Valorant India Invitational kicks off on November 18 with eight teams in attendance and a $100,000 prize pool.
The Valorant India Invitational is possibly the biggest Valorant LAN tournament in India. The tournament features some of the top-tier teams from the region while also giving local teams an opportunity to compete with the best teams. But for the thousands of Indian Valorant fans, this tournament represents the growth of Indian Valorant esports.
The tournament will kick off with eight teams and features a nice mix of international teams as well as two Indian teams. Some of these teams have performed at the highest level of Valorant esports including at VCT Champs and several Masters-tier events.
The Valorant India Invitational Favorites face their first battle: BO1 groups
Paper Rex
As one of the only non-Indian teams to have an intact roster, Paper Rex undoubtedly come into this tournament as a favorite. The team could not make it out of the group stage at VCT Champs and for fans, it was even more disappointing because they couldn’t see more of the innovative Benkai entrances.
But Paper Rex has proven its worth in both the Masters tier events of 2022. With a 4th place finish at Reykjavik and a Grand Finals appearance at Copenhagen, Paper Rex is not a team to take lightly.
What makes countering Paper Rex extremely difficult is that they don’t often come with pre-conceived notions of how to play the game. With a very loose leadership style and a roster that is built as much on confidence and synergy as it is on raw aim, Paper Rex are one of the strongest teams at this Indian LAN.
“As IGL I knew how important communication was when it came to molding a team together. I had a lot of emphasis on it when we go into practice
Their gameplay might appear chaotic on the outside, but the communication within the team presents a rarely-seen calm. Paper Rex will play in Group B where they also have to face Bleed esports, BOOM esports and Godquad.
Heretics
With two players from the former G2 esports Valorant squad, Heretics will definitely bring a different style of game to this event. The Valorant India Invitational has a majority of SEA teams and Heretics is the only Spanish team.
“Not being the IGL helps me in my individual level because it’s hard to IGL and have a lot of kills at the same time because you have to take care of your teammates and everyone knows that. Now that I am free I also help the IGL a lot. I am probably the one that talks the most in mid-round matches and I try to help him in that sense.
Despite having leadership experience, Heretics Mixwell will not be leading the Heretics squad. Instead, it will be Ričardas ‘Boo’ Lukaševičius leading the Spanish squad. Mixwell has not been the IGL for some time, even on G2 esports, where Keloqz replaced Mixwell, allowing the former CS: GO pro to focus on his individual performance. On G2, he would often provide valuable ideas to his IGL, and one can expect Boo Lukaševičius to also draw on Mixwell’s experience if needed.
Heretics come into Valorant India Invitational as one of the favorites, mostly because some of the other participants have not ever faced them. But it could be a double-edged sword as Heretics might be in for a surprise with the SEA playstyle.
Godsquad
The name is different but it would be foolhardy to disregard Godsquad in Hyderabad. Comprising the Global esports players (the previous Valorant roster), this lineup has dominated the Indian Valorant scene for quite some time. They have also made a splash beyond the international borders including a 2nd place finish at VCC stage 1 and winning the Skyesports Champions Series.
Godsquad’s players often match the best in the world when it comes to aiming. With the home crowd support for the Godsquad players, it’s not wrong to say they are one of the favorites to make it to the playoffs at this event.
With best-of-one matches in the group stage, most of the teams will require some time to acclimatize themselves. But the home team will be running in full gear from the get-go.
The Dark Horses who hope to ride the BO1 groups to playoffs
Speaking of the best-of-one group stage, this format provides the perfect opportunity for non-favorite teams to make an impact. Team Secret and BOOM esports immediately come to mind as rosters that can shine and possibly earn their spot in the playoffs.
BOOM esports has become infamous because of the Crashies ace, however, in this region, BOOM is a force that can surprise everyone. They came 2nd in the Skyesports Champions Series as well as winning the APAC Last Chance qualifier. They reached Valorant Champs in Istanbul where they bombed out, but it was a great learning experience for the players. How much of that translates into a series of wins at Hyderabad - that’s still up for debate.
The other dark horse is Team Secret. The squad didn’t make it to Valorant Champs in Istanbul but has consistently been amongst the top 4 teams at APAC Challengers events. A 4th place finish at the VCT LCQ was not enough for them as only one team could qualify to Istanbul. More recently, the team played in the Daejeon Valorant Invitational. They finished 2nd, losing to DRX in the Grand Finals. The 0-2 loss where Team Secret could not reach double-digits is not very inspiring. But DRX is a Championship tier team, so the result was not totally unexpected.
Esports.gg will have live coverage of the Valorant India Invitational event as well as exclusive interviews. With several Indian content creators also at the venue, the Indian Valorant LAN tournament will hopefully see active participation by the community and high viewership numbers.
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