With Valorant officially launched worldwide, many esports organizations are now completing their Valorant rosters and waiting for the game’s first official tournaments to prove themselves.
But which teams will rule the nascent Valorant esports scene? Here’s what we think:
1. T1
T1’s Valorant squad is absolutely stacked with talent. Headlining the roster are talented but exiled CS:GO players, Braxton “brax” Pierce and Keven “AZK” Lariviere, who were both given lifetime bans from Valve due to a match-fixing scandal.
However, both players see Valorant as a fresh start, and performed exceptionally well during the closed beta with the duo winning the 100 Thieves Invitational, the T1 Invitational, the Code Green Invitational, and placing second in the ESPN Invitational and T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Invitational with a variety of different teammates.
The organization recently completed its roster with CS:GO pro and former ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 champion, Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham, who was a highly sought-after free agent during the closed beta period.
T1 Roster:
- Braxton “brax” Pierce
- Keven “AZK” Lariviere
- Austin “crashies” Roberts
- Victor “food” Wong
- Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham
- Daniel “fRoD” Montaner (coach)
2. Prodigy
Prodigy is a European esports representation agency that formed its own Valorant squad during the closed beta. It won the Fnatic Proving Grounds tournament, and Take the Throne #1, and Take the Throne #2 tournaments.
The team is headlined by two former CS:GO superstars, Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom, and Oscar “mixwell” Cañellas Colocho. The team also recently added Adam “ec1s” Eccles and Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks from British squad, fish123, who were one of the most promising unsigned squads in the closed beta.
Prodigy Roster:
- Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom
- Oscar “mixwell” Cañellas Colocho
- Adam “ec1s” Eccles
- Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks
3. Gen.G Esports
Gen.G Esports is an organization based out of the United States and South Korea. It picked up a Canadian stack of ex-CS:GO players under the name FRENCH CANADIANS. Along with Prodigy, Gen.G is the only other squad to beat brax and AZK in a closed beta tournament, defeating them in the grand final of the T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Invitational.
Gen.G Esports Roster:
- Loic “effys” Sauvageau
- Anthony “gMd” Guimond
- Danny “huynh” Huynh
- Michael “MkaeL” De Luca
- Keven “PLAYER1” Champagne
- Andrew “Blank” Leverette (coach)
4. Sentinels
Sentinels is one of the few Valorant rosters banking on superstars without a CS:GO background. While three members of the team, Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan, Hunter “SicK” Mims, and Michael “dapr” Gulino, do all come from CS:GO pro, its two most high-profile names are reigning Overwatch League MVP, Jay “sinatraa” Won, and Apex Legends pro, Jared “zombs” Gitlin.
It remains to be seen if sinatraa and zombs can repeat the success they’ve had in their previous games, however, the squad did fare well in the beta, going down to the wire against brax and AZK in the semifinals of the T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Invitational.
Sentinels Roster:
- Shehzeeb “ShahZam” Khan
- Hunter “SicK” Mims
- Jay “sinatraa” Won
- Jared “zombs” Gitlin
- Michael “dapr” Gulino
5. Fish123
Fish123 is a British Valorant squad that is currently orgless, but performed exceptionally well during the closed beta.
The team was the best squad in the European region during the closed beta, however they recently lost their two best players, Adam “ec1s” Eccles, who was also their in-game leader, and Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks to Prodigy, so it remains to be seen if the remaining three members will continue on without them.
Fish123 roster:
- Dom “soulcas” Sulcas
- James “Kryptix” Affleck
- Travis “L1NK” Mendoza
- Connor “Sliggy” Bloomfield (coach)
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6. ROYALS
ROYALS is a European esports organization that has acquired a group of former semi-professional CS:GO players on its roster. They’ve had some impressive tournament results during the closed beta period, winning a 64-team tournament in Valorant Clutch Series Volume 2 and weekly Valorant invitational tournaments.
ROYALS Roster:
- Harry “DPS” MacGill
- Tautvydas “hype” Paldavicius
- Jack “kpiz” Pragnell
- Josh “neph” Munro
- Artur “leakeN” Gonserovskij
7. Ninjas in Pyjamas
Ninjas in Pyjamas is a Swedish esports organization best known for its world-renowned CS:GO squad. The organization entered Valorant in the closed beta with the signing of its former European Paladins World Championship winning roster.
NiP Roster:
- Malkolm “bonkar” Rench
- Leander “Tenner” Aspestrand
- Aleks “Alex” Suchev
- Dylan “DiGeDoG” Chainski
- Erik “Bird” Sjosten (coach)
8. TSM
Team SoloMid is an American esports organization with multiple competitive teams in different game genres. The organization has decided to set its sights on Valorant, with the signing of retired CS:GO stack, mouseSpaz. The team brings a wealth of experience from CS:GO that it hopes will translate to success in Valorant.
TSM Roster:
- Stephen “reltuC” Cutler
- James “hazed” Cobb
- Matthew “Wardell” Yu
- Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik
- Taylor “drone” Johnson
- Taylor “Tailored” Broomall (coach)
9. 2G4L
2G4L (short for 2 Good 4 Lan) is a group of Finnish players who come from a Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare background, along with some former CS:GO players. The team had an impressive run during the Fnatic Proving Ground Valorant Open Invitational tournament and fell short to Prodigy in the Grand Final.
2G4L Roster:
- Aleski “aleski” Papinkivi
- Joonas “Fake” Oikarinen (in-game leader)
- Ville rEplan Ijas
- Jani “synde” Koskinen
- Eemi “Embo” Luomi
10. StartedFromCS
StartedFromCS is a French team that is currently orgless, but consists of former CS:GO allstars that are looking to make another career run in Valorant. Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans has been with some of the biggest CS:GO teams, and was considered by quite a few as one of the best in-game leaders at some point in his career. StartedFromCS also has Vincent “Happy” Cervoni Schopenhauer, a two time Major winner from DreamHack Winter 2014 and DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015.
StartedFromCS Roster:
- Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans
- Vincent “Happy” Cervoni
- Mathieu “Maniac” Quiquerez
- Beyazit “beyAz” Korpe
- Alex “AKUMAAAAA” Lo Bello
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