Zero MarksMen Black on a roll after second Nerd Street LAN victory

So far during the current Nerd Street Champs tournament series for VALORANT, there have been five LAN tournaments held across the country: Philadelphia, Brentwood (Missouri), Fullerton (California), North Brunswick (New Jersey) and Chicago.

One of the best teams across these LANs has been Zero MarksMen Black, who won the Fullerton and Chicago LANs. They’re the only team that has won multiple LANs.

Along they way they have accrued the most circuit points and sit atop Nerd Street’s VALORANT leaderboard. They also have automatically qualified for the conclusion of this tournament series: the VALORANT Summer Championship, which is set to take place in August in Philadelphia. Here’s a look back at how they performed in Fullerton and Chicago.

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Fullerton

The Fullerton LAN was the most contested so far with 32 teams entering and proceeding from a group stage to a playoff stage. Zero MarksMen Black had a relatively easy run through the group stage, beating 2inch 13-6 and Apollo Esports 13-5. In the playoffs, they had a perfect run, beating four teams by 2-0 scores en route to being crowned Fullerton champs. They beat Nixies Breath, TMG, Qor Red and edaters along the way.

Zero MarksMen Black’s roster invludes Antonio “Enjoy” Billen, Joseph “bjor” Bjorklund, Dayton “lear” Akau, Kevin “mina” Nguyen and Jonard “Jonaaa6” Penaflor. Both lear and Jonaaa6 competed with Andbox (now NYFU) earlier in the year before joining Zero MarksMen Black.

Lear, Jonaaa6 and bjor were among the best players in Fullerton in terms of K/D, according to VLR.gg. Jonaaa6 was second with a 1.5 K/D, Lear’s 1.4 was third and bjor’s 1.36 was tied for fourth.

Chicago

Almost as many teams competed in Chicago as in Fullerton, and with 29 teams, it was more than enough for a group stage and playoff stage. Zero MarksMen Black got a bye in the first round of the group stage and then beat Northern Forces 13-8 to qualify for the playoff stage. In the playoffs, they once again had a perfect run, winning all four of their matches 2-0. They beat Team Fish Tacos, OnlyFarmers, wet rats and Native Gaming Black. Although Native Gaming Black only formed in May and were competing in only their third tournament, the roster includes Stephen “reltuC” Cutler, the former TSM player who is competing again for the first time since April 2021.

Zero MarksMen Black once again dominated the K/D leaderboard in Chicago. Enjoy led all players who played at least 100 rounds, according to VLR.gg, with a 1.85 K/D while playing Chamber and Raze. Bjor was second with a 1.57 K/D, and lear and Jonaaa6 were fourth and sixth, respectively.

Future LANs

Although Zero MarksMen Black have secured their place at Nerd Street’s VALORANT Summer Championship, it’s possible they might compete in future LANs in this tournament series. There are four more scheduled in the coming months, including another one in Fullerton as well as Georgetown (Texas), Bakersfield (California) and Brentwood (Missouri). It remains to be seen whether they will compete at any of these LANs, but in the meantime, Zero Marksmen Black are set to compete in the 10th online open for Nerd Street Champs, which takes place June 13-15.

Lead photo credit: Scrims Esports Gaming Center via Twitter