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Category: Valorant

How To Watch VALORANT First Strike – EU & NA

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

Tomorrow, we’ll be seeing the North American and European VALORANT First Strike events kicking off. The events feature the top 8 teams from each region competing in a regional-based event.

Tournament’s background 

First Strike will be the first ever event to be hosted & produced by Riot Games. And similarly to the Ignition Series events, it will feature the best teams and players from all over the world. First Strike will be offering multiple regional Finals taking place across North America, Europe, CIS, Turkey, Asia, Oceania, Brazil, and the Middle East.

How to qualify for the main event

The teams participating in VALORANT First Strike had to go through a long series of qualifiers and qualifying events. In North America for example, some teams passed through via the UMG tournament, whereas some qualified through the NSG tournament. Europe had a similar format, as they had 2 overall main qualifiers and 4 teams passed through each one.

VAL FS Cover Art C Banner
Credits: Riot Games

Prize distribution

The total prize pool amount to be distributed is of $200,000 USD between both events ($100,000 each). Here below is a list of how the prize money is to be spread for both tournaments:

  • 1st – $40,000
  • 2nd – $20,000
  • 3rd-4th – $10,000
  • 5th-8th – $5,000

VALORANT First Strike – Tournament format

  • Event is set to be in a single Elimination bracket
  • All matches except Grand Final are Best of 3
  • Grand Final is Best of 5 

Teams Participating

Europe

  • G2 Esports
  • Team Liquid
  • FunPlus Phoenix
  • SUMN FC
  • Nolpenki
  • Orgless
  • Purple Cobras
  • Team Heretics
LLiquiepdia e
Credits: Liquipedia

North America

  • Team Envy
  • 100 Thieves
  • Sentinels
  • Renegades
  • TSM
  • FaZe Clan
  • T1
  • Immortals
Loqiodspedia e
Credits: Liquipedia

VALORANT First Strike – Schedule list

Here are the first few matches of VALORANT First Strike:

Europe – December 3rd, 2020

  • 16:30 CET – Team Liquid vs Team Heretics
  • 19:00 CET – G2 Esports vs Orgless

North America – December 3rd/4th, 2020

  • 21:00 CET – Envy vs Immortals
  • 00:00 CET – Renegades vs TSM

Streaming platform list

For North America, matches will stream on the official VALORANT NA Esports twitch channel. European matches on the other hand will be getting streamed on the VALORANT EU Esports twitch channel. The European event will also be available in German, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Twitch
Credits: Riot Games

Watch the VALORANT First Strike live stream on esportsguide.com

You can also watch the VALORANT First Strike 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.

VALORANT First Strike

Predictions

With VALORANT First Strike being the biggest VALORANT esports event so far, it’s going to be very hard to predict which teams out of all will be grabbing the win in their region. That being said, if we had to go with past results as a basis on our predictions, we would have to say that TSM would probably grab the win for North America, and that G2 would win in Europe.

Be sure to keep yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!

Johnta joining FPX as VALORANT coach

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

FunPlus Phoenix have just announced that former CS:GO coach Johnta will be joining FPX as a VALORANT coach. Here is their announcement:

Johnta joining FPX as VALORANT coach – Who is he?

33-year old Ivan “Johnta” Shevtsov has had a long history of coaching in CS:GO. A short list of teams he has coached in the past: FlipSid3 Tactics, HellRaisers, Tyloo, Winstrike, and CR4ZY. By far, his most successful team is HellRaisers. Here are some of their best results with Johnta:

  • 3rd-4th at V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest in 2018 – 25th March 2018 – $61,790.35
  • 1st at Season 1 of Best.net Masters –  8th April 2018 – $50,000
  • 5th-6th at EPL Season 6 Finals – 8th December 2017 – $45,000
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Credits: Dreamhack

What will this mean for the current VALORANT roster?

