Meta Description: Valorant is one of the chart-topping first-person shooter games by Riot Games. With its wide acceptance by eSports gamers, Riot Games created its first tournament, known as the “First Strike,” to seal its foundation in eSports. The year-long competition is known as the Valorant Champions Tour, and it’s been active since 2020.

In its short time in the eSports scene, the game has seen some exciting tournaments in its three major divisions. Undoubtedly, these tournaments set the pace for the game's progress and promise even more exciting moments in the coming Valorant tournaments. First, however, some past tournaments are worthy of a review, as we’ll see in this article.

What Is Valorant?

Valorant is a first-person shooter and free-to-play game released by Riot Games in 2020 for Microsoft Windows. The game’s development began in 2014 and drew inspiration from the eSports discipline, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. You’ll observe similar CS: GO mechanics in its spray patterns, inaccuracy when moving, and buy menu in the game.

Its fascinating gameplay gives a futuristic theme where you can play as an “Agent” from several cultures and countries. The game has several roles to assume with the primary functions of attacking or defending. Each team in Valorant matches consists of five players whose “Agents” are armed with special and ultimate abilities that require “charging” from objectives, orbs, deaths, and kills.

Valorant’s Tournaments

The game’s depth, heroes, weapons, and several features put it at the top with several other first-person shooter games. Currently, the game has over 15 million active monthly players, with approximately 1.5 million daily. Its wide reach and active audience inspired Riot Games to start an eSports tournament in November 2020 and tagged the VALORANT Champions Tour.

Valorant’s year-long tournament is in three levels: the VALORANT Challengers, the VALORANT Masters, and the VALORANT Champions. The challengers are regional competitions that qualify for masters, the Masters' competitions hold mid-season worldwide, and the Champions play the world championship of the year. Valorant predictions on any of these tournaments are made with an in-depth understanding and analysis of the teams involved. Not many could have accurately predicted the defeat of Gambit Esports by Acend in 2021 to become Valorant’s first-ever champion.

Top Exciting Tournaments In The History Of Valorant

The following are some of the most memorable and exciting tournaments in Valorant since its inception. These tournaments are worthy of review, and clips of exciting plays can be found on game streaming platforms.

The Underdogs

The Underdogs is a Valorant series of online tournaments created by a French WebTV, known as the O’Gaming TV. The tournament started in November 2020, at the same time Riot Games announced the game’s eSports tournament. A memorable event that makes this tournament stand out was in 2021 when Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut scored an ace with a Vandal on Split in a match against ROG ESPORTS.

Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut is also a CS: GO player who joined the L’INSTITUT Valorant team, and watching him deliver headshots after headshots in the underdogs series makes the tournament one of the best in Valorant’s history.

CLG BLITZ CUP

The Counter Logic Gaming Blitz Cup is another online Valorant tournament series based in North America, with a pool prize of $2,000. The online series has seen teams like TSM, Immortals, Gen.G Esports, T1 Academy, and a host of others deliver some of the most epic matches in the history of Valorant tournaments.

Particularly, the rivalry between TSM and Immortals keeps the tournament interesting that all their matches record impressive viewership. A particular cup match between TSM and Immortals saw TSM’s Sabroza deliver an ace in the first round, where he killed four enemies almost immediately on a ramp. Subroza is one of the most interesting talents to watch in the tournaments, and it’s evident from his growing fanbase.

NSG X Renegades Invitational

The NSG X Renegades Invitational is an online series with a pool prize of $10,000. The tournament sees some of the big teams in contests striving to assert dominance over the others. The predictions on Valorant matches in this tournament are quite tricky with teams like T1, FaZe Clan, Cloud 9, Immortals, Gen.G Esports, and Andbox in the competition.

You get to witness talents like IMMORTALS’ ShoT_UP, who delivers instant kills with perfect headshots.

WePlay Rocket League Invitational

WePlay Esports also organizes a competition for League of Legends teams across Europe with a pool prize of $50,000. This competition sees teams participating, including Team BSD, Team Vitality, Karmine Corp, Dignitas, Guild Esports, and a few others. The game gives prizes for positions 1 - 8 of the invited teams, and you’ll find some of the best displays of skills and mastery from the biggest players in this competition.

Valorant Champions

This is where the best of the best come to battle it out in an offline competition with $100,000 in pool prizes. It features the best teams from all circuit points that have the most talented players in the game. You’ll witness amazing clutches and use of powerups from the champions. “Asuna” of the 100 Thieves was the star of 2021’s North America Finals with a show of skills and mastery.

Conclusion

Fans and players of Valorant always turn up for these events because of the excitement and thrills they hold. You can never predict who will be the champion in these tournaments, which gives it an edge over other disciplines with established champions. The upcoming 2022 Valorant Champions holds in September, and we’re psyched for the promises it holds!