Astra has shaken up the Valorant agent meta since she joined the roster last March. Leading up to the highly anticipated Valorant Champion Tour (VCT) Stage 2 Masters at Reykjavík, Iceland, however, European teams Fnatic and Team Liquid believe Astra is actually ‘overrated.’
During a pre-tournament press conference hosted by Riot Games, Fnatic IGL (in-game-leader) Jake “Boaster” Howlett and Team Liquid’s superstar player, Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom shared their thoughts about Valorant’s controversial controller agent.
Boaster believes Brimstone is better than Astra
When asked why Fnatic has stuck with Brimstone, while other teams have incorporated the most recent controller agent into their team composition, Boaster responded that Astra is not needed.
“I think her ultimate [Cosmic Divide] is just useless. I don’t see it being good whatsoever,” Boaster explained.
Fnatic’s IGL sees the value in her Astral Stars being used across the map, and her Gravity Well as a good tool, but teams would have already passed through by the time the ability is being used.
Boaster also shared that he personally loves playing Brimstone for Fnatic. “The fact that I’m the IGL (in-game-leader) also helps, since I come up with the [strategies], and he improves our T (attacker) side. That’s why we use Brimstone — he’s cooler, his smokes are better, I like him.”
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ScreaM thinks Astra is overrated
When asked about Team Liquid’s own controller agent preference, ScreaM thinks that Astra is definitely overrated. “I think she’s good but not as good as people say. We are really good with Brimstone. He’s a really good agent if you know how to use him.”
ScreaM also shared why Team Liquid uses different controller agents. “It [takes] time to get used to playing Astra. We didn’t feel like playing this agent. No one in our team wanted to play this agent. So, we’re sticking with Brimstone and Omen. It’s very basic, but it’s working [well].”
Astra’s pick rate during the VCT Stage 2 Challengers Final
As the most recently added agent to the roster, her pick rate has gone up ever since she became eligible for pro play. In the North American region, she had a staggering 71.6% pick rate and a 50.9% win rate during the VCT Stage 2 Challengers Final.
The agent was also a topic of discussion in the Southeast Asian Stage 2 Challengers Final. Teams believe she is a must-pick agent. Astra was the fourth most popular agent in the VCT SEA Stage 2 Challengers Final with a pick rate of 43.4% and a 60.6% win rate.
During the VCT Europe Stage 2 Challengers Final, she had a low pick rate at 33.9%, along with a 47.6% win rate. However, there are some regions who pick her less frequently compared to Europe. She also isn’t popular in the Japanese, Korean, and Brazilian regions. The only other region that has integrated her in their agent composition meta, aside from NA and SEA, is Latin America.
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