performance, one way or the other.

B Tier Teams

• 100 Thieves
• KRU Esports
• Furia

100 Thieves have had an off two years never picking up momentum and only winning a game or two. But hopefully, with the addition of world champion IGL Kelden Elric “Boostio” Pupello, they can bring their form back. KRU Esports has upset a lot of teams before and they have the potential to be a solid team, this tournament will be a test of strength for them.

Furia was a strong team last year, it will be difficult for them to retain form with the loss of their star duelist, Douglas ‘dgzin‘ Silva.

C Tier Teams

• MIBR
• Evil Geniuses

That leaves MIBR and EG. MIBR has good team coordination but it will be difficult to make it out alive seeing the caliber of talent in the group they are in. Evil Geniuses on the other hand have barely strung together a roster at the last moment and they haven’t had time to practice. However, they retain an advantage over the other teams since they only need to win a couple of matches to qualify for Masters Madrid.

The post VCT Americas 2024 Teams Tier List: Every Team Ranked appeared first on The SportsRush.

player001 // @jawgemo pic.twitter.com/HERnGaQoLJ

— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) January 26, 2024

• Phat “supamen” Le
•  Nicholas “NaturE” Garrison
•  Derrek “Derrek” Ha
•  Vincent “Apoth” Le
•  Alexander “jawgemo” Mor
• Christine “potter” Chi (Head Coach)

jawgemo and Coach Potter are the only returning members from last year. The other teammates, supamen are from the FaZe Clan and Apoth was on the reserve EG roster that was in place even before the franchise league. Derrek transferred over from 100 Thieves. NaturE previously played for Team SoloMid and quite recently as a stand-in for 100 Thieves during the Red Bull Home Ground tournament.

This team has potential but they have little to no time to prepare for VCT 2024 kickoffs. However, they might have an advantage heading into the tournament since they need only 2 wins to qualify for Masters Madrid, which could potentially set them up for the entire year.

Why Does EG Only Need 2 Wins to Qualify for Masters Madrid?

Evil Geniuses were the crowned Champions from last year’s VCT. This gives them a huge advantage heading into the VCT Kickoff tournaments starting for each region in 2024. Quite recently, we got to see the seedings of the VCT 2024 Kickoff for the APAC region. Based on that, we could easily predict where EG can end up. According to the VCT 2024 Format, the best-performing team from last year will have an easier seeding in Group C.

The bracket/groups for the upcoming VCT Pacific Kick-Off tournament leaked on the VALORANT Esports site pic.twitter.com/DKAvPgjIes

— Valorant News (@ValorINTEL) January 26, 2024

In Group C, the region’s best performers might end up with a team that has comparatively lower performance than their peers from last year. That is why we see Paper Rex (PRX) with Gen.G and Rex Regum Qeon which were some of the lowest-performing teams last year. This can put EG at a huge advantage when it comes to acquiring a spot at VCT Masters Madrid. As you can tell by looking at the APAC Bracket for the Kickoff tournament, PRX only needs to win twice to qualify for Masters Madrid, one against the winner of RRQ vs Gen.G and one against their opponent in the Playoffs Semi-Finals.

Now, in the playoffs, one must win two matches again, the Semi-Finals and Finals to win the Kickoff tournament. EG needs to win just two matches to make it to Masters Madrid. One in the Groups stage and one in the Semi-Finals of the playoffs. However, winning the Finals will grant the team VCT Points which can be useful in case they fail to win matches in the future. However, EG’s performance solely depends on their own efforts.

The post Evil Geniuses (EG) Reveal Their Valorant Roster for VCT 2024 appeared first on The SportsRush.

FNS in a recent stream explained how despite the nerfs, she can be a viable Initiator when combined with Gekko. He also said how the recent nerfs to Skye are attempts to bring Gekko into the main meta of the game.

FNS says that Skye’s kit is still valuable due to her Trailblazer ability which can gather information about enemy players. Aside from that, her kit is still viable because it serves the same purpose in the meta. The only thing missing is her ability to fake flash and the comfort of using the Guiding Light just to gather information on the enemy’s whereabouts. “I think Gekko will be added with Skye as Double Initiators, you are going to need a drone of some kind to take space,” FNS said in his stream.

