Throughout competitive Valorant,
Envy
Envy
Inactive
Marved
Jimmy Nguyen
Victor
Victor Wong
crashies
Austin Roberts
FiNESSE
Pujan Mehta
yay
Jaccob Whiteaker
have been one of the most consistent teams in North America. They have regularly found themselves among the top three since their inception in July 2020.
But they have yet to claim a major event title, despite coming close in Masters: Berlin with a second-place finish.
That event was the first time Envy truly showed what they were capable of on the international stage. After signing the notorious El Diablo Jaccob "yay"
Whiteaker from
Andbox
Andbox
Inactive
oderus
Chad Miller
mummAy
Anthony DiPaolo
Lear
Dayton Akau
Jonaaa6
Jonard Penaflor
vice
Daniel Kim
and receiving Jimmy "Marved"
Nguyen on loan from
FaZe Clan
FaZe Clan
Inactive
POISED
Kevin Ngo
mummAy
Anthony DiPaolo
TiGG
Tanner Spanu
BABYBAY
Andrej Francisty
supamen
Phat Le
, Envy became a team to fear.
They made it through the group stage of Masters: Berlin by easily defeating both
KRÜ Esports
KRÜ Esports
Latin America South
Unranked
keznit
Angelo Mori
Mazino
Roberto Rivas
adverso
Benjamín Poblete
Shyy
Fabian Usnayo
Melser
Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro
and
Keyd Stars
Keyd Stars
Inactive
. Their next opponent was the North American overlord,
Sentinels
Sentinels
North America
Unranked
N4RRATE
Marshall Massey
bang
Sean Bezerra
Zellsis
Jordan Montemurro
zekken
Zachary Patrone
johnqt
Mohamed Amine Ouarid
. Few predicted an Envy win, but fewer still expected the shocking result: a 2-0 sweep. They then moved on to the semifinal against
100 Thieves
100 Thieves
North America
Unranked
zander
Alexander Dituri
Cryocells
Matthew Panganiban
eeiu
Daniel Vucenovic
Boostio
Kelden Pupello
Asuna
Peter Mazuryk
and dispatched the other North American titan with ease, again claiming a 2-0 victory.
Envy ready to face 100T in the semifinal of Masters: Berlin (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games).
Envy found themselves in the grand final against the CIS giants
Gambit Esports
Gambit Esports
Inactive
Redgar
Igor Vlasov
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
d3ffo
Nikita Sudakov
sheydos
Bogdan Naumov
nAts
Ayaz Akhmetshin
, but this time came up short. Gambit took the championship in 3-0 fashion, but the series was closer than the scoreline indicated.
“They deserved to win that day, but I don't think that happens again,” said Pujan "FiNESSE" Mehta in the YouTube series NA/TURALS. “Or at the very least we should've won those first two maps and we threw it away on our own accord. That's my main hunger, I want to beat them, I want to make that wrong a right again.”
Now that Envy has had more time to polish their gameplay and look back on what they could've done, this event will be the true test of their abilities against the world's best teams.
“Before Berlin we only had like a month or so, and it is so hard to add so many things with a new player,” Austin "crashies" Roberts said. “I do think we have a lot of new [strategies] now, and I think players and opponents will definitely be caught off guard.”
Envy have always been at the top, but never the ones sitting in the throne. Coming into Champions, they look to finally take what they believe is theirs and be crowned the first Valorant world champions.
Envy will debut in Valorant Champions on December 3 at 6 p.m. CET against
X10 Esports
X10 Esports
Inactive
Vera
Rodman Yap
Tempz
Pierre Heng
RedKoh
Danial Hakim
wayne
Wayne Chang
Egoist
Javier Chua
. Their group consists of
Acend
Acend
Inactive
ALIVE
Gilad Hakim
musashi
Alessio Xhaferi
pyrolll
Artur Minin
cullumx
Nikolaj Cullum Andersen
chiwa
Egor Stepanyuk
,
X10 Esports
X10 Esports
Inactive
Vera
Rodman Yap
Tempz
Pierre Heng
RedKoh
Danial Hakim
wayne
Wayne Chang
Egoist
Javier Chua
, and
Keyd Stars
Keyd Stars
Inactive
.