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Warning: Personal super long outpour incoming
I’ve never really been a live concert or a live sports kinda guy. I’ve gone to a few big rock concerts, some baseball, cricket and soccer games; they’ve been fun, but I clearly didn’t really belong there compared to the visceral experience that others have felt at those games. But I’m always a fan of the physical communal experience in general; though I’ve always yearned to be a part of one that I truly relate to and participate in more actively.
I got hooked to Valorant months after the release, and not just to the game necessarily, but more so the esports community that has fostered over the past few years. The games, the teams, the players, the banter, the culture; became supremely fascinated and in love with all of it. I knew that if the opportunity ever came to go to a live Valorant game, that sh*t would rock big time. So when tickets came out for VCT Americas in LA, I nabbed tickets to two games instantly (SEN v LEVI, 100T v NRG)
Even though I knew it would be awesome, I never predicted just how awesome it would in fact end up being. As soon as you enter you see a bunch of other likeminded Valorant nerds making signs for the game, taking pictures with their mousepads and cosplays, buying merch of their respective teams, putting team logo tats on their faces and hands— just the most electric energy of anticipation. Fans discussing theories, conspiracies, strategies, transfers, just the whole shebang. The community (at least the ones that showed up to my games) were kind and inviting and interactive, that was so dope to witness.
And then you go in, and there’s the arcade with a host of beasted out PCs with everybody playing Valorant the way the developers probably intended. My friends and I would challenge people there for quick custom matches and get absolutely slaughtered, but all for the fun of it. Followed by that there’s a concessions stall for (vaguely) Valorant themed snacks. Some hit or misses there, but really fast and efficient so you don’t risk missing any of the actual games.
Speaking of the actual games, there’s the actual arena. Breathtaking every time I would walk in there. An unreal stage with goated lighting and a sound system that reverberates vibrations through the whole room with every gun shot. Couple that with an electric crowd cheering for every frag with the casters about 4 feet away from you, making wagers with the players around us, cheering, screaming and fearing through the rounds together in auditory unison; you know from the get go that this is the way Valorant is meant to be experienced.
But above all this, if this all wasn’t already enough, the most meaningful part of this whole experience to me was the intimacy. The fact that I was able to get a picture with the Sentinels team as they were walking in to the building, a picture with Coach Sykko who came to a non sen game on his off chill day, that I got to do a meet and greet with the EG squad with signed signs from the whole team and coach, TWO meet and greets with the 100 thieves squad with pictures and signed jerseys, I got to speak to the casters (Vansilly, Rivington; who’d I’d been following since the beginning), after the game, got to cheer literally alongside the CEO of LEV sitting smack dab in the middle with all the fans, I got to meet the SWEETEST moms of 100TBang and 100t Mikes who connected me to 100TDerrick’s also super sweet mom who gave us her two tickets to a third sold out 100thieves game. Just so warm and inviting and accessible. Everything I could’ve possibly hoped for and couldn’t even dream of to be honest. So thank you to all the cool people who came to our games, the players and their families for being so patient with the fans, and the super awesome riot employees who ensured such a smooth operation of events.
With all the rest of the tickets sold out for VCT Americas, today’s games mark the end of my VCT season. Some of the best days of my life!!
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