Valorant is hot. Supernova hot. It’s got the majority of the competitive shooter scene up in a frenzy and 100 Thieves is no exception. On April 14, the esports organization hosted the game’s biggest tournament thus far -- the 100 Thieves Invitational, including participants such as shroud, Ninja, TimTheTatman and summit1g, to name just a few. Gaming’s biggest and most talented came together in this star-studded event to do what they do best: Compete.
The tournament was cast by GoldenboyFTW and RivingtonThe3rd and consisted of a group phase -- with four teams in each group -- followed by playoffs. Throughout Heat 1, 2 and 3, each of the four teams played each other once within their group. The first two seeds of each group qualified for the playoffs.
Group A
Team TimTheTatman
- Timothy "TimTheTatman" Betar
- Lucas "Mend" Håkansson
- Jake "POACH" Brumleve
- Erik "fl0m" Flom
- Brandon "Ace" Winn
Team Shroud
- Michael "shroud" Grzesiek
- Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham
- Keven "AZK" Larivière
- Braxton "Brax" Piece
- Spencer "Hiko" Martin
Team Ninja
- Tyler "Ninja" Blevins
- Brian "Kephrii" St.Pierre
- Minish
- Waifu
- Patrik "Lefaa" Mike
Team Courage
- Jack "CouRage" Dunlop
- Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert
- Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan
- Hunter "SicK" Mims
- Austin "crashies" Roberts
Group B
Team Yassuo
- Hammodi "Yassuo" Abdalrhman
- m0xy
- Felix "xQc" Lengyel
- MacKenzie "Albralelie" Beckwith
- Timothy "iiTzTimmy" An
Team Nadeshot
- Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag
- Justin "jks" Savage
- Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad
- Sean "Gratisfaction" Kaiwai
- Aaron "AZR" Ward
Team summit1g
- Jaryd "summit1g" Lazar
- Tyson "TenZ" Ngo
- Jonathan "ELiGE" Jablonowski
- Jacky "Stewie2k" Yip
- Joshua "steel" Nissan
DrDisrespect’s team was supposed to round out Group B, but the non-medical doctor disrespectfully forfeited the tournament without notice. That quickly prompted the first diss of the night by fl0m, who assumed that DrDisrespect got scared once he realized he had no CS pros on his team:
“They said all the CS players are gonna be super washed out on Valorant like ‘all these CS players are gonna come in thinking they’re hot sh*t and get whacked.’ Now all of a sudden nobody wants to play tournaments unless they have Counter-Strike players.”
Trash talk and ranting. We love it. Let’s get this party started.
It’s all fun and games until someone gets shot in the head
Tournament favorite Team Shroud kicked things off in Group A against Team TimTheTatman and it was a good one:
Two contrasting playstyles clashed, with shroud having his former professional CS:GO crowd assembled around him, while TimTheTatman was running with the who’s who of battle royales and streaming. It was the Tacticians vs the Stream Team. Despite shroud’s team being heavily favored to win the tournament, the Stream Team gave them more than a run for their money and, after 22 rounds, the game was tied at 11-11. Two rounds later, it was Tim’s team that emerged victorious, much to everyone’s surprise, none more than caster GoldenboyFTW:
“I don’t know where you were today, on April 14th, but we witnessed Team TimTheTatman defeat Team Shroud! What a time to be alive…”
While shroud’s team was upset in their first game, Ninja’s team wasn't so much upset or defeated as much as they were just utterly and completely destroyed by Team CouRage:
A devastating 13-1 loss for the blue-haired gaming-shinobi and his squad.
In Group B, summit1g’s assembly of CS pros made short work of Team Nadeshot with a 13-6 win and Team Yassuo was awarded an unsatisfying win due to Team DrDisrespect being a no-show.
With Heat 1 and a win in the books, team captain TimTheTatman got into it with rival team captain CouRage before their matchup: When it was suggested that the Stream Team should start on Split as attackers, Tim argued that, as the winners of their first game, they should have their pick. CouRage however quickly pointed out that they themselves also won their first match, but Timothy wasn’t having it:
“Yeah, but we beat shroud.”“So? We beat Ninja. He’s one of the biggest gamers in existence. Do you have your own shoe?”
Unfortunately, Team CouRage’s performance wasn’t on par with their captain’s quip. They lost their Heat 2 matchup against shoe-less Timothy and co.
