There's no need for any sort of debate: G2 Esports asserted themselves as the undisputed top VALORANT team in Europe this past weekend with another tournament victory in the $50,000 WePlay! Invitational.
In the final, G2's Ardis "Ardiis" Svarenieks extended his spotless finals record in the game's short life span by defeating his former teammates on Fish123 (expected to soon play under the Team Liquid banner) in a one-sided sweep. Afterward, Ardiis, the self-proclaimed "King of VALORANT," took to the post-match microphone to call out his rivals in Europe and across the Atlantic, claiming that the top North American teams have a few anchor players weighing them down from reaching their full potential.
The cross-region banter has been ignited, and another successful Ignition Series tournament is in the books. As always, here are my top five topics coming out of G2's second trophy in as many weeks.
1. G2 are on another level in WePlay! win
While their first Ignition Series win at the Vitality European Open was a quasi-coronation for the talent-loaded G2 Esports roster, this second victory confirms that their debut wasn't a one-off performance. Although G2 isn't unstoppable, routinely dropping the first map of a match before marching back to take the series win in emphatic fashion, they are the only team in Europe on which, one to five, everyone can be the ace on any given map. Though Ardiis and Oscar "mixwell" Cañellas Colocho are the team's designated carries and offer possibly the scariest one-two punch in the world, it was Patryk "Patitek" Fabrowski and the other core members who stole the show at times during the event with their own MVP performances.
G2 are simply overpowering against their European peers at the moment. They arguably have the two best Operator players in the entire region, can show flexibility in their agent choices if needed and are mechanically adept from their long-ranged sniper to lurking Cypher. When a team can toss around the Operator like a hot potato and have greater success on their worst sniper than some team's primary Operator, you know a team is on another level.
2. Oh, and G2, just sign Davidp already
My personal MVP of the WePlay! Invitational, Belgium's David "Davidp" Prins, was immense throughout the entire competition. Even as the team's designated Sage, Davidp had the second-highest kill/death ratio of anyone in the entire event and was top-10 in Average Combat Score, a feat not usually seen by a player solely piloting the healer. Time and time again, Davidp found himself in sticky, outnumbered situations and came up in the clutch for his team, most notably in a must-need win against the Ninjas in Pyjamas during the group stages when he dropped a 29-bomb.
The only issue with Davidp? He's not actually an official G2 Esports member. Where everyone else on the back-to-back, championship-winning side have contracts with G2 Esports, Davidp has been filling in as a de-facto trial member since the team came together, taking care of business (and then some) even without a contract. This should be the last tournament Davidp plays in VALORANT in which he's not officially tied to a team. He's too instrumental to G2's success to be replaced, and if they don't offer him a big-time deal, I'm sure there are European (and North American) organizations ready to make him a cornerstone of their franchise.
3. The highs and lows of Fish123 (Team Liquid)
If the Vitality European Open in which G2 won was the perfect debut, then Fish123's Ignition Series introduction was a bittersweet success. The team, soon to be playing for worldwide esports giant Team Liquid, were the cardiac kids of the WePlay! Invitational, playing from the back foot in numerous matches and narrowly escaping elimination at every corner before finally being taken out in the final against G2. They needed a comeback win against Russia's Party Parrots in the final round of the Swiss group format to make it into the playoffs, and to do themselves one better, they orchestrated a Herculean win against Ninjas in Pyjamas in the semifinals. In the final game of the three-match series, the two teams broke in VALORANT's new overtime system, rallying rounds back and forth like it was a Wimbledon tennis match, Fish123 ultimately coming out on top by a 17-15 scoreline.
