Before the 2023 VALORANT Champions Tour begins, quite a few partnered groups have traveled to Manchester for the Red Bull Home Ground occasion, offering a singular stage for the Cloud9 debut of one of many recreation’s largest stars in Jacob “yay” Whiteaker.
C9’s official debut in the present day acquired off to a rocky begin, falling in time beyond regulation to FOKUS on Ascent. In his first recreation together with his new staff, yay was uncharacteristically quiet, sitting on the backside of the scoreboard with a -4 Okay/D and having misplaced most of his opening duels whereas on Jett. He was outshined on Jett by FOKUS’s JUGi, one of many breakout names from EMEA this previous yr.
C9’s first match with yay and Zellsis was nearly an entire catastrophe for the reason that staff was at risk of shedding map two on their very own choose of Bind as effectively. But yay delivered a a lot stronger efficiency on the pre-nerfed Chamber, posting a +7 Okay/D and successful 5 out of six opening duels. Xeppaa additionally had a second straight map enjoying exceptionally as initiator and C9 gained three straight rounds on assault on the finish of the map to steal away their choose 13-11.
To cap off his debut, yay went for a spicy choose on Pearl, opting to play Yoru. But like on Ascent, yay struggled to provide the kind of impression followers are accustomed to. C9 gained some unlikely thrifty and eco rounds however struggled to shut out very important gun rounds and ended up falling on Pearl to take a loss of their first collection with yay and Zellsis.
At the top of the collection, Xeppaa’s distinctive day was outdone by FOKUS’ two dominant Danes in JUGi and KPZET. One misplaced match shouldn’t be sufficient for C9 followers to hit the panic button, however it’s value noting that yay’s solely constructive recreation through the collection got here on Chamber, and groups usually are not enjoying with the nerfed Chamber at Home Ground.
This was solely C9 and yay’s first match collectively, and the primary professional match in months for each events, towards a really competent FOKUS staff that has their eyes on EMEA Ascension this yr. Still, it’s a stunning upset to kick off Red Bull Home Ground.
