Looking back on the biggest moments in VALORANT in 2021

It’s been a big year for VALORANT, and there were many great moments in the esport. It was the first full year of esports for VALORANT, which was officially released in June 2020. The First Strike tournaments in 2020 were a great taste of what was to come, but the VCT 2021 tournaments amplified competition and gave fans a look at the esport from a global lens.

With more attention, the game has grown its community both for the game and for the esport, and there’s a lot to look forward to in 2022. Before we look forward, let’s take a look back on the best moments for VALORANT esports in 2021.

VALORANT Champions Tour begins

The VCT was announced in November 2020, and began in late January with the first Challengers event. These events were regional, meaning there was no international competition, and the same went for the very first Masters event. It wasn’t until May when fans finally got to see international competition with Masters: Reykjavík.

The first international tournament in the circuit broke viewership records, both during bracket matches and the final. The Sentinels vs. Fnatic final soared to over one million peak viewers, according to Esports Charts. The average viewership was great as well, hovering around 480,000 viewers during the course of the tournament.

Throughout the first half of the VCT, Sentinels were the team to beat, the NA vs. EU rivalry grew and shifted in favor of EU during the second half of the tournament circuit, and KRÜ Esports surprised everyone in the biggest tournament of the year.

VCT Game Changers begins its tournament circuit

Photo credit: Nerd Street

It was a great year of VALORANT for women in esports. Riot stepped up and showed the world that women belong in esports with the introduction of the VCT Game Changers program.

The tournament circuit started in NA but expanded to EU and other regions throughout the second half of 2021, with plans to expand more in 2022. In NA, Cloud9 White asserted their dominance and won all three of the Game Changers NA tournaments.

EU fans also got three tournament circuits. TENSTAR Nova won the first two but were ousted early on in the third tournament by G2 Gozen, who went on to win the third EMEA Game Changers tournament.

Fans expect even more competition next year, especially since Riot has revealed plans to hold a global tournament at the end of the year, something that has been asked for since the Game Changers series began. Although the community is still far behind in treating women in esports equally, Riot has done a great job helping close the gap.

Sentinels make a name for themselves

Photo credit: Riot Games

If there was any team that had a breakout year for the first year of organized esports in VALORANT, it’s Sentinels. They didn’t have a great start, but not for competitive reasons. Sentinels were forced to scramble in order to find a replacement for Jay “sinatraa” Won for the first Masters tournament after he was accused of sexual assault and misconduct.

They found a replacement in Cloud9’s Tyson “TenZ” Ngo and went on to win the tournament. They only dropped one map in the entire tournament against Luminosity Gaming and won the final against FaZe Clan 3-0 to become North American Masters champions.

Things started to look a little dicey in the Stage 2 Challengers tournaments for Sentinels. They didn’t make it through to the first Challengers closed qualifier after losing to Built by Gamers in an open qualifier. They did end up making it through to the second Challengers closed qualifier, and qualified for Masters: Reykajvík by winning the Stage 2 Challengers Finals.

With Sentinels and Version1 representing North American in the first international tournament in Reykjavík, the battle between North American and Europe was on. Fans got two NA vs. EU matches early in the tournament (both won by NA) and got an NA vs. EU final. Sentinels took it 3-0 over Fnatic, although the maps they played were all tight scores with two of the maps going into overtime. It was a fantastic match to kick off international competition.

It also was one of the most significant victories for a North American esports team at an international event. Sentinels winning Masters: Reykajvík ranks up there with Cloud9 winning Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Boston Major in 2018. NA is the constant butt of jokes internationally, but by winning the first international VALORANT event, Sentinels showed that NA might be writing a different script in VALORANT.

TenZ moves to Sentinels

Photo credit: Riot Games

After TenZ replaced sinatraa, there was constant speculation about whether or not TenZ would stay with Sentinels. During the NA Masters tournament, TenZ repeatedly told reporters that he wanted to stay with Sentinels if presented with the opportunity. Then in May, right after the first international Masters tournament, news broke that TenZ was staying permanently with Sentinels. It was the biggest player move from one team to another all year.

The numbers for his buyout were reported to be in the seven figures, meaning that Sentinels paid a pretty penny to keep TenZ on the roster, but it worked in their favor, since they were a dominant team all the way up until Masters: Berlin.

EU strikes back at Masters Berlin

Photo credit: Riot Games

North America made a statement at Masters: Reykajvík, signaling that it might be the best region in VALORANT. But at Masters: Berlin, Europe pushed back and said not so fast

G2 Esports went toe-to-toe with Sentinels, splitting two matches during group play against Sentinels. Both of those series brought in over 800,000 viewers, according to Esports Charts, making them the most watched matches at Masters: Berlin. The trash talk off the stage was also S-tier, bringing the hype over this NA-EU clash to new levels. Neither team made it past the semifinals, but the final was once again NA vs. EU (sort of). The final was between Envy and Gambit Esports, a Russian/CIS team that’s part of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region in VALORANT. Gambit ended up winning 3-0 to etch their name in the VALORANT history books after months of chatter about how good they were in scrims.

Acend end the year on top

Photo credit: Riot Games

At Champions, European teams really rose to the occasion, with all four EMEA teams making it out of their groups as No. 1 seeds. Three of them made it to the semifinals, and the final was an all-EMEA battle between Gambit and Acend. Whereas the previous two Masters finals ended 3-0. The Champions final was much more exciting, going all five maps and ending 3-2 in favor of Acend.

The European team came back from adversity earlier in the tournament, drawing the ire of Brazilian fans when Riot issued a ruling saying Vivo Keyd had done something illegal in their match against Acend. Acend won the map replay against Vivo Keyd, and the underrated European team went on to win all of their subsequent matches to become the first ever VALORANT world champion.

KRÜ Esports make an incredible run at Champions

Photo credit: Riot Games

Looking at analysts’ power rankings going into Champions, you’d be hard pressed to find KRÜ Esports anywhere near the top. They were in an incredibly tough group, with both Team Liquid and Sentinels to get through before even having a shot at the playoffs.

However, the Latin American team bursted through everyone’s expectations, and they knocked Sentinels out of the tournament far before anyone expected. KRÜ lost their first match against Team Liquid, but they won their match against FURIA Esports and then shocked a lot of people when they beat Sentinels 2-1 in the group decider match. They sent the NA favorites home and secured their own place in the playoff bracket along with Team Liquid.

They went on to surprise even more people when they won their quarterfinal match against Fnatic. That meant that KRÜ Esports beat both of the teams that ended up in the final at Masters: Reykjavík. NA fans (and some EU fans) started rooting for the underdog team, which were proving throughout the course of the tournament that they never should have been the underdog in the first place.

Although their run was exciting, it came to an end in the semifinals at the hands of Gambit Esports, who beat them 2-1 and moved on to the final. It was enough for Latin American fans, who were happy to see their region get so much attention, since they were constantly written off by analysts and fans of other regions alike.

Their run just goes to show that anything can happen in VALORANT esports, and next year should prove to be just as exciting, with more tournaments and competition to come in 2022.

Lead photo credit: Riot Games