Why Skye was Nerfed in Valorant Patch 8.01

Skye was one of the most important Agents in professional compositions since she served multiple purposes. She was the perfect Initiator since her fake flash could easily distract enemies and upset their crosshair placement. In addition, she also has the Trailblazer to gather information. The reason why she is perfect is because she can do both things Initiators are designed for; gather information and assist teammates.

On top of that, she also can heal teammates when they are low on HP, making her the perfect addition to any composition. A lot of professional players didn’t take the nerf well since the VCT 2024 season is approaching soon. Teams will now have almost no time left to prepare for regional tournaments due to sudden changes.

Meanwhile, Gekko has a flash with 13 uses per round, which marks their EXACT location

A molly the size of Texas that 1 shots you

And a literal 6th player

EDIT: OH AND A MASSIVE SHARK THAT MOVES AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT https://t.co/ZFB5Gv3eIK

— NRG Ethan (@ethanarnold) January 23, 2024

I use to think riot was smart about balancing changes, but recently I feel like their solution is just

over tune several agents and see if they’re played,
doesn’t get played so they basically destroy meta agents to force the agents they thought were good? https://t.co/GUWa3nd7c5

— Erick Bach (@Xeppaaa) January 23, 2024

Professional players themselves explained how these changes can destroy their preparation before tournaments. Erich ‘Xeppa’ Bach spoke about how Riot tends to nerf meta Agents to make space for the ones that aren’t played. They did the same thing with Chamber and Jett. Doing this for future Agents can be trouble since it reduces the trust professional players and gamers have in the organization.

The post Former World Champion IGL FNS Explains Why Skye Will Still be Meta in Valorant Despite the Nerfs appeared first on The SportsRush.

• Guiding Light no longer regenerates charges during a round.
• Guiding Light now automatically activates the flash at the end of its lifetime.

Essentially, Skye’s Guiding Light or Flash ability will not recharge anymore in the middle of a round. In addition, it will automatically activate when the time for the flash runs out eliminating the ability to fake flash. Fake Flashing was a viable technique players used to confuse the opponent second before taking a gunfight. Aside from that, the ability not being recharged is a huge nerf as it means Skye will only have two flashes throughout the entire round.

Naturally, Valorant professionals had an explosive reaction to this change on social media, as they believed Skye would be unusable with the new patch.

I cannot wait for the @chetsingh tweet when he wakes up to the skye nerf

— yay (@yay) January 23, 2024

“El Diablo” Jaccob ‘yay‘ Whiteaker couldn’t wait to see how his former OpTic coach, Chet ‘Chet’ Singh reacted to the Skye nerf and the reaction from the latter did not disappoint.

can’t wait for patch 8.02 where they basically make the game Palworld https://t.co/5C8XBbTxwz

— NRG Chet (@chetsingh) January 23, 2024

Palworld has undoubtedly taken the world by storm and the NRG coach’s reaction is quite justified and even funny at this point.

Meanwhile, Gekko has a flash with 13 uses per round, which marks their EXACT location

A molly the size of Texas that 1 shots you

And a literal 6th player

EDIT: OH AND A MASSIVE SHARK THAT MOVES AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT https://t.co/ZFB5Gv3eIK

— NRG Ethan (@ethanarnold) January 23, 2024

One of the best Skye players in the world, Ethan ‘Ethan‘ Arnold justified that Gekko was way overpowered and should be nerfed before Skye.

Was Nerfing Skye in Valorant a Bad Move from Riot Games before the Beginning of the VCT 2024 Season?

VCT 2024 is less than a month away and making changes to the Agents that are meta-reliant is usually frowned upon. Such changes disrupt plans and strategies coaches have put in place for their teams, and upset scrims and practice sessions. Changing the way Agents work before the season not only makes the training sessions moot but coaches are forced to change the team composition on the fly.

Next year I’m just gonna start scrims 1 week before the season starts cause fuck me I guess and all the pros time. No replay system btw 2024 coming soon!

