How NA VALORANT scene has changed from Ignition Series 2020 to VCT 2022

Two years ago this month, the first major tournament series in VALORANT esports history kicked off in North America. The T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown, the first tournament in the Ignition Series, took place June 20-28, 2020. A lot has changed since Sentinels and TSM were dominating the scene with notable former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pros. From the teams at the top of the scene, to the players competing, to the agent meta, 2022 (for the most part) looks a lot different compared to 2020. In honor of the two-year anniversary of VALORANT’s release, here’s a look back at how the top of the NA VALORANT scene has evolved from the Ignition Series to the 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour.

Sentinels good from the start

OK, there’s one thing that hasn’t really changed since 2020. From the onset of the first few VALORANT competitions in North America, Sentinels were good. Besides the FTW Summer Showdown, which was an event for women’s teams, Sentinels won two of four Ignition Series tournaments. They won the PAX Arena Invitational and Pop Flash. Of course, they went on to dominate in 2021, winning North America’s Stage 1 Masters and Masters: Reykjavík, the very first VALORANT international event. The big change for them from 2020 to 2021 was Tyson “TenZ” Ngo joining the team in place of Jay “sinatraa” Won after he was accused of sexual abuse. When Sentinels bought out TenZ from Cloud9 after Masters: Reykjavík it was and still is the biggest player move in VALORANT's young history.

Photo credit: Riot Games

Masters: Reykajvík now appears to have been the apex for the quartet of Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan, Hunter “SicK” Mims, Michael “dapr” Gulino and Jared “zombs” Gitlin alongside either sinatraa or TenZ. Sentinels didn’t make it out of groups at Champions 2021 and failed to reach Masters: Reykjavík 2022, the first time they missed out on an international event. Zombs has since been replaced by Eric "Kanpeki" Xu and the team is struggling in Stage 2 qualifiers for Masters: Copenhagen.

Yes, Sentinels are still pretty good, but they set a high bar for themselves in 2020 and 2021 that they just haven’t been able to keep up with, while other teams have surpassed them. They’ll always be remembered as one of the best teams in VALORANT’s early history, but their best days are likely behind them until and unless they make some changes.

TSM take a nosedive

The team that won the two Ignition Series tournaments that Sentinels didn’t win was TSM. They won the T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown and the FaZe Clan Invitational. It was a legitimate debate back in 2020 which team was better: TSM or Sentinels? TSM would go on to finish second to 100 Thieves at First Strike, but that would be the apex for the roster of Stephen "reltuC" Cutler, James "hazed" Cobb, Matthew "Wardell" Yu, Yassine "Subroza" Taoufik and Taylor "drone" Johnson.

Unlike Sentinels, TSM took a nosedive in 2021. They didn’t qualify for any international events and failed to reach North America’s Stage 1 Masters as one of the top eight teams in NA in March 2021. Now, only Subroza remains as the team has rebuilt its roster. Although TSM didn’t reach the NA Stage 1 main event in 2022, they qualified for the Stage 2 main event and have a shot at qualifying for Masters: Copenhagen. They’re not one of the favorites to qualify but they seem to be on a much better track than they were in 2021.

From together we are terrific and T1 to OpTic

The core of the best team in North America and the world right now didn’t even exist during the Ignition Series. At the time, Pujan “FNS” Mehta was part of an unsigned roster called “together we are terrific” that was eventually signed by Envy ahead of the PAX Arena Invitational in July 2020. The together we are terrific roster included Adam "aKis" Kisseberth, Abdo "c4Lypso" Agha, Anthony "mummAy" DiPaolo and (briefly) Michael "dapr" Gulino before he was replaced by Jake "kaboose" McDonald. That Envy team went on to finish second to Sentinels at Pop Flash in August 2020.

Photo credit: Riot Games

The team took their next step forward after adding Austin "crashies" Roberts and Victor "Victor" Wong (then known as “food”) the following month in place of c4Lypso and aKis. Crashies and Victor previously played for T1 as part of their inaugural roster. They did well in the early part of the VCT 2021 season, but it wasn’t until they added Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker and Jimmy "Marved" Nguyen in place of mummAy and kaboose in summer 2021 that the team really leveled up.

Shortly after that, they went on to be runners-up at Masters: Berlin and are now champions of Masters: Reykjavík under the rebranded name of OpTic Gaming. OpTic still look sharp in the lead-up to the next Masters. If they qualify for Masters: Copenhagen, will they be the first team to win two international events? That would be quite the legacy if they do.

How the agent meta has changed

It’s hard to believe but during the T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown, the two most-picked agents were Cypher (96%) and Sage (91%), according to VLR.gg. Back in June 2020, neither Jett nor Sova were in the meta at all. By the time Pop Flash took place two months later, Jett (79%) and Sova’s (56%) pick rates had risen, but Cypher and Omen both remained at higher pick rates.

Of course, Jett and Sova dominated the meta in 2021, and they’re still pretty important in 2022, especially Sova. However, several new agents have been added to the game, with Yoru, Astra, KAY/O and Chamber getting added in 2021. Neon and Fade were also added to the game this year. Astra was a game-changer, and Chamber has proven to be a popular pick with his headhunter and tour de force abilities. OpTic’s mastery of Neon proved important at Masters: Reykjavík 2022, and Fade might be a game-changer going forward.

In addition to new agents, new maps like Breeze and Fracture have factored in the map pick/ban strategies of teams. The bigger a team’s map pool, the better, obviously. And there have been countless patches that tinkered with the agent pool. The best VALORANT teams have been the most adaptable, as OpTic proved at Masters: Reykjavík, and that will continue to be the case moving forward as new agents and maps are added.

New talent rises to the top

Since the Ignition Series in 2020, a lot has changed in terms of the top-tier VALORANT players competing in North America. Former CS:GO greats like Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham and Spencer "Hiko" Martin initially spearheaded the scene, but retired after brief VALORANT careers. Besides Sentinels, the rosters of the biggest orgs look a lot different in 2022 compared to 2020.

Photo credit: Riot Games

Along with young talent entering the VALORANT competitive scene over the past two years -- many of whom don’t have long CS:GO backgrounds -- new orgs have risen to the occasion. The best example of this is The Guard -- a team that formed in fall 2021 with talented young players like Trent “Trent” Cairns, Jacob "valyn" Batio and Michael "neT" Bernet. The Guard had a meteoric rise throughout VCT Stage 1 and qualified for Masters: Reykjavík alongside NA stalwarts OpTic Gaming.

XSET are another team with a couple of talented young players -- Zachary "zekken" Patrone and Matthew "Cryocells" Panganiban -- who were just getting started with smaller unsigned teams in 2020. It’s not just newer orgs that are filling their rosters with younger players. 100 Thieves recently rebuilt their roster with Derrek "Derrek" Ha and Sean "bang" Bezerra, two players who were virtually unknown in 2020.

These are just a few of the many young players that have joined top teams, and there are sure to be more in 2023 and beyond.

Lead photo credit: Riot Games