Ian “tex” Botsch is an American VALORANT professional player which started his career last July. He first joined team Prospects, and then went on to play for Adaptation. Now he has parted ways with Equinox Esports to pursue a more professional career with prestigious American organization NRG.
Why add Tex?
As you may have seen online, former NRG member Shanks has parted ways with the team. With that in mind, multiple sources suggest that Tex will be the 6th man on the team. In the meantime, Tex will replace Infinite as he’s stepped into an inactive role within the roster.
With this addition, this is how the full NRG lineup is looking like:
Players:
Daniel “eeiu” Vucenovic
Sam “s0m” Oh
Bradley “ANDROID” Fodor
Ian “tex” Botsch
Damian “daps” Steele
Inactive:
Gage “Infinite” Green
Coach:
Chet “Chet” Singh
What’s next?
NRG entered VALORANT back in October of 2020, and since then it’s been a total rollercoaster of roster changes. Their best results so far were a single 1st place, and then a couple of 5-6th, and 7-8th placements. Getting these results is certainly not a good look for the organization meaning that a change was inevitable. Only time will tell if they’ve finally found the golden key with Tex.
Until then, be sure to keep yourself updated with all the important esports news by tuning into www.esportsguide.com!
Today, the VCT 2021 Game Changers NA Series 1 event is kicking off. This is going to be an epic brawl between some of the top female teams in VALORANT. Here’s everything you need to know about it, and how to watch it.
Introducing #VCTGameChangers: a new program creating new opportunities and exposure for women and other marginalized genders within VALORANT esports. pic.twitter.com/oFhV6Ba2a9
All of the teams that qualified for the VCT 2021 Game Changers NA Series 1 got their spot through the open qualifiers hosted between the 19th and 21st of March. Every team that placed in the top 8 got a spot in the main event.
Prize distribution for VCT 2021 Game Changers
The prize pool for this event is set to be at $50,000 in total. It is to be spread out with each participating team, from 1st till 8th. Here is the prize pool distribution list:
1st – $20,000
2nd – $10,000
3rd – $7,000
4th – $5,000
5th-6th – $3,000
7th-8th – $1,000
Tournament Format
The tournament follows a very simple format, as a Double-elimination bracket is used. Every single match in the tournament is a best of 3, including the Grand Final. If you still don’t understand how the format works, watch the video below for more details:
Teams Participating at VCT 2021 Game Changers
A total of 8 teams are taking part in this event. Here is a list of all the teams participating:
Moon Racoons Black
Cloud9 White
CLG Red
Dignitas Female
TSM Female
Watch This
OWA OWA
Man I Love Fwogs
Credits: Liquipedia
Schedule list
The event is kicking off tonight, the 25th of March, and continue playing out till the end of the weekend, on the 28th. Here’s a brief run down of the first few matches for the event:
Watch the VCT 2021 Game Changers stream on esportsguide.com
You can also watch the VCT 2021 Game Changers live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
With so many talented female teams on the horizon, predicting the winner is quite a tough task. That being said, we know that Cloud9 have been the strongest so far. During the qualifiers they also took down both OWA OWA and TSM Female, two teams which are participating in the main event. Dignitas Female and CLG Red are also solid contestants but only time will tell as to which team will come out on top.
Be sure to keep yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com for all your esports news!
Yesterday, Riot Games released a statement against 100 Thieves and fined them $5,000 for an extensive broadcast delay during VCT Stage 1 Masters. Here’s everything you need to know:
— VALORANT Champions Tour NA (@valesports_na) March 23, 2021
100 Thieves fined $5,000 – Why?
During the match between 100 Thieves and Immortals, the 100T roster delayed the start of the match due to unfair competitive integrity. The main concern was that Immortals would have lower ping than 100T, and that would cause a massive disruption during the gameplay of the match. 100 Thieves Head Coach Hector “FrosT” Rosario was outraged by the match administrator and said:
“If you DC us, you are in a bigger shitstorm than we are.”
