Winner: VALORANT
When VALORANT's closed beta debuted on Twitch earlier in the week with a record-breaking number of people tuning in to see the game and have a chance at getting access to the beta, there was a question on whether the hype would extend into the weekend.
Could they keep up the momentum from a successful first few days into a weekend heavy with esports action?
Even the developers didn't believe they would have this much hype and excitement around their game, as it has continually soared and peaked over 1 million concurrents on Twitch since its release on Tuesday. The biggest winners aside from Riot Games and the developers of VALORANT are streamers like Félix "xQC" Lengyel and Jaryd "summit1g" Lazar, both of whom have been leading the charge of well-known personalities playing the game on Twitch. The pair have seen their channels explode over the weekend, with each seeing over 200,000 concurrent viewers and an army of fans begging for a key to play the world's newest, hottest video game.
From an esports side, there have also been a slew of third-party tournaments, the first few hosted by Twitch before esports organizations such as NRG Esports and 100 Thieves began putting their foot in to host events. We even saw some of the best first-person shooter players in the world, including Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek, take on the VALORANT developers in the highest-level match we've seen so far in the game's early days.
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In the battle of world-class aiming skills versus an encyclopedia knowledge of VALORANT (and some pinpoint mechanics), the developers came out to show that the ceiling of the game for pros to climb still hasn't even been scratched thus far. Each day it feels as if there are new strategies, combinations and tricks that can be used to get a step further in the game, propelling the idea the developers had for the game from the start -- breaking the ideal of what a first-person shooter really is.
Although numbers could drop heading into Week 2 -- but really, at this point I'm not betting against VALORANT -- the next step for the game is to see how metas develop as more high-level tournaments begin popping up over the next few months. This is the first time VALORANT has won the weekend in esports and gaming, but this will not be the last.
--Tyler Erzberger
Runner up: Phoenix Suns
Wait, what? How could the Phoenix Suns be winning something when the NBA is still on hiatus?
Gaming, that's how.
Going into the semifinals of the NBA 2K Players Tournament, I thought there would be one Phoenix Suns member in the final: Devin Booker. Booker, for those who don't know, is a member of the 100 Thieves esports organization and frequently streams Call of Duty and Call of Duty Warzone with 100 Thieves' founder Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag. It's one thing to play a game or two of 2K in your spare time between actual NBA games, it's another to actually have invested the time into playing multiple competitive games, especially in the offseason. This isn't to stomp on any NBA players' "gamer cred" (whatever that means) but more of a nod to how much time Booker spends playing video games. Who I didn't expect was Booker's Phoenix Suns teammate, Deandre Ayton. Unlike Booker, Ayton came in with little to no hype. After his first few matches, it became apparent that Ayton was not only good at 2K, but had prepared for this tournament. Their finals match was made all the better for the fact that these two obviously game a lot, but are also teammates and friends, so the back and forth and trash talk was perfect. This was as good of a final to this tournament as we could have hoped for.
-- Emily Rand
Runner Up: Florida Mutineers
Normally we don't do a second runner up for this weekly feature, but this one warrants it, especially given the circumstances. This weekend marked the first tournament since the Call of Duty League moved to an online format. Yes, there were challenges, yes there were hiccups during the broadcast, but I've said it before and I'll keep saying it: Now is not the time to complain! The production team did their best under extremely challenging circumstances, the talent rolled with the punches, and, at the very least, for the first weekend of online matches, we appreciate the effort and any snafus get a full pass. So, to everyone involved with COD League, on camera and behind the scenes, good job. GGs. Good vibes and keep crushing it.
The stars of the show, of course, will always be the players and the teams, and this weekend saw the emergence of perhaps the next wave of top teams in CDL. While Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta dominated the "LAN era" of this season, it was a Florida team that took down LA Guerrillas, Toronto Ultra, Chicago Huntsmen and Minnesota ROKKR in the final to claim its first championship in its second tournament final. The latter two series were storyline driven; a rematch from the Atlanta home series semifinal, where Florida edged out Chicago 3-2. This time it was a more convincing win, with a Prestinni-less Mutineers scoring a 3-1 victory to move on and face Minnesota, a team that has been on the cusp of greatness all season long. Florida took the series 3-1 there as well, with Fero leading the way with 99 elims and a 1.33 K/D overall and a blistering 2.25 K/D on Domination in the final. It was a statement weekend for a team that some were saying may not ever make a tournament final again all season. Now, the sentiment is, they are the team to beat moving forward.
-- Arda Ocal