As it stands, according to VLR.GG, the FPX VALORANT squad is currently ranked at 2nd in Europe. With Johnta’s experience and guidance, the team is destined to improve its performance, and hopefully, topple G2’s dominance heading into future VALORANT events.

Screenshot
Credits: VLR.gg

With VALORANT’s esports scene expanding, it’s good to see that the top VALORANT teams are also now acquiring coaches to solidify their results at events. With First Strike just around the corner, Johnta will be paramount to FPX’s success. We’ll just have to wait and see how they eventually adapt through and improve before the important time comes.

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Credits: Dreamhack

Be sure to keep yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!

Riot Games announce VALORANT Champions Tour

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

Riot Games have just revealed their plans for the future of VALORANT esports. They have announced that  the VALORANT Champions Tour which will be their main esports system heading into 2021. In this article we’ll be going over everything you need to know about the VALORANT Champions Tour.

What is the VALORANT Champions Tour?

The Champions Tour is the next system for VALORANT esports as its goal is to expand the competition calendar. This means that there will be more opportunities for current established teams, as well as underdog teams that haven’t had their proper shot just yet.

How does it work?

With regards to the VALORANT Champions Tour structure, it will feature 3 different stages, Challengers, Masters, and Champions.

VCT
Credits: Riot Games

Format

The Challengers stage will feature regional-based events, as we’ve previously seen with the Ignition Series. All of these regional events will feature and contribute to a qualification path for the next stage which is the VALORANT Masters Stage.

The Masters Stage will happen only 3 times per year, and it will feature teams that best represent their region. This will be based on the points they gather throughout the open qualifiers of the challenger events. As mentioned in their announcement, the Masters and Challengers stages will be restricted to regional competition due to travel restrictions of the pandemic.

VCT
Credits: Riot Games

Lastly, we have the Champions stage, is going to be the end-of-year major event. The Champions stage consists of a 2-week long tournament with the best 16 teams from around the world.

Teams

Unfortunately, very few teams from each region will be heading to the VALORANT Champions stage. As only 12 teams will be qualifying through Masters. Whereas the other 4 teams that qualify will go through the last chance qualifier. This is how the teams will be distributed:

VCT
Credits: Riot Games

Be sure to keep yourself updated on www.esporstguide.com for more esports news!

VALORANT First Strike Europe – Preview

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

This weekend we saw the concluding stages of the final play-in for the VALORANT First Strike Europe event. In this article we’ll be headlining which teams to look out for, and what you need to know about the event.

VALORANT First Strike Europe – Preview

In the past 2 weeks, we had the best of the best teams in Europe competing against each other in a best of 1 bracket all-throughout until the playoffs. Unfortunately, not all the high rated teams have managed to make it out. As to get into the main event every team had to pass through the open qualifier. Here are the teams that passed through:

  • G2 Esports
  • Team Liquid
  • FunPlus Phoenix
  • SUMN FC
  • Nolpenki
  • Prodigy
  • Purple Cobras
  • Team Heretics
Teams e
Credits: Liquipedia

Some of the most notable teams are G2, Team Liquid, and FPX. They have been the most dominant rosters in the past and they are definitely the favourites heading into the main event.

Underdog potential

Team Heretics has been on the rise ever since the roster was formed, but unfortunately never had that big event to show it off, maybe First Strike is where they can show their potential. A team that no one expected would pass through would be the international roster of Purple Cobras. The team has upset the Ninjas In Pyjamas, and is definitely a contender for the VALORANT First Strike event.

Format:

Format wise the event will feature a single bracket which will consist of best of 3 matches (Grand Finals in bo5).

VAL FS Cover Art C Banner
Credits: Riot Games

Prize Pool

There is a total of €85,000 EUR when it comes to prize money. And it is meant to be distributed between all 8 teams participating in the main event. This is how it will be spread:

  • 1st – €30,000
  • 2nd – €17,000
  • 3rd-4th – €10,100
  • 5th-6th – €5,500
  • 7th-8th – €3,400

The event is will be starting on the 3rd of December, and end on the 6th.