This tournament was highlighted by those peaks and valleys for a team that is still coming together in terms of identity and communication. The aforementioned Ardiis was Fish123's ace Operator player when the team was rolling through opponents in the beta period, and while the addition of Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom to the lineup keeps the team's overall skill level near G2's, the squad now lacks a confident player on the sniper rifle. Captain and in-game leader Adam "ec1s" Eccles along with teammate Travis "L1NK" Mendoza both saw varying levels of success on the Operator, but neither could find the same impact necessary to keep up with their former star and his new team. It's going to take time for ec1s, Scream and the rest of the starting line-up to come together. Unlike G2 where their comedic personalities seemed to have meshed together with little issue and unlocked a world championship contender instantly, the road is going to be a little bit longer for the future Team Liquid side. That's not to say they won't get there -- like G2, each of the players on Fish123 can top a leaderboard in any given game -- but it's going to be a different process. Right now in VALORANT, a team can't consistently win tournaments without a stellar Operator, and though I can see Fish123 winning hardware in their future, they're not going to overcome G2 until they find that primary sniper to play around.
4. The best of the rest
G2 and Fish123 grabbed the headlines in the WePlay! Invitational, but their players weren't the only ones to put up notable numbers at the event. While Davidp and Ardiis powered their way through to another trophy, neither actually ended up as the top player in terms of stats at the end of the event. That award went to Party Parrots centerpiece Andrey "Shao" Kiprsky. One of Europe's top Operator players, he moved to playing Rifler in the Ignition Series tournament, showcasing that regardless of what type of gun he's given in-game, he's going to make magic happen when everything is all said and done. Though the Party Parrots didn't make it to the playoff stage, that didn't stop Shao from having a tournament-best ACS of 278 and kill-to-death ratio of 1.33.
Shao has become a known commodity in the VALORANT esports scene with his consistent performances, but there was a lesser-known name that created waves in the Invitational as well. From Lithuania, Vakaris "Vakk" Bebravičius was a revelation, his numbers keeping up with the likes of Ardiis, Scream, Shao and Mixwell while being on a smaller side. A Jett main, he's a player to keep an eye out for in upcoming European tournaments.
More: ESPN's VALORANT agent tier list | VALORANT North American team rankings
Finally, there's Hungary's Renátó "bzt" Bárányos, the Operator and signature Raze player from fan-favorite underdog Need More DM. The team was forced to qualify through the open bracket to make it to the event, and bzt's team did just that, going all the way from surviving the single-elimination gauntlet to making top-four of the entire tournament. I've been keen on Need More DM since the Vitality European Open, and I haven't wavered since. There are a few five-stacks worth picking up from top esports organizations, and the Hungarians are definitely near the front of that list.
5. Spectator mode still needs work, but the new overtime system is awesome!
As usual, I want to reiterate that the VALORANT spectator mode is still subpar. The X-rays are a boon and have made viewing matches a whole lot more enjoyable, but from a development team that is saying they want to revolutionize the first-person shooter genre with VALORANT, they are only at the foot of the mountain they have to climb to get there. I'm not going to stop harping on how much of an annoyance it is to view eliminated agents on the scoreboard with the lazy, red "X" over their faces until the developers fix it. Come on, Riot Games.
I will heap some praise on the developers, though, as their new overtime system has made the esports scene a heap more fun to watch. The Fish123 vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas series that went the distance on the third and final map was aided beautifully by the addition of the new overtime system, with both sides on the edge during every round as the first team to win back-to-back rounds would be declared the winner.
It allowed for teams to throw curveballs that they wouldn't usually try to execute knowing all they needed was that one round of attack or defense to get them a point away from securing the map. There was one round, following numerous failures to defend on Ascent for either side, where NiP had Enzo "Fearoth" Mestari hide in the boathouse at the back of B-site hoping to catch some players off guard with his position. And what would you know, that very round, Fish123 secured B-site and thought they were in a perfect position to win the round before Fearoth welcomed them from behind with the unexpected surprise.
I love the new overtime system. I even prefer it to Rainbow Six Siege or Counter-Strike, as I feel like the back-and-forth nature of VALORANT's OT structure adds even more excitement to the matches and makes every round feel like it's do-or-die for both teams.