VALORANT Week 7 Spring Recap – Student Champs 2022/23

After a small break from the stream, VALORANT was back in the spotlight last week, with four teams continuing to battle for their placement in the group stages.

Tommy looks back at all of the VALORANT action between Bexhill Warriors and Reading Ravens White, and GY Galaxy and GCS Owls.

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GAME ONE – Bexhill Warriors Vs Reading Ravens White:
Map – Icebox

Bexhill Warriors (Defending First):

Robin (Sova)
Nat (Viper)
Prx Lin (Jett)
Bolo Rebel (Chamber)
Toji (Sage)

Reading Ravens White (Attacking first):

Swervo (Killjoy)
Mr One (Reyna)
Mr Ben (Jett)
Odi (KAY/O)
Aware (Viper)

The Reading Ravens cracked open VALORANT week 7 of Student Champs with a fast and flawless A site
execute, claiming the pistol round for their attacking half. This aggressive pace and
single-minded map awareness on display in their first round permeated the majority of their
attacking performance on Icebox. Consistently, they stuck together and launched themselves at
A and B site as a united front.

This strategy was hit and miss, being met again and again with Bexhill’s coordinated retakes and flanks. As the initial half developed, the attackers discovered more areas of the map and began to modulate their aggressive tempo, opting for mid splits and slow site fakes. Ultimately, these two teams were yin and yang, in a constant state of push and pull. Elastic tension defined Bexhill’s defensive half. When Raven’s Mr Ben (Jett) broke down the defending players or Mr One (Reyna) hoovered up an ace in round 10, the Warriors would hit back with calm and collective Valorant play that carried this half to equilibrium, 6-6. A
clear winner was far from discernable.

With the switch under way, it was as if a new team had emerged from the Reading Raven’s first
half ashes. Their defensive performance can only be described as holistic. The Raven’s
awareness of the map grew tenfold and the aggression from Reading’s Reyna and Jett gained a
newly refined purpose. The mechanical skill from these two players became undeniable –
permitted to pop off only through Swervo’s (Killjoy) prudent utility usage surveying large areas of
the map.

The agent composition-differential began to sing. Bexhill’s strategy was varied but
unsuccessful, time and again they attempted to toy with the mindset of the defence but Aware
truly lived up to their name. Playing Viper, Aware crucially anchored sites and held out for any
attempted fakery, and this paid huge dividends. The raw clutch-ability from Aware made them
the most effective player in this series, finishing the game at the summit of the leaderboard.
Valorant is just as much a test of temperament as it is a test of accuracy and strategy. A bold
move was needed from Bexhill and the confidence radiating out from the defenders seemed to
suppress any possibility of a statement.

Ending the match 13-8 in favour of the Reading Ravens, it can only be guessed that the
Ravens were trying to rush through their attacking half in order to unleash their utterly
convincing defence.

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GAME TWO – GY Galaxy Vs GCS Owls:
Map – Haven

GY Galaxy (Attacking first):

MonkeyApeMan (Killjoy)
Pochita (Gekko)
Destroyer (Jett)
Dom (Omen)
Yop (Reyna)

GCS Owls (Defending first):

Benger (Astra)
Lewis (Jett)
Ash (Killjoy)
Roy (Breach)
KianC (Sova)

The second series of the day refused to disappoint. GY Galaxy and GCS Owls came together to
make a really fun final game of the day. Galaxy started on the offensive incorporating Gekko –
the most recent addition to Valorant – into their team composition that proffered an extra
unknown variable to the game predictions. On the pistol, Galaxy swaggered up to A site,
offering a convincing argument in favour of Gekko’s kit, easily gaining access to plant the spike

As per usual this pistol round momentum carried Galaxy to a second round win via their anti-eco
investment. Mechanical skill was positively protuberant on both sides during this first half –
coloured with a looming feeling that any player could hit a certain groove and shut down a
round, the tension was magic. The attack was varied, Galaxy splitting their pushes and widening
their control of the map, often teasing out pressure from the Owls. Each round presented a fresh
approach but as the half progressed Galaxy found the most success on C site.

Galaxy’s Jett (Destroyer) and Reyna (Yop) began to unbridle their confidence toward the end of their
attacking half, giving us some fast paced gunplay and crucial first bloods, but ultimately the Owls
managed to keep rhythm with an admiral defensive display. As the switch happened upon us,
certain Owl players were finding that all important, yet indescribable groove.

The Owls’, now let loose on the offensive, catapult themselves down Mid to B site. In a hectic
back and forth Killjoy (Ash) emerged from the chaos with an incredible Ace for the side of Owls.
This pistol round set the tone for the proceeding second half. Jett (Lewis) tapped into some sort
of Valorant Matrix and became an unstoppable force for GCS Owls. There is not much to
comment on other than Lewis’s unfiltered aggression that just grew in justification each time it
was thrown at GY Galaxy.

Killjoy’s pistol round ace allowed for GCS Owls to come into their own. Killjoy and Jett top fragged, farming kills in ways polar opposite to each other which didn’t leave much breathing room for Galaxy. Again, confidence garnered and fostered in each round only meant the opposite team’s rescindment.

All GCS Owls players were firing on every cylinder, forming a congruous entity – all too much to juggle for the Galaxy players on the defence. An entertaining game performed at a really high level of play such as this only deserves respect on both sides of the series.

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Eager for more Student Champs, or VALORANT action? You can catch weekly streams over on the British Esports Twitch channel at 4pm every Wednesday – with more League action coming in the next few weeks!

As well as this, the Overwatch 2 Women in Esports Division of the Student Champs is featured every week over on the Women in Esports Twitch.