Andbox‘s Astounding VALORANT Debut
VALORANT has had the hardest challenge of any esport in recent memory, being a new game with strong fundamentals, community, and developer support having to start amidst a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic. There are few things more stunting to a game’s growth than the lack of in-person events or LAN tournaments, even more so wherein the current age, every tournament is region locked due to unsafe international travel. Yet, with these disastrous logistics and circumstances to play around, Riot Games and the many organisers hosting these online tournaments, have done a stellar job growing VALORANT and keeping the game’s esports scene relevant and engaging.
One of the latest tournaments, the Nerd Street Gamers x Renegades Invitational, while not hosting the largest of prize pools, featured some of the biggest names in North America at the moment. FaZe Clan, T1, Luminosity Gaming, all teams looking to showcase that any and all of the additions or changes made to their squads in recent weeks were the one’s necessary to be a top challenger. Yet, oddly enough, it was an unknown factor that cracked the final four, and who eventually went on to win the whole tournament. A squad that impressed with their insane mechanics, teamwork, and who showcased that in a game like VALORANT, the playing field is a lot closer than people would anticipate.
Andbox, a team with little history as a brand itself, but with big names towering behind them, debuted their newest roster and venture to a victory over huge endemic organisations like Cloud 9 and Immortals. The owners and operators of the Overwatch League’s New York Excelsior and the Call of Duty League’s New York Subliners, Andbox has a history of pumping out tri-state excellence, and with their first VALORANT win, can focus all efforts into continuing that mantra of success.
Andbox was most certainly not a favourite to win the tournament, in fact, many probably acknowledged them as having a chance to do well, but most certainly not to take it all. With a roster of former North American CS:GO players, Andbox certainly had the experience behind them, but not the reputation or definitive star power that a team like Sentinels would have. But they shocked the whole tournament with an 8-13 victory over Cloud9 in their first match of the group stage. After that, close but clean 2-0 over Complexity Gaming marked a top spot out of Group B, and a one-way ticket to the playoffs bracket against Mamba Mode Gaming.
Andbox quickly became known for their clutch plays, especially out of monster-aimer Bradley "ANDROID" Fodor, who had real standout performances on agents like Raze and Phoenix throughout the tournament. And while they were fun to watch, they very quickly became incredibly stressful to watch too, because most of their matches came down to the wire, most often in overtime or barely avoided OT scenarios.
After a 2-0 dispatch against Mamba, Andbox’s biggest challenge came in the form of Moon Raccoons, another lesser-known team that had a lot of bite to their bark. The Raccoons were the first team and only team to take a map off of Andbox in the entire bracket. Andbox was bested on Haven, pushed to the brink on Split, and ultimately pulled together a 13-6 victory on Bind to advance to the finals, and take the semi-finals match against Moon Raccoons 2-1.
The finals were another back and forth, and the 2-0 final score does not tell the complete story. Both Immortals and Andbox had their moments, but Andbox had a stylish flair that became too hot to handle for Immortals. The defence was too strong on Bind, and Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker’s Jett came in time and time again to clutch his way forward, finishing the map with a pounding 1.91 K/D and a 293 ACS. By the time the side swap came in Andbox only needed four round wins to close out the series, and earned them back to back after huge performances from, ANDROID.
The final map went to a nail-biting overtime where Immortals clawed their way back from an 8-4 deficit and a gnarly beatdown from Andbox’s aggression. Immortals put up a fight but again the pressure and clutch from Andbox was too much, and the series went to Andbox after a narrowly avoided comeback by Immortals on their attack. Early on the star player was Sebastian "seb" Bucki and his Cypher who’s 2.57 K/D wowed the casters and audiences on Andbox’s attack, but it was the entire team that flipped the switch at the right time to take the series and the tournament.
A lot of praise has to be given to a roster that's come together and put in the work necessary to win a tournament, especially after such a short time together. Andbox, an organisation who's known for the franchises it manages, but not much so for its own brand and effort, has a VALORANT roster that not only seems like it has a lot of potential, but proves that can go up against the hopefuls of the scene. While the big names like Sentinels, like TSM, they weren't present at the tournament, so the overall top of the VALORANT food-chain may still remain the same, Andbox came in with the power to upset and show that they have the talent and vision to compete.
Images via Andbox
