We continue to follow VALORANT esports! The North American scene is even more active than the European, so we decided to make a separate rating for teams from the other half of the world.
We continue to follow VALORANT esports! The North American scene is even more active than the European, so we decided to make a separate rating for teams from the other half of the world. Perhaps, in the future, these ratings will be combined, but so far there are no major international LAN tournaments expected, we will divide the regions. As usual, Igor "Helix" Meshcheryakov, commentator of various VALORANT tournaments, helps us in compiling the rating!
From this point onwards Original text provided by Evgeny Kondratyev.
1. Sentinels
The first place of our ranking is held by the team that signed the Overwatch League MVP Jay “sinatraa” Von and the ex-CS:GO pro Shahzeb ”ShahZaM” Khan. They developed an epic rivalry with TSM in North America, and they are emerging victorious in it so far.
A very obvious choice. Of course, the level of dominance of Sentinels over the North American region does not match that of G2. Nevertheless, victories at the two IGNITION SERIES tournaments and TSM's disastrous performance at the Pop Flash event leave them without any competitors for the spot at the moment.
2. Team SoloMid
TSM had set a high pace at the start of the competitive VALORANT scene, and it seemed that the royal battle between G2 Esports and TSM was inevitable, but Sentinels intervened in the conversation. We aren’t upset: instead of an agonizing wait for these giants from the western and eastern hemispheres of our planet to battle it out in the LAN conditions, we got a very memorable duel in North America. TSM vs. Sentinels matches are New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox or Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics, only in VALORANT. So far, the Sentinels are ahead in this confrontation.
These guys had no equal until Sentinels found their stride and began to win. TSM has always relied heavily on Wardell's play ,and perhaps the time has come when his Operator skill alone may not be enough to keep the team at the top of the region. At Pop Flash they didn’t even make it out from the groups, losing to Dignitas twice. This is a worrying sign.
3. Cloud9
The Cloudy ones followed the tried and true path, signing five professional CS:GO players. Over the past few months, the team took third place three times at major North American tournaments.
We could have picked Immortals, Envy, or Gen.G for this spot, but Cloud9 is still ahead on aggregate. They take prizes at different tournaments, but it’s always bronze. The team suffers from the same problem as TSM: their play is entirely dependent on TenZ, even more so that TSM’s is on Wardell. And if his shooting is off, the whole team suffers.
4. Immortals
A young and promising team. The average age of all its players is about 20 years old, and at the same time, the guys are already starting to show good results. At the NSG x Renegades Invitational, which ended last Sunday, the Immortals were able to take second place.
They perform with varying degrees of success, but it is safe to say that this is a tier-1 team in North America. A good performance at the last NSG x Renegades tournament, a good win rate against tier-1 teams (these guys haven't lost a single series versus C9 lately) and just the ability to take the fight to any of the top teams place Immortals at this spot.
5. Gen.G
The Canadian five are showing quite good results: in five months they have earned over $35,000 in prize money, and they are the sixth in the world by this indicator.
Gen.G burst into VALORANT with a bang. The Canadians, who played from May to July this year, had everything to be called the second best team in the region, but then something went wrong. Recently, their best results are 3rd place at 30Bomb: Summer Cup and 2nd place at the Pittsburgh Knights Invitational. In general, these guys don’t perform much worse than Immortals, but their not impressive performances at NSG x Renegades and Pop Flash don’t allow us to put them higher.
6. Team Envy
Five ex-Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players again, the most famous of which is, perhaps, Pujan "FNS" Mehta. Their most significant achievement is second place at Pop Flash, where they lost to Sentinels in a 0:3 sweep.
It feels like together we are terrific stack repeats the fate of our EveryBodyDance: the guys were clearly in the top 5 before signing contracts with Envy, but then the results began to decline and reshuffles began. Now it seems that Envy simply cannot get to the condition that would allow them to have decent results. I hope that over time the team will return to the top, but so far it’s only 6th place.
7. Equinox
The Oklahoma City organization just recently broke into VALORANT, signing the China Nguyen roster. The five have already won several minor tournaments, and they just look promising in general. It is quite possible that cooperation with the big club will give the players the necessary push to the top.
Equinox has signed arguably the best tier-2 team in the region. So far, under the new tag, the guys have only faltered at NSG x Renegades. However, the merits of China Nguyen and the overall good potential of the roster put it quite high in the ranking.
8. Andbox
The New York-based organization, which we can best rate on their success of New York Excelsior in the Overwatch League, only started signing players a month ago. ANDROID and yay are quite famous for their performances in CS:GO (for example, the duo took 5th-8th place at the FACEIT Major: London while playing for Complexity), seb also played professionally, but he’s not as famous as their coach Warden — a veteran of the CS-scene, who started playing back in 2004. Two spots in the team remain vacant.
The roster of NYXL owners was just born, but it already made a name for itself, taking a landslide victory at the NSG x Renegades Invitational. These guys can climb much higher in the top, but for now we are waiting for more official games to understand for sure just how strong they are.
9. Team Dignitas
Another incomplete team. Dignitas made their mark by placing fourth at Pop Flash.
Perhaps someone will say that the guys deserve more, but so far, under the Dignitas tag, the team has only achieved 4th place at Pop Flash. Moreover, the roster is not even complete yet. Therefore, we are waiting for the team to play more games and present a full-fledged roster
10. Mamba Mode Gaming
The team, whose logo and name was obviously inspired by Kobe Bryant, recently got two runner-up finishes at the relatively small local events, and also were able to make it out of the groups at the NSG x Renegades Invitational.
A strong tier-2 team that won a large number of minor tournaments. The guys could have been higher in the top, but after WeDid left the team's results began to decline.
Honorable Mentions
Despite the fact that these teams were not included in our top 10, we still recommend taking a closer look at them.
T1 — Since the PAX Arena Invitational, the team's results leave much to be desired. I hope that the changes in the roster and the return of Skadoodle will correct the situation. Luminosity — so far the famous tag can only count on being at the top of tier-2, but these guys clearly have the potential to climb higher. FaZe Clan — unstable results and lack of prizes do not allow us to put this organization in the top, but on paper their composition looks strong. Perhaps in the future we will see a rebirth of the team, as was the case with Sentinels. Moon Raccoons is a very strong tier-2 team that outplayed Cloud9 and Andbox in official matches, but the guys still lack big victories.
Fierce battles continue in North America, but just like in Europe, the upcoming FIRST STRIKE tournament will help to truly see who’s who. The qualifications for this event should begin in early November.
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