Since the first release of Valorant’s first trailer, there has been no question that the 5v5 tactical based shooter heavily reminiscent of CounterStrike and Overwatch would be an esports hit. Since the beta in early summer, number of tournaments for the game have already occurred, teams have been created and players announced for the rosters of esports teams like 100 Thieves. Thanks to Riot and a number of other esports organizations like G2 Esports, the Valorant Ignition Series for 2020 hosting 20 different tournaments across the world started off this weekend. The Valorant Ignition Series 2020 partnered with G2 Esports and Redbull to bring the first online invitational tournament to Europe. The first EU stage for the Valorant esports scene was won by the Swedish team Mixwell, taking home the first prize of $11,210 over Team Draken in the finals.
Another official Valorant esports event occurred this past weekend as well, as Team JUPITER claimed the 1st place prize at Japan’s Rage Inaugural Invitational. Team Jupiter took the $5,000 prize in a dominant performance, not losing one map in any of their matches until Finals versus Lag Gaming. The Ignition series will be continuing next weekend in North America and Africa. On June 26th, the top teams in Africa will compete in the Empire Play x Ignition series tournament, along with North American teams competing on the same weekend in the T1 x Ignition finals for $50,000.
The next series of tournaments will be also coming just in time for the newest 1.01 patch for Valorant, which added few buffs for characters and a nerf on bullet tagging. The patch also introduced map adjustments to certain walls and angles that players used on Ascent, Haven, and Bind. More information, as well as a schedule of events, can be found on the official event page on the Valorant website.