So make sure you keep yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!

Guild Esports disqualified from EU First Strike Playoffs

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

Riot Games have released a statement which stated that Guild Esports are disqualified from EU First Strike Playoffs due to an in-game bug exploitation. Here is their statement:

Guild Esports disqualified from EU First Strike Playoffs – What was the Exploit?

In their final match of the closed qualifiers (Just before the Quarter Finals), Guild Esports faced off Europe’s best team, G2 esports in a best of one. The map picked was Ascent, and according to many, G2 was the favourite heading into the match. 

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Credits: VLR.gg

The match started out strongly for the Swedish lineup as they took the half by storm; however in round 12, Guild intended on using an exploit to gain an unfair advantage over G2. The bug involved Killjoy’s signature ability (Turret) and Sage’s Wall to create an extended boost over Ascent’s B Main. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, this is how the bug looks like:

Here is G2 Pyth’s POV, dying to the Turret + Wall Boost:

Guild Esports went on to win the match 13-10, confident that they took down the best team in Europe, and advanced through to the playoffs. 

Here is what Guild Esports had to say about their disqualification:

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Guild’s Statement
Credits: Guild Esports

Guild Esports disqualified from EU First Strike Playoffs – What will this mean for them?

Guild’s use of the Killjoy turret and Sage Wall certainly shook the VALORANT scene, as something like this had never happened before. A few days after the ban, Guild Esports are now memeing the disqualification and participating in the third European First Strike qualifier. 

Make sure you don’t miss out on any of the action by keeping yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com! 

Pittsburgh Knights announce VALORANT roster

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

The Pittsburgh Knights have opted to announce their newest VALORANT roster. Here is their announcement video below:

Pittsburgh Knights announce VALORANT roster – Who did they sign?

To enter VALORANT, the Pittsburgh Knights picked up the “Destined” squad. This team consists of: Timothy “frostyZK”  Ly, Damion “XXiF” Cook, Ronald “ronaldo” Mach, Terry “dsr” Rioux, Anthony “dawn” Hagopian. The team has recently found some success, as they won both VGA Fight Night 1, as well as Mount Phenom Zero. The squad is still very new and fresh when it comes to the highest level of VALORANT, however, we can definitely expect this team to do big things soon.

What’s next for the Pittsburgh Knights?

The team has already established some solid results in the past few weeks. One of the results that stand out most is their placement at the First Strike NSG Closed Qualifier. They had played insanely well all tournament long, until they met the most recent VALORANT champions, Team Envy. This goes to show that this team is here to stay, and that it will definitely be a team to look out in the near future.

Be sure to keep yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!

Envy win NSG First Strike Closed Qualifiers

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

Team Envy have shown once more that they are one of the best VALORANT teams in their region, as they dominate North America to win NSG First Strike Closed Qualifiers.

Finals Standings

  • 1st – Team Envy – Seed at First Strike
  • 2nd – 100 Thieves – Seed at First Strike
  • 3rd-4th – Renegades – Seed at First Strike
  • 3rd-4th – Sentinels – Seed at First Strike
  • 5th – Cloud9 Blue – Seed at UMG tournament
  • 6th – Complexity Gaming – Seed at UMG tournament
  • 7th – T1 – Seed at UMG tournament
  • 8th – TSM – Seed at UMG tournament
  • 9th – Luminosity Gaming
  • 10th – Gen.G Esports
  • 11th – Dignitas
  • 12th – The Slimy Boogermen
  • 13th – XSET
  • 14th – Equinox Esports
  • 15th – Spot Up
  • 13th-16th – Built By Gamers

How did they do it?

Group Stage

With regards to their group, Team Envy were placed in one of the most challenging groups in the entire event. They had teams like Sentinels, Dignitas, as well as Spot Up in Group C. Despite their tough opponents, Team Envy clutched it out, ending the group stage with a 2-1 scoreline, only losing once to Sentinels.

