Riot Games’ new first-person shooter, VALORANT, continues to grow, with a number of flagship esports organizations, and now Team SoloMid, joining the competitive scene.
SoloMid Becomes the Latest Organization to Join Competitive VALORANT
Team SoloMid has become the latest esports organization to bolster its presence in the VALORANT competitive scene. Scooping up a handful of CS:GO veterans, the team’s roster is now looking strong in what is a continuously growing competitive system. The roster consists of established names in the esports scene, including:
- Taylor “drone” Johnson
- Matthew “WARDELL” Yu
- Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik
- Stephen “reltuC” Cutler
The squad will have James “hazed” Cobb take charge and lead the team to victories in future and upcoming VALORANT events. Meanwhile, Taylor “tailored” Broomall will sit in as the team’s head coach. Broomall has a rich background in coaching teams, and his skills are particularly valuable at a time when demand for esports coaches is growing.
Broomall himself has worked with Team Boxr, Team Envy and Splyce, all fairly established outfits in the esports world. Commenting on these developments, SoloMid or TSM as they are known, said they were excited to be working with the new players. The team shared that there had been some difficulty in deciding whether to move onto competitive VALORANT, but in the end, TSM had agreed it was the right call. Their official statement read as such:
“Deciding to move on from CS:GO to VALORANT was a hard decision to make, but with a prestigious organization like TSM backing you, it makes the whole thing way more exciting.”
This comes well ahead of a planned release for VALORANT on June 2. Previously, Riot Games, the company behind VALORANT, said that it would allow the game to grow on its own pace instead of pushing the title too much as an esports.
VALORANT’s Growth Keeps Steady, More Tournaments and Teams Established
Interest in VALORANT has been growing exponentially. With viewership keeping steady in the closed beta, and the game nearing its official release in less than two weeks, more teams have been signing the competitive scene.
Immortals haven’t hesitated to add their own dedicated team featuring players such as Yannick “Koler” Blanchette, Amgalan “Genghsta” Nemekhbayar, Joseph “Bjorlulu” Bjorklund, and jcStani to try and consolidate the team’s presence in yet another promising competitive vertical.
Meanwhile, Dignitas has decided to field its all-female esports team in the game, citing the high-skill ceiling as well as the game’s ability to reach to new audiences. Dignitas’ team is competing in both the VALORANT Women’s 1k Open and Elite Esports Rivalry Bowl Invitational today and tomorrow.
All of this comes at a time when Riot Games continues to expand the reach of its game. On Thursday, Riot said it would increase the number of servers for the game across Europe and America in a bid to meet demand and in anticipation of the upcoming launch.