VALORANT’s Rising Stars: Seven

At just 15 years old, “seven” is one of the youngest professional VALORANT players in North America. 

He has beaten some of the most prominent organizations in the region with his team Teal Seam, including Evil Geniuses, Rise and Soniqs. But the young roster has been ineligible to compete in Riot’s official VALORANT Championship Tour circuit, which prohibits players under the age of 16 from competing. 

However, this will all change for VALORANT duelist superstar seven on Aug. 13. Once the clock strikes midnight, he will be eligible to compete in the VCT circuit. Some big names are in for the youngster, but he and his team have yet to sign for an organization. 

The duelist has a 270.3 average combat score over the last 30 days with Jett, his most played Agent. His Phoenix, Raze and Reyna are nothing to scoff at, however, with a 1.31 lifetime Kill/Death/Assist ratio on Raze and 153 average damage per round on Phoenix, according to VLR.gg. 

Uncharacteristic beginnings

For most professional players, the path to pro typically occurs at a gradual pace. For seven, however, it was anything but slow and steady. 

While still in high school, he played matchmaking with his friends on Counter-Strike, before planning to switch to Project A (as it was known before Riot announced the title). Once VALORANT was released, it was time for seven to dominate public matches during the beta. 

He reached Immortal, the second highest rank in the game, during his time playing the beta. This left most of his old friends to catch up, seven told Upcomer during an interview. 

Most of the time, however, he played games for fun without an ambition to become a professional player. But there came a point when seven realized he was much better than the average player. He said he knew he could make it to the next level of his playing career. 

“Most of the time, I just play for fun. I never took it too seriously,” seven said. 

Seven managed to team up with some talented players on the original iteration of Teal Seam, which competed in a few small tournaments. Alongside him was former Evil Geniuses player Ronan “Osias” Javelona and fellow youngster “bones.” While they managed to beat a few teams, including TSM Sean “bang” Bezerra’s old squad Serenity, they disbanded after a few events. 

While seven continued to perform in small tournaments with teams like Zoomer Academy and the newest iteration of Teal Seam, it was clear that he had what it takes to become one of the next superstars of VALORANT. 

The support to succeed

Seven’s family is supportive of the decision to become a professional player, he said. But they don’t want him to slip up in school or quit, since this would leave him without a backup option if an esports career didn’t pan out. 

“I’ve told them how much potential I have to actually make it somewhere,” he said. “I can almost guarantee I’m going to make it.” 

While the focus remains on his education and a career in professional VALORANT, there are others that look to climb the ranks alongside the youngster. Youngsters “neT” and current Teal Seam teammate Chris “LarryBanks” Doyi were named by seven as two rising talents, while also touting Mark “mehzy” Olaes as another talented player.