TSM wins the Valorant Showdown

This weekend was held the Valorant Showdown, organised by T1 and Nerd Street Gamers as part of the the Ignition Series. After a long competition, TSM won the Valorant Showdown against T1, the organisers of the tournament. Let's take a look at this big stakes competition.

This tournament had the particularity of bringing together the largest American teams from Valorant. Thanks to its double elimination bracket format, it was the perfect opportunity to see the current balance of forces across the Atlantic. And since there was a $50,000 cash prize, the teams were more motivated than ever to win.

The Valorant Showdown ended on an expected result, but it was not without seeing a few surprises along the way. together we are terrific's team, for example, had qualified through a preliminary tournament to participate in the Showdown, and managed to reach the quarter finals by defeating Cloud9. They even managed to take a map from the winners, TSM, in a BO3. That's something that only T1 also managed to do, which nevertheless faced TSM in BO3 then a BO5. We also note the upset of FaZe Clan which managed to defeat 100 Thieves and Immortals (Sinatraa's team), whereas their team was much less strong, on paper.

These surprises, if need be, that Valorant is a game that's still young and above all too different from CS:GO to be able to determine who is really stronger than another... unless we talk about TSM.

Team SoloMid is in great shape since the release of Valorant, winning all the tournaments it participates in (except the Pittsburg Knights Tournament). But in the eyes of the public, if there were a team capable of stopping them, it was T1. The two teams had never met in a tournament and and Brax's reputation as a virtuoso of CS:GO and Valorant made of T1 the favourite team of the public. And yet, the disappointment was significant for T1.

TSM only conceded the first part of the winner bracket final to T1. Everything else was just a demonstration of their talent. TSM even offered itself the luxury of winning the tournament without playing Sage in the last game. This Agent whowe consider, however, essential in any team, has no place on Ascent, according to TSM. The team has preferred Cypher, Omen, Sova, Brimstone and Phoenix on the new Valorant map, and so since the beginning of the tournament. This composition only worked during the grand finale, but still.

TSM's strategy was to down its adversaries under a deluge of smoke bombs and to control access with the various Molotov cocktails. Once the adversaries were blinded, Sova and Cypher had to spot them through the clouds of smoke. The duo, supported by Phoenix and his flash, could then rush in and eliminate the confused enemies.

We note the remarkable performance of Wardell on Sova, who finished the game on a 30/11/8 score (he was at 18/4/2 at the side's change). The whole TSM economy seemed to revolve around this player with a formidable precision, so much that one could easily hear Black Panther yell " Give this man an Operator! " at the beginning of each round. Thanks to judicious and formidable uses of his skills and his perfect positioning, Wardell sailed through the final.

Team SoloMid therefore wins the Valorant Showdown and shares the $25,000 promised to the winners, confirming its status as the team which reigns supreme in its class in the United States. For the others, it will be necessary to take stock of these matches and set things right.

View all the results of the Valorant Showdown
Follow the schedule of the Valorant Ignition Series