100 Thieves’ reaction
100 Thieves saw the statement from Riot, and immediately answered back. They addressed their own side of the story, along with the explanation of the unprofessional behaviour from coach FrosT. Here is their statement:
Credits: 100 Thieves
To add onto this, 100 Thieves released video footage of their VALORANT coach and team, fighting for what they believed to be injustice. Here is the video below:
The biggest question at the end of the day is, which side are you going to lean on? Do you side with Riot Games because 100 Thieves were unprofessional? Or go with 100 Thieves as they fought for their right to having a solid server to compete in? Nevertheless, 100 Thieves are still charged the $5,000 and their coach is still on probation.
According to rumours, TenZ is currently interested in staying with Sentinels after their dominant victory at the North American VCT Stage 1 Masters. Here is everything you need to know about it:
TenZ interested in staying with Sentinels – How do we know?
Yesterday during Michael “Dapr” Gulino’s stream, the Sentinels player revealed that while the situation isn’t in any of the player’s control, TenZ has shown interest that he wants to continue competing under the Sentinels squad. Dapr goes on to say that the main concern is between both orgs, Sentinels and Cloud9.
TenZ’s Origins in VALORANT
Originally, TenZ represented Cloud9 as one of its main members, however he had lost his motivation to compete after consecutive 2nd placements. Now with Sentinels after a 2-month long break from competition, he has brought the team one of its biggest achievements.
Credits: BLAST
TenZ would be daft to say that he no longer wishes to compete, especially after his biggest win in VALORANT. He helped Sentinels regain its dominant form, whilst also cashing in a portion of that $60,000 he won.
We can expect an announcement coming out of Cloud9 and Sentinels real soon. Hopefully the deal eventually goes through, and we get to see TenZ competing regularly once again!
This weekend we saw the first ever VALORANT Masters event. Here we had the best teams in their respective regions battling it all out for one of the most prestigious titles in the esport. Here’s our VCT Stage 1 Masters (North American and Europe) Recap.
— VALORANT Champions Tour EU (@valesports_eu) March 21, 2021
Acend’s journey in VCT Stage 1 Masters Europe
Starting with Europe, we had quite a bit of an upset happen. Who would’ve thought that this mix of European players would take down the former champs, along with a couple of other notable names in the scene?
Acend kicked it off with a 2nd placement in group A, taking down Ballista Esports, as well as Ninjas In Pyjamas. With this result they finished 2nd with a 2-1 scoreline, and qualified to the playoffs of the VCT Stage 1 Masters.
In the playoffs they matched against the fearsome Funplus Phoenix squad. FPX won the first map (13-7 on Bind) but Acend replied back with 2 wins of their own. It’s worth mentioning that the series was very close, and the final map (Icebox) went to 14-12 as its final score.
— VALORANT Champions Tour EU (@valesports_eu) March 20, 2021
Grand Finals
With this Victory, Acend progressed to the Grand Finals versus the Heretics lineup, the same team that pulled off an upset in First Strike. Heretics won the first map (Split) 13-8, and Acend tied it all with a 13-9 win on Bind. Team Heretics replied once more with a win on Haven (13-9), and Icebox was once again, in favour of the Acend roster. The 5th and final map was Ascent, and what a map to end the series on. In the end, it went to the final round of the match, finishin 13-11 in favour of Acend. This is how it all ended:
What about North America?
North America had a bit of a Cinderella story with the Sentinels squad winning it all. First and foremost, the team was already down 1 man due to current investigations going on with Sinatraa. This meant that the team had to opt for a rapid stand-in with TenZ moving on from Cloud9 as a full time streamer, onto this talented Sentinels lineup.
They started it all with a 2-1 victory over Luminosity Gaming in the Quarterfinals. After this win, they were up against the new and reformed 100 Thieves lineup. Despite 100T being the favourites, the Sentinels took them down seamlessly with a 13-2 victory on Ascent, and a 16-14 win on Haven.
