What makes tenz so popular

#1

saebr

recently, concerns about the viewership have been expressed and some people have attributed it to the absence of the face of valorant, tenz. having a very prominent figure is very important for the health of the sport. this is seen with faker in LoL, i didn't watch a single game of league but caught the grand finals to watch him play. one could say this extends slightly to real sports like basketball, for example, lebron (don't quote me, i don't know anything about basketball).

BUT tenz feels like an outlier to me, since faker and lebron obviously attribute a lot of their success to being some of the best at their respective sport, but tenz was good for two tournaments, maybe three. hell, you could even say his team was shit at times! valorant isn't even as old as the aforementioned legacies. this made me wonder how someone like Tenz even gets to this point. there are most definitely better players than tenz, but you could only reach his influence by combining multiple of theirs.

i see him eventually fading out if he doesn't come back, but how does someone even come close? is it just a matter of time and winnings? it feels like he was WAY too popular for such a young game. is it just a lack of anyone else to turn to? chronicle won a bunch, yet my friends couldn't even tell me 1 thing they know about the fella.

#2

H3ENnZ

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TenZ vs Lebron lol

#6

saebr

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yeah, it's a ridiculous comparison. that's why the question was proposed

#3

cameran

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no one can come close to tenz,

yes he was only good for a couple tourneys, but those tourneys he had the most standout clips and performances ever

#10

saebr

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ngl cant remember a single tenz clip from anything before madrid. can you enlighten me

#18

H3ENnZ

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He screaming about a horror game (Not even valorant related lol)
Or like idk a random vct clip of his

#19

cameran

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his old reyna ace clips and flicks during 2021 during tournaments was insane, just search them up

#20

Aayan

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'This is his world and we're just living in it'

#22

saebr

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oh yeah ( i remember the line, though not the clip )

#30

sergueiessenine

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? lol

#32

cameran

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?

#4

Paraplant

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he was above anyone in 2021, and he also appealed to the asian scene, which brought eyes to the na scene
and since then, very little time has passed, and no other pro has accumulated such large following by himself

#7

saebr

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how does he appeal to the asian scene?

#9

cameran

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cuz he represented his country by being the best and more people looked into him

#11

saebr

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i don't think many people know what tenz's ethnicity even is brah, including me

#5

omegaishere

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he's popular for watching hentai at a party with diddy

#8

cameran

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thought this was henbaby that sent this

nuh uh

#12

nuthoneycheerios

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kyediddy?

#13

omegaishere

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kyediddy got silly with tenz's little willie

#15

nuthoneycheerios

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...

#23

goofyahh1447

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HOLD UP!! HIS WRITING IS THIS FIRE????

#37

saebr

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i think this is meant to be a joke, but now that i take a double take; i think having a conventionally attractive fiance, who streams herself and tries to create her own persona, and also gets into her own squabbles could be among top 15 contributors to his popularity maybe

#14

jawn

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he just was the first big superstar and since valorant is so volatile nobody has had the opportunity to outgrow his brand, if yay had aspas consistency he would have surpassed him by now probably

#24

maximumthehormone

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I might sound crazy for this but I think he wouldn't because yay's face isn't as marketable as tenz'. pretty privilege is real

#26

saebr

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no you're right. this was something i was missing. tenz is attractive. god damn it

#27

jawn

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if that was the case mr. italian supermodel zander would average like 10k viewers, the face card is not as important as you think it is in the gaming space especially when it comes to men

#25

saebr

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maybe i'm missing something but i feel like aspas has been consistent for much longer?

#28

jawn

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aspas speaks and streams in portugese, he can't be the face of valorant unfortunately

#31

saebr

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yeah, i was just coming around to the fact that language has to be a big factor in becoming popular. whoops. good points. though with enough success through vct he could "overcome" the language barrier (not in the traditional sense), right? i think faker streams in korean. i honestly don't feel like time is that big of a factor, and if aspas or someone similar goes on a streak then we could very well be looking at the next goat for a bit

#38

jawn

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region plays a pretty big role, faker is from arguably the biggest region in terms of popularity and success, the equivalent of the korean league scene in valorant is NA so the goat will probably only come from there

#40

saebr

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you're right again. i forgot korea is the biggest region in LoL

#16

maximumthehormone

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I could be wrong on this but I think tenz got a lot of NA support in the beginning of the game because NA is not really very competitive when it comes to CS, so fps fans kind of deposited their hopes on SEN and the hype turned to tenz which was the mvp of valorant's first international tournament, but you can see that even the other older sen players are somewhat relevant even though it has been quite a long time

#29

saebr

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true, i also felt like tenz being from NA has a lot of effect for sure. on top of what you mentioned, just being an influencer who can speak english without a heavy accent and being able to accept sponsorships from major american brands

#17

Aayan

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I think a lot can be attributed to his win in 2021

NA CS was dying (some might say already long dead even) and Valorant was the first FPS game to challenge CS in a long time, so there was definitely a hole in the NA FPS esports scene.

The sinatraa controversy drew a lot of eyes to the team and org, who were still pretty successful prior, I think that initial controversy is what gave SEN that initial interest that carried on further.

Then TenZ came along, he was already decently big in the scene since he was the first Radiant in NA. He played on C9 but a lot of attention was drawn to him when he pretty much announced his retirement, only to later be picked up to SEN as a sub.

Those three things combined made SEN an interesting team to watch going in to Masters 2, Valorant's first international event.
But what really gave him (and SEN) his popularity was his insane performance at Masters 2, going undefeated without dropping a map.

Oh yeah one more thing, everyone was stuck at home indoors due to the pandemic so viewership in general was thriving, that was also definitely a factor.

#39

saebr

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all good points.

sinatra controversy is a nice shout and i thought about it for a bit but i initially felt like it would be draw more negative press, though i suppose how quickly sen reacted to it managed to reverse it... or something? not too clear on what happened there

as for the 3rd, this was one of the original reasons why i was confused as to why he was so popular. i'm not sure how popular he was in CS but i felt like this wouldn't be enough to garner such a fanbase, but now that you mention the dying CS scene it makes a little more sense. i guess the worse he was in CS, the more surprise that he was good at valorant? never thought about it like that truly lmao

you know i always completely blank out about the pandemic ever happening. so that was a nice call and it's definitely what got me into valorant esports. i had so much extra time a few years ago.

#21

FrenchToast

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as a certified tenz glazer and fangirl, i have the answer
there are a few reasons why he is so popular

A lot of people discovered his stream at the beginning of valorant. his stream is chill and a very easy to get into. he was the first person i watched on twitch and first valorant pro i knew. he’s not toxic or mean and his stream reflects that.

His playstyle. a lot of people enjoy how aggressive and flashy he is. he does some insane flicks and shots and it can be described as aimbot. this is in contrast to the methodical smooth aim from other pros. people also love seeing him in aimlabs. he’s very well known for how quick he is and how fast his reaction time is.

His success in early valorant also helped quite a bit. winning and mvping the first international lan is quite a feat and people have held onto that to this day.

sorry if i’m glazing too much but this is honestly why he’s so popular

tldr: he’s popular bc flashy fun playstyle. also being the first international mvp in 2021 helped a lot.

#33

dort

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tenz hasn't been relevant since 2021
you're 4 years late buddy

#34

Aayan

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dort why did you disappear when NRG were losing

#35

dort

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dont know what ur talking about

#36

composthe

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sen is the most overrated team of all time and tenz is their face so maybe thats why