— NRG Chet (@chetsingh) January 23, 2024

The difficulty in adapting to last-minute changes is what Chet has talked about in his latest X post. According to the NRG coach, such changes reset the strategies of a lot of teams since Skye is such a useful Agent in competitive play. Moreover, with Valorant heavily relying on the esports sector to maintain the hype, casual players might lose interest if they see their favorite agents having a low pick rate in the tournaments.

The post How Are Pro Players Reacting to the Skye Nerf in Valorant Patch 8.01? appeared first on The SportsRush.

Omen has a message for Brimstone… pic.twitter.com/UeIE00Aw8h

— VALORANT (@VALORANT) January 19, 2024

Despite most of their games being multiplayer, Riot builds up extensive lore behind their playable characters. This builds passion among the fans for the characters they play and gives them a personality. In addition, it also helps with creating more tie-in stuff like Riot did with Arcane, which is a League of Legends spin-off.

In the above X post by VALORANT, fans can hear Omen talking about his past to Brimstone and mentioning a “she.” Fans suspect that “she” could be Viper in line with the previous cinematic we saw during the start of Episode 8. The voice acting and the lines were so on par with Omen’s character that it prompted fans to ask for a movie from Riot. Fans were also left wondering if Riot is going to make a tie-in or animated show based on Valorant anytime soon.

Will Riot make a Valorant Movie?

Fans, in the replies to the post, were hungry for a Valorant movie based on the lore of Omen and the foundation they had laid out in previous acts. Game tie-ins with TV Shows and Movies have worked quite well in the past. Riot’s own franchise League of Legends got a show called Arcane. The show did quite well among fans and critics alike and that fact leaves the door open for a Valorant movie or show in the future.

We believe if Riot demands a show on any OTT platform, they will most definitely get a green signal for multiple reasons. The first is because their animation speaks for itself. It is high-quality work and is among the best in modern animation. The second is that these Valorant characters are quite iconic in their own right and fans will line up to see what the production has to offer. The appeal of characters like Jett, Omen, Sage, Yoru, Viper and so many more transcend the game and into pop culture.

DROP A MOVIE PLS I BEG

— Jollz (@Jollztv) January 19, 2024

We need a valorant series asap

— Matthew G. (@lilmatt1657) January 19, 2024

we NEED a movie

— jenn ☆ affiliate ☆ (@bleedmagiix) January 19, 2024

Based on these comments alone, we would say there is a huge market for Valorant-based animation or feature films. Developers who make interesting characters often get rewarded with good fan response and the way Riot has taken care of its characters is a sure-fire sign that their production, if they do decide to make one, has huge potential in the market.

The post New Omen Lore Leaves Fans Begging Riot Games for a Valorant Movie appeared first on The SportsRush.

VCT 2024 Format Explained: Everything You Need To Know

The VCT 2024 season is bound to be jam-packed with good Valorant matches and content for the fans. The off-season has been quite eventful as various teams like Sentinels, Paper Rex, Fnatic, Cloud 9, and FUT competed in various tournaments. However, with the off-season almost coming to a close it is not time for the official 2024 season to commence.

Riot recently announced how the tournaments will be played and the format for each kick-off. The grind for Valorant Champions 2024 begins with each region’s kick-off itself.

VCT Kickoff Format

The kickoff format might be a little tough to grasp at first but once you understand it, it is simple to navigate. For starters, there will be eleven teams in each region starting the kickoff. These eleven teams will be divided into three different groups. Four teams in the first two groups and the third group would have only three teams. Now, there are three different stages of Kickoff: group stages, play-ins, and playoffs.

In the group stages, the first two groups will face off and there will be only one winner out of each group. The third group only has three teams. Now, the winners of each group will directly advance to the playoffs.

For the play-ins, the loser bracket winners of each group will be selected and they will face off against each other in a single round-robin. The winner of the play-in will also make it to the playoffs. Now, in the playoffs, the Group 1 Winner will face off against the play-in winner while the Group 2 and 3 Winners will face off against each other. The teams who win these will qualify for the Kickoff finals but also Masters Madrid which will take place in March.