Credits: Riot Games
Then came the strong FaZe Clan roster in the Upper Bracket Final. At first, they seemed like a competent challenger, but in the end, they weren’t. Sentinels won both maps (Icebox 13-5, Haven 13-8), and slotted themselves in the Grand Finals.
Grand Finals
FaZe Clan quickly rebounded from their Upper Bracket Final loss, as they won 2-0 versus Gen.G in the losers bracket. This meant that the Grand Finals was going to play out with a rematch between NA’s strongest titans in VALORANT. Despite a promising comeback from FaZe, they just couldn’t compete with TenZ and the Sentinels. They won the series with a clean 3-0, and with it, $60,000 and the VCT Stage 1 Masters NA trophy.
— VALORANT Champions Tour NA (@valesports_na) March 21, 2021
Concluding thoughts
It’s definitely surprising to see that Acend pulled off the unexpected to come out victorious in Europe. Same goes for Sentinels, with such a quick adaptation to their newest member TenZ. It’s worth mentioning that the only map this Sentinels roster lost during the event, was the Split matchup versus Luminosity, early on in the tournament. Time and time again we’re seeing new story lines emerge within this VALORANT competitive scene, and we just can’t wait for more.
TSM signing female roster for VALORANT – Who did they sign?
As stated in their announcement tweet, TSM are bringing on: Catherine “Cath” Leroux, Katherine “LunarKats” So, Emily “mle” Peters, Zoe “Zoe” Servais, and Mirna “Athxna” Noureldin. For the most part, these players have never been together on the same team. However, LunarKats and Athxna have played alongside each other on the Silhouette lineup. All of these female athletes have immense potential and will certainly deal some damage in their upcoming tournaments.
This is what Andy “Reginald” Dinh, founder and CEO of TSM had to say about the signing:
“This team represents the core values of TSM. We wanted the best players to build out our competitive VALORANT presence – and we found them. Cath is a veteran leader who has shown clear dominance in various matches since 2017. Athxna shows real prowess as an in-game leader, and with the raw skill that LunarKats, mle, and Zoe possess, I see huge potential for this team.”
We’ve already witnessed TSM’s success in VALORANT with their male roster, and hopefully we’ll be seeing them dominate on the female side of things as well. Their first tournament will be the VCT Game Changers Series I open qualifiers on the 19th of March.
It’s definitely interesting to see that Riot Games are pushing forward with creating a space for female esports athletes. Even though it might just be North America for now, it’s definitely a start for all females interested in competing in VALORANT sometime soon.
Cloud9 parting ways with Vice from VALORANT – Why?
In the main announcement the main reason for parting ways was not mentioned, but Cloud9’s disappointing results have been very evident lately. With the team not even making it into Challengers 3, they lost all hope to reach the Stage 1 Masters.
Credits: DreamHack
Daniel “Vice” Kim was one of the initial members of the original Cloud9 Blue roster. He’s been through the best and worst moments with the C9 team, but now he’s looking to find a new home where he can hopefully find more success.
This is what Vice had to say about the departure:
“My time with C9 has come to an end. I’ll always cherish the times and connections with my former teammates and staff. Moving forward, I am now a free agent and still hungry to compete.”
With Cloud9 recently announcing Poiz as their 6th member on the team, the lineup should already be comfortable with each other. Now they need to focus on fixing their mistakes and upping their performance before the next step in the VALORANT Champions Tour.
American organisation CLG has announced that it is entering the female VALORANT scene with Benita as the roster’s first member and captain. Here’s everything you need to know about it:
As mentioned in their article, CLG initially created the CLG Red brand to “provide a space for women in competitive esports”. This was immensely impactful in the CS:GO community, where CLG remained as the best team when it came to female esports. Now they’re interested in doing the same thing in another esports title, VALORANT.
Who is Benita?
28-year-old Benita Novshadian started her esports career in Counter-Strike back in 2011. She then moved on to CS:GO and was widely renowned as one of the World’s best female competitors. Most of her career has been spent under the CLG Red brand, and she will continue to represent them in VALORANT.
