For the first time in the VALORANT Champions Tour, Neon made her debut in international VCT play when Team Liquid picked her against KRÜ Esports on Day 1 of Masters 1. In their first map of Fracture, Team Liquid stuck to their creative team comps by bringing Neon to Masters 1.
A little tense during the opening rounds but the boys are now fully warmed up 😤
It's a 13-5 win on map one #LetsGoLiquid pic.twitter.com/kenJn8Xpxq
— Team Liquid Valorant (@LiquidValorant) April 10, 2022
Neon makes it to the international VCT stage
With 2022’s Masters 1 in Reykjavík, this is the first international competition with Neon available in the hero pool. It’s been available for each region beforehand, but her playstyle has only allowed the creative or desperate teams to try her out. Before the travel issues that led Team Liquid to make it to Masters 1, they made a name off running Neon on Bind and Haven. It wasn’t perfect, but the way they ran it led them to a 60% win rate on Haven and a 50% win rate on Bind in Challengers 1. Along with OpTic Gaming in North America, they were one of the few teams that ran Neon consistently and with some success.
But on the first day of Masters 1, on Fracture, a map that Team Liquid had yet to play on for VCT 2022, they put Dom “soulcas” Sulcas on Neon. This sparked a lot of conversations about how this would work when it mattered most.
Vitor “kon4n” Hugo, player for TBK Esports
NEON pic.twitter.com/tyRNBcHLFq
— FURIA kon4n (@kon4n) April 10, 2022
TBK Esports’ kon4n was excited to see the agent finally at LAN, simply tweeting her name with a wide-eyed gif.
Scott Robertson, writer for Dot Esports
NEON ON FRACTURE. LIQUID YOU MANIACS. #VALORANTMasters
— Scott Robertson (@counterscottGO) April 10, 2022
Scott Robertson was surprised at the confidence that Team Liquid had to pull this pick out. He tweeted “NEON ON FRACTURE. LIQUID YOU MANIACS”.
The official Team Liquid Twitter account
"It doesn't have to be pretty when it works" 😎
We are 7-5 up at halftime of map one #LetsGoLiquid
— Team Liquid Valorant (@LiquidValorant) April 10, 2022
Even with moments that looked uncoordinated, Team Liquid started the half up 7-5 with their Neon composition. They tweeted that news, with the line “it doesn’t have to be pretty when it works”. That quote held up as Team Liquid won the map 13-5.
Blake Van Poucke, writer for Esports.gg
Liquid take Kru's map pick 13-5 👀
6-0 defensive side for TL 👀
Jamppi's Breach and Soulcas on Neon 👀
— Blake (@TokyoDown) April 10, 2022
As the first map ended with a strong defense for Team Liquid, the Neon looked strong. Blake Van Poucke tweeted out the stats, mentioning that TL won on KRÜ Esports’ map pick, didn’t lose a map on defense and was impressed with both the Breach and Neon picks.
