Valorant
Esports Betting
NRG vs BBL Esports: VCT Masters Santiago Predictions and Odds
Owen Harsono
NRG will take on BBL Esports in what should be the most anticipated playoff matchup at VCT Masters Santiago. Experienced winners will clash against rising talent in this upper bracket matchup. Here are our VCT Masters Santiago NRG vs BBL Esports predictions. Tournament: VCT Masters Santiago 2026 Stage: Playoffs Game: Valorant Format: Best of 3 Betting tip: This is the first international VCT event for the entire BBL Esports squad, …
Esports Betting
NongShim RedForce vs Gentle Mates: VCT Masters Santiago predictions
Owen Harsono
Nongshim RedForce will take on Gentle Mates in the first round of the VCT Masters Santiago 2026 playoffs. Can the Pacific first seed stop marteen and his team? Here are our VCT Masters Santiago Nongshim RedForce vs Gentle Mates predictions. Tournament: VCT Masters Santiago 2026 Stage: Playoffs Game: Valorant Format: Best of 3 Betting tip: Gentle Mates’ marteen is currently the highest-rated player at the event, boasting an insane 1.48 …
Esports Betting
Paper Rex vs FURIA: VCT Masters Santiago predictions and odds
Owen Harsono
Paper Rex can’t catch a break, as the Southeast Asian squad is playing the opening playoff series against FURIA at VCT Masters Santiago. We could be in for a thrilling series. Here are our VCT Masters Santiago Paper Rex vs FURIA predictions. Tournament: VCT Masters Santiago 2026 Stage: Playoffs Game: Valorant Format: Best of 3 Betting tip: Paper Rex have already played two matches and are riding high on momentum …
Esports Betting
VCT Masters Santiago 2026 Playoffs Preview: Matchups & Predictions
Owen Harsono
The top eight teams at VCT Masters Santiago 2026 are locked in. Four teams survived an intense Swiss Stage and will now be greeted by the top seeds from each region in the playoffs. If you missed out on the action so far, here’s everything you need to know to get up to speed heading into the VCT Masters Santiago playoffs. VCT Masters Santiago 2026 is down to eight. The …
T1 vs G2 Esports odds and predictions: Who we think will stay in Valorant Masters
Owen Harsono
Esports Betting
Two of the top teams at VCT Masters Santiago 2026 – T1 and G2 – face off in an elimination match far too early into the tournament. This series is a rematch of the VCT Masters Bangkok grand final, with G2 hungry for revenge. Here are our T1 vs G2 VCT Masters Santiago 2026 predictions. Tournament: VCT Masters Santiago 2026 Stage: Swiss Stage Game: Valorant Format: Best of 3 Betting …
Team Liquid vs NRG predictions: Who’s making it to the Masters Santiago Playoffs?
Owen Harsono
Esports Betting
It’s do-or-die as Team Liquid take on NRG on the final day of the Swiss Stage. The winner of the match will book a spot in the top eight, while the loser will be looking at flights back home. Here are our Team Liquid vs NRG VCT Santiago 2026 predictions. Aside from this series featuring two massive esports organizations, this match will also be the first time Keiko faces his …
G2 Esports vs PRX Masters Santiago predictions
Hannan Mundia
Esports Betting
The first round of 2026 Masters Santiago event will see G2 Esports and PRX face off, with this betting preview highlighting important stats and the recent form of both teams to ensure you can make educated picks and predictions. After their varying international performances last year, G2 Esports and PRX are now slated to face off for the first time since December of last year. Their domestic matches suggest that …
TenZ and Kyedae break up after six years of VALORANT romance
Olivia Richman
Twitch
Former pro VALORANT player Tyson “TenZ” Ngo and popular Valorant streamer Kyedae Shymko have revealed a break-up after six years spent together, leaving their followers disheartened by the news. Here’s what the popular couple had to say about their breaking up the relationship and what comes next for the pair. On January 7, Kyedae shared an update on X (formerly Twitter) that revealed the reason for the couple’s break-up: After …
Sentinels vs Leviatan 2026 VCT Americas: Preview, predictions
Hannan Mundia
Esports Betting
Leviatan may have survived elimination once against the odds, but the team will now face Sentinels in the 2026 VCT Americas Kickoff, and our preview for the match brings you our best predictions for what could happen next. Sentinels may have been a powerhouse team in the past, but the roster changes have significantly affected its rankings. The team now struggles in every tournament and against most teams, even those …
100 Thieves vs Sentinels VCT Americas Kickoff: Preview, picks
Hannan Mundia
Esports Betting
100 Thieves and Sentinels have proven themselves strong enough to deserve a spot in the 2026 VCT Americas Kickoff middle bracket, and our preview is here to highlight these two teams facing off with each other to determine which picks will prove correct. Sentinels and 100 Thieves both made major changes to their rosters heading into the new year. While added three new players to the mix, 100T tweaked its …
LOUD vs 100 Thieves VCT Americas Kickoff: Preview, predictions
Hannan Mundia
Esports Betting
The 2026 VCT Americas Kickoff’s mid bracket will kick off with a match between LOUD and 100 Thieves, and we’re here to preview this anticipated match and give our best predictions and picks for it. LOUD and 100 Thieves have both been knocked down to the event’s mid bracket, where the two teams will now compete against each other. The winning team will go down to the lower bracket and …
G2 Esports vs 100 Thieves VCT Americas Kickoff: Best betting odds
Hannan Mundia
Esports Betting
The odds state that G2 Esports is a favorite to win the VCT Americas kickoff tournament, but does 100 Thieves have any chance to cause an upset in the quarterfinals? After an unmatched VCT season last year, with the team dominating all three stages, G2 disappointed many by failing to deliver in the Esports World Cup or at VCT Champions. But the team’s domestic success ensured that its roster wouldn’t …