VCT 2024 Roadmap

The ending of the Kickoff will directly lead to Masters Madrid in mid-March, which will feature eight teams. Similarly, the first International League matches will start in April. In this league, the first three teams will make it to Masters Shanghai, the first international event that will take place in China.

After the Shanghai event, the second International League will begin. As the first International League, the second will also have three winners along with a team that has racked up the most Championship points in a given region. We will take a look at what Championship points are a little later. Now, four teams from each region will advance to Valorant Champions 2024.

Valorant Champions 2024 will take place in August and among the 16 teams, one will be the new World Champion.

Participating/Franchise Teams

Now that we have covered what the format and event breakdown is like, let us take a look at the eleven franchised teams from each region.

APAC

• ZETA DIVISION
• Gen.G
• DetonatioN FocusMe
• T1
• DRX
• Paper Rex
• Team Secret
• Global Esports
• Rex Regum Qeon
• Talon Esports
• Bleed Esports

EMEA

• Fnatic
• Team Liquid
• Team Vitality
• BBL Esports
• FUT
• Karmine Corps
• Team Heretics
• Giants Gaming
• NAVI
• KOI
• Gentle Mates

Americas

• NRG
• Sentinels
• 100 Thieves
• Cloud 9
• LOUD
• MIBR
• Leviatán
• G2 Esports
• Evil Geniuses
• FURIA
• KRU Esports

China

• All Gamers
• EDward Gaming
• Bilibili Gaming
• JD Gaming
• FunPlus Phoenix
• Nova Esports
• Titan Esports Club
• Trace Esports
• TYLOO
• Wolves Esports
• Dragon Ranger Gaming

What are Championship Points and Why Are They Important?

Now, Championship points are going to be important for every team this year. Every win a team gets in the International Leagues will reward them with one Championship Point. The regional Kickoff will also reward 3 Championship points to the winner. Now, the winner of those two Masters tournaments will also gain 3 Championship points.

Now, the catch is the teams in each region with the highest Championship points will punch a ticket directly to Valorant Champions 2024.

The post VCT 2024 Format Explained: Everything You Need To Know appeared first on The SportsRush.

• VCT Masters Madrid: Schedule, Format, Teams and More
• Venue
• Schedule and Format
• Teams
• Stream Details
• Ticket Booking Details

VCT Masters Madrid: Schedule, Format, Teams and More

VCT Masters events are the stepping stones to Valorant Champions. First of all, the team that wins these events is granted automatic entry into the Champions playoffs. On top of it, each Masters event is home to world-class Valorant gameplay with high-octane action, tons of clutch moments, and individual plays that boggle that mind. That is why, Valorant fans cannot afford to miss out on these events.

Although, we still do not have a concrete idea of what exactly the event will feature as Riot themselves are deciding on it, we do have confirmation about the Stream, Venue, Schedule, Format, and the number of teams that will participate from each region.

Venue

The arena where the event will take place is the Madrid Arena in Madrid, Spain which holds a capacity of 10,000-12,000 people at once. The WTA tours and the 2021 Davis Cup were held in this arena so it is no stranger to no big events. Plus, the Swiss Stage and the Playoffs will be held in this arena.

Schedule and Format

We also have a rough idea about the schedule of the event and the format itself. The tournament will begin on the 12th of March and end on the 24th. On these days, we are going to have both the Swiss Stage and the Playoffs. The Swiss Stage itself will last for 5 days and then the playoffs, featuring Upper and Lower Bracket matches, will begin.

The Swiss Stage Begins on the 12th and ends on the 18th while the Playoffs begin on the 21st and conclude with the finals on the 24th. Here is a detailed rundown of the whole event schedule.

• March 14: Swiss Stages
• March 15: Swiss Stages
• March 16: Swiss Stages
• March 17: Swiss Stages
• March 18: Swiss Stages
• March 19-20: No Matches
• March 21: Bracket Stages
• March 22: UB Finals and LB Semifinals
• March 23: LB Finals
• March 24: Grand Finals

All matches in this event will be Best of Three while the Lower Bracket Finals and the Grand Finals will be Best of Five.

