Olivia R. September 15, 2020
Hackers are trying to ruin Tyler "Ninja" Blevins' new grind.
The popular streamer has been playing a lot of Valorant since his return to Twitch. In a recent stream, the former Fortnite fanatic stated he's been playing Valorant daily for the past 2.5 months in an attempt to get more skilled at Riot's new tactical shooter.
But Ninja's momentum was destroyed earlier today when he ran into some possible hackers during a live stream. After a game of Among us, Ninja decided to play Valorant for the majority of his September 14 stream. Just a few rounds in, Ninja started becoming skeptical of some players on the enemy team.
Reyna and Cypher on the opposing side seemed to keep getting headshots off pre-fire shots. Reyna even got multiple headshots without Ninja's teammates being out of sight. After 10 rounds, Ninja filed a complaint against the Reyna player.
"That Reyna is cheating. There's no doubt in my mind that she's cheating," Ninja ranted, clearly frustrated.
By round 16, Ninja wasn't able to contain his annoyance at the Cypher either.
"That Cypher just fucking swings, jiggles, and hits me immediately," Ninja told his followers. "He headshots you through me, both of us simultaneously... With the pre-fire too, by the way."
Despite the setback, Ninja has continued his Valorant grind. The popular streamer has even been seen playing with 100 Thieves' Valorant captain Spencer "Hiko" Martin. Hiko has hinted that Ninja will be joining 100 Thieves to play Valorant, but most fans speculate that it's just trolling or a publicity stunt.
Could Ninja compete in Valorant?
Of course, Ninja has played games competitively in the past. This includes a lengthy Halo career. It's not out of the realm of possibility for Ninja to compete as a pro once again, but with his recent signing to again stream on Twitch it's more than likely that Ninja will stick to full-time streaming. At least for now.
Valorant developers have been quite vocal about their desire to catch more cheaters. They recently asked players to report suspected hackers more often. They have also made it clear that they don't pity cheaters and don't want to give them second chances.
Like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valorant is a free-to-play first-person shooter that seems to be a target for cheats like wall hacks and aimbots. While Vanguard has continued to hardware ban cheaters since the closed beta, it seems that hackers are still bold enough to keep trying to cheat their way up the ranks. Hopefully more players will be inspired by Ninja's reporting and follow suit when they play with or against suspected cheaters.