Playoffs

Then, in the playoffs, they were matched up versus Complexity, which had recently made some questionable changes to their lineup. This came in favor of Envy as they took down CoL in dominant fashion, winning the series 2-0. This progressed the team in the Semifinals, where they met the incredible Renegades roster. In this series, Renegades only managed to take one map (Ascent) which was a very close match as it ended 13-11. The rest of the series was again, just another dominant showing by Envy as they win both matches 13-4, 13-3 respectively.

Screenshot
Credits: Envy

Finals

With their amazing performance at the NSG First Strike Closed Qualifiers, Envy managed to reach the Grand Finals with no challenging obstacles. However, this time round they were against a much different 100 Thieves. With their recent additions of Diceyzx and Asuna, the team has grown much stronger, capable of beating both TSM and Sentinels, 2 of many rivals that Envy has. Heading into the series it was predicted to be a very spicy one; however, it was not meant to be. Envy took the series with a clean 3-0 to win the NSG First Strike Closed Qualifiers. Here is how the series ended:

100 Thieves’ disappointing result

It was a very disappointing showing from 100 Thieves in the end, but obviously we have to look at the positives. The roster is looking way more refined and collected, not to mention, they have some great aimers on the squad. What’s next is to keep on practicing as much as they can until the First Strike event officially begins, which is due next month.

What’s next for Envy?

It seems like Envy’s most recent additions of Crashies and Food have contributed greatly to the team’s success. Hopefully for the squad and the organization, they will keep up their performance and continue to dominate when it matters most.

Be sure to keep yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!

VALORANT map BIND Tutorial

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

Bind is one of the first maps of 2 maps that were released, and is a popular map to many. In this featured article we’ll be going over a basic tutorial of the map, with some tips and tricks depending on the agent you’re using.

Reveal ReactorA VALORANT
Credits: Riot Games

Introduction to BIND

Bind, codenamed “duality’ is set on a sandy piece of land, somewhere in Morocco. It has a standard layout with 2 bomb sites, but, with a small twist. Bind features 2 portals on the map, which can be used to travel faster to another side of the map. One of the portals is placed next to A short, whereas another is placed towards B Long. These portals can be used by both sides, for many different reasons. Whether it be escaping from a fight, or engaging onto an enemy, the portals are very efficient at doing any type of job that requires fast transportation. Here below is an image of both portals.

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A Short portal, leading to B Short portal.
B Portal e
B Long portal, leading to A Lobby

Map Callouts 

Most of Bind’s callouts are quite easy to remember as the map does not have too many complex areas. Some callouts that can be found on Bind are: Hookah (Window), Bath (Shower), Short, Long and Portal. Here below is an image showing all the callouts on Bind.

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Map Callouts

Bind Tutorial – Ultimate Orbs

There are only 2 ultimate orbs on Bind, one placed on B Long, whereas the other is located at the entrance of A Bathrooms. The B Long ultimate orb can be easily snatched by the defensive side as it is quite close to the Buy zone border, however it might be risky if the enemy team is packed with utility. The other ult orb is in a much more neutral position, as both sides have to advance almost equally and meet each other at the same exact time. This means that if you’re going to risk your life for the ultimate orb on A Bathrooms, make sure you have a strong weapon and you’re ready to fight. Here below are images of both Ult orbs:

Screenshot
A Bathrooms ultimate orb
Screenshot
B Long ultimate orb

Bind Tutorial – Best agents

Bind, being a very standard map suits several agents of the current agent pool. However, if one had to go in detail on which agents were to be prioritized, one would come to a conclusion that agents with smokes are the most valuable. Secondly, information is vital on this map, especially due to the portals. This is where Sentinels like Cypher and Killjoy come in handy. Thirdly, due to many angles on the map having a short distance, flashes are a must, and this is why Initiators are incredibly important on a map like Bind.