Teams

Firstly, the Kickoff tournaments for 4 Major Regions which are the Americas, Pacific, EMEA, and China are going to start in February. The top two teams from these tournaments are going to make it to Masters Madrid. That is why, Masters Madrid will have only eight total team slots with two teams per region.

Dates for Each Kickoff Event

• Americas – Feb 16
• Pacific – Feb 17
• EMEA – Feb 20
• China – Feb 22

Once the knockouts end, we will have our qualified teams for Masters Madrid.

Stream Details

As usual, Masters Madrid will be streamed for free on Twitch and YouTube. The stream will is scheduled to be broadcast on the Valorant Esports Twitch and YouTube Channel. From what we can tell, the broadcast will begin on the designated days at 4 p.m. GMT, more or less.

Ticket Booking Details

For the people who live in Madrid or want to attend the event physically, tickets will go on sale on January 12th on Ticketmaster. Since the entire tournament takes place in the Madrid Arena, the tickets for the Swiss Stages are much cheaper than the ones for the Playoffs. Here is the rundown for each day.

• March 14th, 18th and 21st 

  • Tier 1: €36.30

• March 15th, 16th, 17th

  • Tier 1: €48.40
  • Tier 2: €36.30
  • Limited View: €24.20

• Finals Stage: Match 22, 23, 24

  • Premium Tier: €84.70
  • Tier 1: €76.53
  • Tier 2: €62.62
  • Tier 3: €48.70
  • Limited View: €34.78

That is everything we know so far about the Masters Madrid event. Masters Shanghai is going to follow up on this event and is scheduled for May.

The post VCT Masters Madrid: Schedule, Format, Teams and More appeared first on The SportsRush.

Now that C0M is joining Leviatán, that leaves Jawgemo alone in Evil Geniuses. That being said, let us break down what we know so far and analyze C0M’s successful year in the game.

Contents

• C0M Joins Leviatan for VCT 2024
• C0M’s Day Out in VCT 2023
• The Current Leviatan Roster

C0M Joins Leviatan Valorant for VCT 2024

C0M joins Leviatán leaving jawgemo as the last remaining player on Evil Geniuses from the 2023 Champions roster:

https://t.co/u8OXf1RegIhttps://t.co/u8OXf1RegI

— Valorant News (@ValorINTEL) January 9, 2024

C0M is currently one of the most experienced Initiators and his mastery of Sova is commendable. In the VCT 2023 season, C0M surprised everyone with his performance on Sova, having a high clutch percentage and lineups for almost anything. The effort put by the former Initiator on EG was second to none and due to that, his team won a World Championship. However, after the Championship win, things went haywire at EG which caused them to cut pay for the champions.

Unhappy with their treatment, most of the players including C0M left for other organizations, mainly NRG and 100T (Ethan and Demon1 to NRG, Boostio to 100T). Let us take a look at how important C0M is going to be for Leviatán this season.

C0M’s Day Out in VCT 2023

C0M had a busy 2023. Evil Geniuses did not have the best of starts last year. They were eliminated early at VCT Lock-In after losing to Talon Esports in the second round. They barely made it to Masters Tokyo after miraculously qualifying somehow when MIBR beat 100T. However, the turnaround came when EG went on a Cinderella run at Masters Tokyo, putting in hard work and tons of effort.

One of the most influential players in that run was C0M, alternating between Sova, Breach, and Viper on certain maps. C0M’s versatility led to Evil Geniuses finishing in 2nd place at Masters Tokyo. However, the season was far from over and they had one more shot at redemption, Valorant Champions 2023.

The stage was set for Evil Geniuses and now that teams knew not to underestimate them, they had targets on their backs. Even then, they managed to pull through. Evil Geniuses pulled out all the stops, defeating teams like Paper Rex, LOUD and DRX in their Champions run. C0M’s mastery of Viper and Sova helped EG clutch rounds and win various fights where they weren’t supposed to win.

