San Jose State Esports Club’s Valorant Blue Team claimed victory on Sunday after 10 SJSU Valorant teams competed against each other to decide which would advance to a
regional tournament.
The RedBull Global Valorant Tournament involves more than 300 universities in about 50 countries. It’s only the second global Valorant tournament in history since the game launched in June.
Liam Mangual, business administration junior and the Valorant team manager for SJSU, said he’s confident in the players’ abilities to make it to the international competition.
“They’ve been together for awhile, so they really have that synergy which is really important mentally, as well as being able to trust each other in terms of making sure that everybody is on the same page,” Mangual said.
Valorant is a competitive first-person shooter game where teams of five are pitted against each other.
Every team in each round is assigned an offensive or defensive position.
The offensive team must plant “spikes,” or bombs, while the defense must work to defuse the spikes.
There are 15 characters or “agents” players can choose from, each with various strengths and weaknesses. The first team to win 13 rounds clinches a victory.
The regional competition is on April 18, followed by the national competition on June 1.
The global competition will be held in person in Spain on June 18-20.
The regional and national competition levels will be held online because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mangual said the tournament will become more competitive as it progresses. There is no loser bracket and each round is the best of one game.
The SJSU team is among the most decorated collegiate Valorant teams in the U.S., according to Edward Jae Ham, vice president of SJSU Esports Club.
The team has won five titles in the last six months alone from various collegiate tournaments despite never meeting each other in person because of the pandemic.
“We have won quite a few events over the past couple of semesters, so I’d say we have a pretty good shot at getting into the international event,” Ham said.
Some of the players on SJSU’s team feel that despite their history of victories, they’re overlooked by the university. Many teams they face and defeat are apart of varsity programs at their schools and receive benefits SJSU players don’t, including scholarships.
Mangual said he believes SJSU Valorant players deserve to be given the same opportunities as other schools and this competition is their chance to prove it.
“If we make it to the international finals and SJSU doesn’t recognize us, then I don’t know what’s going to change that,” Mangual said.
Though many of the early matches are not streamed on Twitch, later stages of the competition will be broadcasted and links will be posted on SJSU Esports’ Twitter account if the team progresses that far.
Brandon Wright, a business administration senior, said he’s excited to take part in the competition regardless of recognition.
“I just appreciate the fact that we can compete during COVID and everything,” Wright said. “You know other sports, they have no opportunities at all to compete because of
[the pandemic].”