Credits: DreamHack
This is what Benita had to say about the news:
“I’m so honored and proud to be the in-game leader and captain of this new project. It’s a dream to have multiple games within the Red brand.”
In recent female only events we’ve seen quite a decent amount of organizations and teams getting into the scene. Most recently we’ve had Cloud9 joining in with the Cloud9 White female roster, and before that, Dignitas’ team. It’s certainly going to grow in the coming future and we can’t wait for more organizations to get involved.
This past weekend we saw the beginning of the regional VCT Stage 1 Masters. Unfortunately, we’ve already got 2 eliminated teams from both Europe and North America. Here’s how it all went wrong for these teams.
Eliminated teams at VCT Stage 1 Masters Europe
Ballista Esports
Starting off with group A of the EU VCT, we had Ballista Esports, a talented Polish squad which upset Fnatic in order to qualify. Their initial match was against the European champions, Team Heretics. Despite a very close series, Heretics came out on top and won 2-0. Then in their 2nd series of the tournament, Ballista went up against Acend, and it wasn’t a pretty match for the Poles. Acend took the series win with a 13-1 victory on Icebox, as well as a 13-3 win on Bind.
— VALORANT Champions Tour EU (@valesports_eu) March 14, 2021
Alliance
Alliance was the unfortunate team to get eliminated in Group B. They had a tough first series versus the French Dfuse Team as they lost 13-11 on Ascent, and 13-4 on Split. In the match between the losers, Alliance played against the Swedish Guild Esports roster. The matches went the full distance as they reached the 3rd map, however Guild was stronger, and Alliance were eliminated.
Credits: Alliance
Eliminated teams at the North American VCT Stage 1 Masters
XSET
XSET were unfortunate in their intial match-up of the tournament. This is because they were versus FaZe Clan. XSET were taken down in absolute dominant fashion by the reds. After that loss, they dropped in the losers bracket versus Gen.G, and despite a close couple of matches, the Yellows and Blacks reigned supreme.
— VALORANT Champions Tour NA (@valesports_na) March 13, 2021
Immortals
Immortals on the other hand, started their tournament versus the dominant 100 Thieves. As you could’ve expected it wasn’t an easy match for them, and 100 Thieves won the series 2-0. After getting dropped into the losers bracket, they played against Luminosity Gaming’s newest players. Immortals won the first map, but the two that followed didn’t go their way.
American organization Sentinels has announced that they are bringing on Tenz to opt and replace in Sinatraa ’s place for the VCT Stage 1 Masters. Here’s everything you need to know about it:
We're happy to announce that @TenZOfficial will be joining Sentinels to compete in Masters Stage 1.
Sentinels bringing on Tenz to replace Sinatraa – Why?
If you haven’t been paying attention to twitter or reddit lately, then you’re probably out of the blue on what’s been going on. Jay “Sinatraa” Won’s ex-girlfriend has recently published a statement directed at and referring to Sinatraa. The statement included multiple instances of sexual and mental abuse, and is a very bad look for Sinatraa. If you haven’t taken a look yet, here is a link to Cleo’s statement:
“I apologize to Cleo and regret how things ended, but I never assaulted her in any way. I am fully cooperating with the investigations and providing the full audio and video clips Cleo referenced in her post.”
— VALORANT Champions Tour NA (@valesports_na) March 10, 2021
Why is this big news?
A few weeks back, Tenz announced his break from competitive play to pursue a career in full-time streaming. It is very exciting to not only see him return to competitive play, but represent a different and more dominant team. Tenz was Cloud9’s first signed VALORANT player. He stuck with the main Cloud9 Blue lineup till the very beginning of 2021, and during his stay, the team only managed to get 2nd and 3rd placements.
Really excited to play with the rest of the sentinels squad, let’s spice up this tourney a bit!
Despite the bad news which resulted in this roster change, this is huge news for the VALORANT scene. This is also big news for all of the hardcore Tenz fans that have been eager to see him returning to the competitive scene again. Tenz will be helping the Sentinels get through the VCT Stage 1 Masters this weekend.