C0M along with the rest of EG, emerged victorious and claimed the World Champions title for themselves after defeating Paper Rex 3-2 in the finals. Things turned bad for the players after the tournament however and the team split up and decided to go their separate ways, bringing C0M to the Argentinian Valorant Team, Leviatan.

The Current Leviatan Valorant Roster

Leviatan has completely revamped its roster for VCT 2024. In fact, they are definitely looking like a Top 5 Team heading into the next season. Let us take a look at the current Leviatan Valorant Roster and see who they have acquired.

•  Francisco “kiNgg” Aravena
•  Ian “tex” Botsch
•  Roberto “Mazino” Rivas
•  Erick “aspas” Santos
•  Corbin “C0M” Lee
•  Agustin “nzr” Ibarra (Substitute)
• Alex “goked” Kie (Head coach)
•  Dimitar “Itopata” Staev (Assistant coach)

Acquiring aspas was a genius move by Leviatan since his contract was already expiring with LOUD. In addition to that, tex joined the lineup after transferring over from The Guard whose roster is now playing for G2 Esports in The Americas. Leviatan acquired Mazino last season while kiNgg has been the poster boy for the team for quite a while.

All of these players have the main event-level caliber and a variety of LAN experiences. Even nzr who has been subbed out instead of C0M has great talent that can be used whenever they want. C0M for the most part would be playing the role of an Initiator just like he did with Evil Geniuses but there might be a few surprises. It will be interesting to see what Leviatan can cook up for the VCT 2024 Season. The kickoff for VCT Americas starts on February 16th, 2024 with 11 teams.

The post Valorant World Champion C0M Joins Leviatan For VCT 2024 appeared first on The SportsRush.

Aside from that, the rest of the former Evil Geniuses squad was scattered in the wind with Ethan ‘Ethan‘ Arnold and Max ‘Demon1′ Mazanov moving to NRG. However, the fate of Corbin ‘c0m‘ Lee and Alexander ‘jawgemo‘ Mor remain unclear. Let us see what we know about the organization and how Boostio will change its approach for 2024.

Contents

• 100T Valorant Get Boostio Out of EG Contract Jail for VCT 2024
• 100T Performance Last Year
• Boostio’s Road to VCT 2023 Victory
• The Current 100T Roster and Expectations

100T Valorant Get Boostio Out of EG Contract Jail for VCT 2024

Joined @100Thieves LETS FUCKING GO https://t.co/db4INbVbgy

— 100T Boostio (@Boostio) January 8, 2024

100T Valorant has had very little success in the game even before the franchise model. The game has always eluded them and most of the time it’s not even the fault of the roster. Most of the time they lose their games due to minuscule mistakes. However, the current roster looks good as they gear up for VCT 2024.

Boostio on the other hand has gotten tons of experience in VCT 2023. Evil Geniuses started as a really weak team but eventually turned it around to become championship material. They were facing the likes of Paper Rex and DRX by the time Masters rolled around. That being said, let us take a look at the results for 100T and Boostio to see what magic they can make for the 2024 season.

100T Performance Last Year

100T Valorant had little success from the start of the franchising era. Their journey began at Red Bull Home Ground where they won the tournament against C9 3-0. However, that was the only taste of success or championship gold they had that year. 100T, after winning Red Bull Home Ground set their sights on VCT Lock In where their first match was against Fnatic. They lost quite cleanly against Fnatic, who went on a historic and dominant run that season.

During the regular season, 100T lost 5 out of their 9 matches and could not make Masters Tokyo. However, they did have a chance to qualify for Champions during the LCQ. However, they had to face Sentinels and if they lost, they were out of LCQ. They lost 1-2 and thus their official 2023 season ended. 100T also participated in the 2023 Red Bull Home Ground tournament. They had to face teams in a BO1 to qualify for the playoff stages.

100T beat Japanese Tier 2 Team SCARZ 13-7 but lost to DRX in the Playoff stages and were eliminated from the tournament. In addition, they were playing with a temporary substitute in the tournament in the form of Nicholas “NaturE” Garrison who previously played for Team SoloMid.