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Credits: Riot Games

Brimstone

Brimstone is useful for many things, most notably his 3 smokes. His Sky Smokes can be utilized extremely well on both bomb sites, as he can cover the general positions in those areas. Here below are the best smokes to place when executing onto a bomb site, for both A and B.

Breach / Omen / Raze

Hookah is one of the most important locations on Bind. Having control of such a position is vital to hold rotations, as well as engage onto the B bomb site. Here are some easy tips and tricks on how to take control of Hookah:

Bind Tutorial – Tips & Tricks

Omen

Omen’s shadow walk is efficient to gain an aerial advantage, however, that’s not the only reason why it’s useful. In the tip below you can see that Omen’s short teleport can be tricky with portals to fake a portal onto another destination.

Jett

As you may know, Jett is extremely talented at getting into high places. Here below is a tip that can be used to get an early advantage on your opponent.

If you enjoyed this Bind tutorial, make sure you check out our previous VALORANT map tutorial on Icebox, which has just been released! Be sure to stay tuned to www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!

Guild esports enter VALORANT with Bonk roster acquisition

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

David Beckham’s very own Guild esports has announced that it will enter VALORANT. The roster they have picked out is the all-swedish Bonk roster which are currently placed 4th on the VLR.GG rankings. Here is their announcement:

Guild esports enter VALORANT with Bonk roster – Who did they pick up?

The swedish roster is made up of players that have a CS:GO and Paladins background. The majority of the roster (Yacine, Draken, Leo, & Goffe) whereas Bonkar came from a small game called Paladins.

Rankings
Credits: VLR

Draken has had the most experience as a professional player by far, as he was a pro CS:GO player for about 4 years when he joined Epsilon, and then moved on to Ninjas In Pyjamas and had the most success.

Yacine on the other hand has never been considered as a professional player, but has played at the highest level of Counter-Strike due to the Faceit Pro League. Same goes for Leo and Goffe, as they had some professional matches, but never landed a proper career in CS:GO.

Bonkar has been considered as one of the best players in Paladins, after winning the Paladins World Championship in 2019. Not only that, but his team had several great placements all year round in 2019. When VALORANT got released, Bonkar made the switch and initially joined the main Ninjas In Pyjamas roster, but unfortunately his stay was not very long due to disappointing results.

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Credits: Guild Esports

Why is this big news?

Guild esports as an organization is still in its infancy in comparison to the other teams that are competing in an esport title such as VALORANT. This is mostly exciting because alot of funds and investments are going into this organization, and for them to pick up a VALORANT roster instead of a CS roster is certainly a clear sign that they think Riot Games’ FPS will be bigger in the long run.

Be sure to stay tuned to www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!

PaiN gaming announce VALORANT roster

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

PaiN gaming have just released a short video to announce their VALORANT roster. Here is the announcement below:

As indicated in the tweet above, paiN’s roster will consist of the following:

Players:

Coach:

PaiN gaming announce VALORANT roster – Who did they pick up?

PaiN had already announced the signings of both murizzz and ole back in June, so why did they take so long to sort out the entire roster? It is worth mentioning that all the players above were already together on the NOORG 2.0 roster. 

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Image of Murizzz
Credits: Blizzard

In the meantime, the already signed players (murizzz and ole) were standing-in for the NOORG 2.0 squad for a couple of events. Most notably, Copa Rakin #2 which took place 2 weeks ago. The team was super successful at the event as they got a solid 2nd place at the event, and sealed the deal for the management of paiN gaming.

PaiN
NOORG places 2nd
Credits: Liquipedia

What’s next for paiN?

We’ve already seen the strength of Brazil and LATAM as a region in VALORANT, so it will be very interesting to see how these players develop in the coming months, especially when First Strike is just around the corner.

Be sure to keep yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!