Fourth Estate/Christian Segovia
A hometown rivalry matchup in Fairfax, Virginia at GAMEmason 2024
BY CHRISTIAN SEGOVIA, STAFF WRITER
George Mason University’s Valorant Esports (GMU) team faced Northern Virginia Community College’s Valorant team (NOVA) in the Valorant Finals at GAMEmason 2024 on Saturday, Feb. 24.
The competitive tournament format is a best-of-three series. Out of the seven playable maps in rotation, the players competed on maps Sunset, Bind and Ascent while maps Split, Breeze, Lotus and Icebox were banned.
A commentator by the username “SHK” said on GMU Esports’ Twitch stream, “Sunset for sure is going to be interesting because GMU doesn’t play [Sunset] often. Bind, on the other hand, has been a strong map for both of these teams.” Ascent has been in the rotation since the game came out, that teams are usually running the same set of agents against each other.
Fourth Estate/Christian Segovia
GMU started with the attack on Sunset going up 4-0. GMU used its characters’ abilities to get into the site and plant the Spike, which is the main objective for the attacking team. NOVA had agent abilities like Sova’s recon bolt to scan enemies. They didn’t put it to use to get information from where opposing players would attack, giving GMU the upper hand.
GMU player with the gamertag “Blaze” capitalized on his teammates’ abilities and created space as character Raze to help them get into the site. GMU player, who goes by the gamertag “Ktran,” played Breach and stunned the enemy team with a blinding technique while his teammates took fights.
When NOVA switched to the attacking side, they played the slow game way into Sunset’s B site, throwing GMU off with timing not being prepared for their attacks. NOVA attempted GMU’s 11-6 lead, but GMU changed their plan and came out with the win on Sunset, 13-6.
Fourth Estate/Christian Segovia
On the map Bind, GMU got off to a hot start on defense, winning 3-0. In round four, NOVA won in a 2 vs. 5 by isolating their fights and getting information about where the GMU players were.
NOVA won the half 7-5 as GMU switched to attack. GMU’s attacks were timed off which gave NOVA the advantage 10-5. GMU took a timeout to fix their mistakes and caught up 12-10.
Ktran was put into a 1 vs. 2 situation with no more ability charges and won the round for GMU. The home crowd cheered excitedly for their team’s comeback. Despite the return, GMU lost 13-11 in the following round.
Fourth Estate/Christian Segovia
The final map was Ascent, and GMU got off to a great start on defense going up 3-0. GMU player, who goes by the gamertag “Jluy,” had Cypher’s spycam to see where the opponents were coming onto the site. GMU was putting their agents’ abilities to work as NOVA struggled to find any information on where the GMU players were located on site. To end the half, Blaze and Ktran each got two kills to put their team up 9-3.
GMU struggled to win some rounds after switching to the attacking side. After a timeout, it all changed. GMU player with the gamertag “Coco” got two kills on the B site while another GMU player, who goes by the “tony gawa”, got an additional kill. GMU pushed into the A site and put their lead up to 12-6.
GMU’s Blaze, tony gawa and Ktran pulled off a 3 vs. 4 in the final round and won the Finals 13-6. GMU was motivated by their home crowd. “The energy made us play even better… Yesterday when we played against some of the other teams, we didn’t do well without a crowd, but once we got a crowd behind us, we started winning,” Ktran said.