Boostio’s Road to VCT 2023 Victory

Boostio was instrumental to the success of Evil Geniuses in 2023. Starting the year, EG was undoubtedly the weakest team in Americas but as time went on, they improved and kept improving. When they luckily qualified for Masters Tokyo, they went on a fairy tale running, coming in second place in the entire tournament. Boostio’s primary role in the team was either playing a Sentinel or a Controller. He was responsible for some of the best clips and round conversions in matches.

Boostio’s performance in Masters was a thing of beauty but what was even more impressive was how he along with their coach, Christine ‘potter’ Chi crafted strategies to win against the best teams in the world. Qualifying for Champions, Boostio and his team were ready to win it all. They had the best teams playing against them including Paper Rex, LOUD, DRX, EDward Gaming, and more.

EG managed to beat all of them and went on to face Paper Rex in the Finals of Valorant Champions 2023. The match was close and both teams were evenly matched. However, Paper Rex let slip of the reigns after the fourth game and EG took over to win the trophy. It was North America’s victory after quite a while as the previous organization to win a Championship was OpTic back in 2022.

The Current 100T Roster and Expectations

100T removed two players from their roster. After the failure of the 2023 season, they got rid of Derrek ‘Derrek‘ Ha and Brenden ‘stellar‘ McGrath. Instead of both of them, 100T got Boostio and Daniel ‘eeiu‘ Vucenovic. The current roster for 100T is as follows:

• Kelden ‘Boostio‘ Pupello (IGL)
• Sean ‘bang’ Bezerra
• Peter ‘Asuna’ Mazuryk
• Matthew ‘Cryocells’ Panganiban
• Daniel ‘eeiu’ Vucenovic
• Anthony ‘Zikz’ Gray (Head Coach)

Eeiu has had tons of experience playing with different teams in North America. He first started in the T1 Academy and made his way to NRG. His 2023 Season was spent with Tier 2 North American giants in m80. They almost managed to qualify for Tier 1 Valorant but lost to The Guard who eventually backed out of the franchising system. Eeiu did not continue his journey with m80 and joined 100T just before Red Bull Home Ground.

100T Valorant is sure to upset a ton of teams. They have the star power to win great and with Boostio’s expertise in upsetting the best that Valorant has to offer, they are sure to do exactly that. In addition, Eeiu has been one of the best clutch players for m80. Cryocells was always a lethal Duelist and combined with Asuna and Bang’s flexibility, they are sure to perform better than last year. The teams this year look quite strong in comparison to last year. However, it all comes down to their performance.

It will be interesting to see where 100T Valorant ends up on the Americas ladder. The VCT Americas Kickoff tournament begins on February 16th.

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The designs for these bundles are gorgeous which prompts people to buy them. However, for the past few months, bundles have been getting more and more expensive. The community has pondered this question now and again when an expensive bundle releases, and this article tries to find out if Valorant Bundles are getting expensive every update?

Contents

• Are Valorant Bundles Getting More Expensive Every Update? An Analysis
• The Problem with Valorant Skins
• The Valorant Skins Rarity System
• The Most Expensive Bundles in Valorant
• How the Latest Kuronami Bundle Ranks Among the Bunch
• The Verdict

Are Valorant Bundles Getting More Expensive Every Update? An Analysis

Multiplayer gaming would not be the same without micro-transactions. Previously, we had games like Modern Warfare 2 with almost zero micro-transactions. Once you bought the full game you could enjoy it without spending more money. However, the curse of providing a free game is that the developers have to earn somehow. Besides, the only way to get an income from a free game is through micro-transactions.

Valorant is a fun game and what makes it more fun are the weapon skins. Having a skin is not a physical upgrade for the gun per se, it’s a psychological one. People feel more confident to take gunfights and the kill animations are satisfying to watch. However, seeing the appeal of the skins, is Riot increasing the prices slowly without the players realizing it?

The Problem with Valorant Skins

The single biggest problem with Valorant skins most of the audience has is getting an incomplete skin after buying it. How? Well, once you buy a skin, you will need to fully upgrade it with Radianite points which are hard to come by and are quite expensive if you want to buy them at the Store. To fully experience the VFX and SFX of the skin in glory, you will have to buy Radianite points or advance the free battle pass which is a long wait.