Sentinels vs Furia 2026 VCT Americas Kickoff: Best odds, picks
Hannan Mundia
Esports Betting
After Furia’s win on the VCT Americas Kickoff’s second day, the team will now face Sentinels in the upper bracket quarterfinals for a chance to progress to the semifinals, but do the odds favor in this match-up and how should bettors approach it? It wouldn’t be a stretch to call Furia one of the most disappointing teams in VCT Americas. The team hasn’t ever cracked the top five in any …
LOUD vs Cloud9 2026 VCT Americas Kickoff: Best odds, picks
Hannan Mundia
Esports Betting
Round one of the 2026 VCT Americas Kickoff upper bracket will kick off with LOUD vs Cloud9, with the winner getting to move forward in the event at a strong advantage and the odds reflecting just how anticipated this battle is. After Cloud9 recruited former Sentinels player Zellsis, the team has had far greater expectations on it than before. While the squad’s performance at the 2025 Red Bull Home Ground …
Everything we know about TenZ’s net worth, how much he earns
Hannan Mundia
Esports Betting
With TenZ being one of the most well-known players in the Valorant community, some may wonder what the former professional player’s net worth is and how much he earns as a streamer and retired pro. Valorant has given rise to multiple popular content creators and notable pro players since it was released. Whether it’s someone who uses their skills to dominate in professional matches and lead their team to success, …
Paper Rex vs G2: Valorant Radiant International 2025 betting odds, tips
Hannan Mundia
Esports Betting
After narrowly qualifying for the 2025 Valorant Radiant International playoffs, G2 Esports will play against Paper Rex to determine which team moves on to the semifinals. The Valorant Radiant International 2025 tournament has been fairly surprising so far. Some powerhouse teams have failed to showcase the same performance that helped them succeed this year, while it already looks like other teams are using this tournament to get out of their …
Riot Games has long looked to expand its footprint beyond the success of popular MOBA League of Legends, and one of its biggest successes to date in this regard is the tactical shooter, Valorant. Blending traditional first-person shooter elements with unique and flashy hero abilities, Valorant seeks to combine the best attributes of tactical shooters and hero shooters into one cohesive experience.
Based on player feedback, the game has largely succeeded in accomplishing those aims. It’s not an easy balance, and it’s one that is arguably still tenuous, but Riot Games seems to be doing as good a job of it as most fans have hoped for.
What type of game is Valorant?
Valorant is a first-person shooter that represents a unique blend of the tactical shooter and hero shooter subgenres. There are some games that represent similar gameplay elements, but not many that offer the exact experience that Valorant puts forward to players.
The tactical shooter genre is often considered to have been defined by the release of the original Counter-Strike, a multiplayer mod for famed single-player PC title Half-Life that later became a standalone game of its own. While most multiplayer FPS games to that point emphasized prolonged battles between opposing players zipping around the game at high speeds, Counter-Strike slowed things down significantly and made players much more susceptible to each other’s firepower, requiring players to take a more tactical approach to play.
That slower and more tactical approach, combined with the lightning-quick nature of action when it does occur, proved reliably popular. That popularity can still be seen today with the ongoing success enjoyed by the Counter-Strike franchise, and it’s this gameplay type that represents the core of Valorant. It’s no accident that former Counter-Strike developers were drafted by Riot Games to help create Valorant during the game’s formative stages.
What differentiates Valorant from CS and other tactical shooters it that each of the game’s characters, called agents, wield a number of unique abilities. Some are typical for tactical shooters, like flashbangs and smokes, while others are wildly different, such as an ability that transports two players to an isolated dueling arena for its duration.
These agent abilities are more reminiscent of hero shooters, a subgenre that arguably got its start with the Team Fortress games but has best been popularized by Blizzard title Overwatch. The abilities, combind with the tactical considerations that are at the core of Valorant, separate it from most any other FPS experience available for play.
How does Valorant esports work?
Like many other popular competitive shooters, Valorant does have a thriving esports scene. That scene is differentiated by the way it’s run and controlled by developer and publisher Riot Games. Riot uses a model based on the success of its League of Legends esports scene, which sees the globe’s competitive players and team’s separated by region. These regions play out their own competitions in their sections of the world before coming together at regular intervals for international tournaments featuring the best teams from each individual region.
While League of Legends once boasted a variety of regions and regional types, Riot sought to simplify that model when setting up esports for Valorant. The game has only a handful of major regions, and these regions are held as largely equitable, each sending their best teams to international events leading up to the year-end VALORANT Champions event.
Esports Betting
Esports Betting
Esports Betting
Esports Betting