Apart from the very first game between Team TimTheTatman and Team Shroud, none of the group-phase matches were even remotely close, with the remaining results being as follows:
Group A - Heat 2
- Team timthetatman 13 - 7 Team CouRage
- Team Ninja 7 - 13 Team shroud
Group B - Heat 2
- Team Yassuo 3 - 13 Team summit1g
- Team Nadeshot 13 - 0 Team DrDisrespect (FF)
Group A - Heat 3
- Team shroud 13 - 4 Team CouRage
- Team timthetatman 4 - 13 Team Ninja
Group B - Heat 3
- Team summit1g 13 - 0 Team DrDisrespect (FF)
- Team Nadeshot 13 - 4 Team Yassuo
Thus, the Tatman’s team secured the number one seed in Group A, facing off against Group B’s two-seed Team Nadeshot in the first semifinals.
Summit1g and his squad won Group B to earn themselves a matchup against Team Shroud in the other semis.
It’s playoff time, BABY
Team Nadeshot facing Team TimTheTatman was the first of the two semifinals. Nadeshot’s team came out strong against the favored Stream Team and took a 4-0 lead. The tattoed team captain struggled, until, at a score of 6-2, Mendo had just the pick-me-up for the proud father of a newborn: “I’ve never seen a dad with as good an aim as you. You got this.”
Turns out a little friendly dad-boost was all Daddy Tatman needed and his team brought it back to a 7-5 at the half.
The attacking role seemed to suit Tim’s team better and they took the first two rounds of the second half for a 7-7 tie and continued to roll to a 10-7 lead. 100 Thieves CEO Nadeshot, however, wasn’t about to have his team go away quietly and they fought back, tying it back up at 10, making it a close and exciting semifinals matchup until Mendo and his Operator wielding Sage turned from medic to slayer: Mendo sniped with deadly precision and iced the game over the next four rounds for a 13-11 win, securing a place in the finals for himself, shoe-less-new-dad TimTheTatman, Ace, POACH and fl0m.
CS pros coming to grips with hero abilities
The second semifinals saw two teams composed entirely of former and current CS pros facing off: Team Summit1g vs Team Shroud.
With both teams having a deeply rooted background in Counter-Strike, Team Summit1g was surprisingly adept at playing Valorant the way it seemingly should be played, with a constant barrage of well-organized abilities: Smokes here, an ice wall there, flashes & rolling thunders anywhere in between. Shroud’s team, which seemed to be mainly relying on their CS honed aiming skills, had a tough time getting into the game. Ultimately though, they made up their early deficit and turned this semifinal into a close, tactical and slow-paced thriller. At the score of 5-4 shroud noted: “this is a good game. This is a good f-ing game.”
The game remained a constant back and forth, but, eventually, Team Shroud came out on top. Overcoming, or rather, adapting to and adopting Team Summit1g’s skillful use of abilities, they won 13-10.
Despite the win, team captain shroud wasn’t exactly happy with his performance “the way I’m getting abused is kind of rough...”
Well, well, well… we finally meet again
After the tournament favorites previously lost to the Stream Team, it was now time for a rematch between these two squads of opposing styles. Battle Royale meets tactical shooter. Twitchy movement meets precision peeking.
A best-of 3 finals to determine the winner of the 100 Thieves Invitational.
Contrary to their first showing, Team Shroud came out gunning and quickly established a 6-0 lead and, honestly, shroud, Skadoodle, AZK, Brax and Hiko never really let up. Everybody loves a close Finals matchup, but this one was a stomping:
Ace, POACH, Mendo, timthetatman and fl0m lost the game 13-5.
All wasn’t lost though as this was a best-of 3, but caster GoldenboyFTW was left to wonder just how Team TimTheTatman was even able to beat Team Shroud in the first game, as finals game number two followed a similar trend:
13 rounds into the second game, Team TimTheTatman were facing a 12-1 deficit and all looked lost, when, suddenly and surprisingly, they pulled it back to a much more respectable 12-5. With momentum on their side, just as Team Shroud’s losing streak was starting to affect their economy, newly signed T1 Valorant pro AZK went certified insane and put Team Shroud on his back:
With 12 seconds left on the clock in round 18, he was the last agent standing and planting the spike seemed to be his only option. AZK had other plans though and went on to 1v4 the enemy team for the clutch highlight of the tournament and the win. Look up the word epic and you’ll find the clip. That or watch it here:
Thus the tournament ended with a 13-5 final Game 2 score. The heavily favored Team Shroud met expectations and won the 100 Thieves Invitational and AZK proved why he was one of the first players to be signed on as a Valorant pro.
Valorant: A haven for CS players?
Taking into consideration that, just two days earlier, Team Liquid’s CS squad easily defeated a team of very competent Valorant hopefuls, there seems to be a trend unfolding of CS players having the early advantage in Riots new shooter. Unsurprising, since many of the core mechanics are so similar.
Time will tell if, once players get used to Valorant’s unique mechanics and abilities, this advantage will fade and Valorant players will develop a skillset of their own.
To find out, keep it right here at EarlyGame where we keep you up to date on all things Valorant.