Why should players spend more money after buying the skin they paid full price for? Most people have argued that Riot should give fully upgraded skins from the get-go but that hasn’t reached a responsive ear from the developer. Aside from that, for the price of most of these skins, you can buy full games in online shops or pay for a gaming subscription.

The Valorant Skins Rarity System

If you are just here to play the game, then the skins don’t affect you. However, for the people who do like cosmetics, they can be rather expensive. Not only that, there is a rarity system to classify skins in certain sectors. Essentially, the rarer and more expensive the skin, the higher the tier of ranking. Let us see what the Rarity System is.

There are five different rarities in the game thus far for skins. They are:

• Select Edition: These skins have a blue circle and cost about $10 or 875VP per skin. A bundle costs around $41 or 2930/3500 VP give or take.
• Deluxe Edition: These skins have a green rhombus and cost about $16 or 1275VP per skin. A bundle costs around $62 or 5100 VP give or take.
• Premium Edition: These skins have a pink triangle that is upside down and cost about $23 or 1775VP per skin. A bundle costs around $82 or 7100 VP give or take.
• Ultra Edition: These skins have a yellow diamond and cost about $30 or 2475VP per skin. A bundle costs around $100+ or 9900 VP give or take.
• Exclusive Edition: These skins have an orange pentagon that is upside down. Their cost varies.

These prices are quite steep for the people who do not earn from the game i.e. for the folks who play casually after a busy day. For the streamers or pro players who depend on the game for their livelihood, it is a necessity most of the time to show off the bundle to their audience. However, it does not fit the pocket of every playing the game.

The Most Expensive Bundles in Valorant

We saw a rough classification of the bundles above. Now, let us take a look at some of the most expensive bundles we have seen in the game. The most memorable bundles in current times that were the most expensive ones were the Radiant Entertainment System bundle, the Elderflame, the Protocol 781-A, and the Zedd x Valorant bundle.

• Radiant Entertainment System: This bundle had a Bulldog, a Ghost, a Melee, an Operator, and a Phantom. It costs 11,900 VP or $100+.
• The Elderflame: This bundle has a Frenzy, a Judge, an Operator, a Vandal, and a Melee. It costs around 9900 VP which is roughly $95.
• Protocol 781-A: This bundle has a Bulldog, a Sheriff, a Spectre, a Phantom, and a Melee. It costs the same as the Elderflame.
• Zedd x Valorant: This bundle has a Bulldog, a Classic, a Guardian, a Phantom, and a Melee. It costs 10,700 VP which is more than the cost of the Elderflame bundle at $100.

How the Latest Kuronami Bundle Ranks Among the Bunch

NEW Kuronami Vandal Animations + All Variants | #VALORANT pic.twitter.com/mildn0D5ra

— Valorant Updates (@ValorantUpdated) January 4, 2024

The latest Kuronami Bundle has gotten the community hyped due to how it functions, sounds, and changes the environment after the final kill. However, it is also the same price as the other expensive skins. It is just shy of the price of the Elderflame bundle coming in at 9500 VP or $95 roughly.

Each weapon skin will cost the players around 2375 VP. The bundle will feature a Vandal, a Sheriff, a Marshal, a Spectre, and a Melee along with some other cosmetics like sprays, gun buddies, and a player card.

The Verdict

The Verdict is that Valorant Skins are too expensive for the casual player to buy in this economy. And yes, they are getting increasingly expensive as the buying ceiling of the skins increases. We started with the Elderflame being the most expensive and ended with the Radiant Entertainment System which is the same price as buying two different games without a discount.

However, their vanity and look cause the players to invest in it regardless of the size of their wallets. At the end of the day, Riot has to earn a living through a free game somehow. The best option they have is cosmetics.

Although seeing the price patterns of the skins increase in recent times, we are not far from the days where players will have empty wallets and skins without SFX or VFX because they did not have enough left over to upgrade them.

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