Drama is everywhere in eSports, even in the Valorant professional scene! The tea is scalding hot in this one!
In case you missed it, former professional CS:GO players turned Valorant pros Sentinels ShahZam and TSM WARDELL had a rather fiery exchange on Twitter.
Trashtalk?
Trashtalk isn’t anything new when it comes to gaming. Even in professional esports, the art of trashtalking remains prevalent between big name players.
This contributes to existing in-game rivalries which only fuels up the flames— thus spicing up any match.
For instance, there’s age old rivalries between esports organizations such as G2 Esports and Fnatic. Let’s not delve into the player base itself, because the trashtalk grows worse there!
Though these rivalries stay lighthearted most of the times, they may often ignite and start a real feud— which is exactly what appears to have happened between former CS:GO pros turned Valorant players Sentinels’ Shahzeb ‘ShahZam’ Khan and TSM’s Matt ‘WARDELL’ Yu.
Heated and Fiery?
First off, the fiery exchange seemed to have begun when the Sentinels posted a short clip of ShahZam talking about TSM
ShahZam stated that the Sentinels have more consistency than TSM, even admitting that he likes to seem them lose. As a response, the video received the ire of the TSM player.
WARDELL criticized the said video, writing “who knew rats can talk? LMAO.”
ShahZam then followed up and defended his team, stating that the video was old and asked WARDELL:
“Bro what? They’re just promoting a YouTube video recorded a while ago, why are you so mad”
His response only ignited the fire, however.
WARDELL responded to ShahZam by making fun of the player’s hair, stating that it’s not silver, but platinum. ShahZam then accused the TSM player harboring a crush on him.
Gone wrong?
With the fiery exchange, many fans interpreted it as trashtalk and banter, while others remained unsure. This is because of ShahZam’s genuine surprise in his first tweet.
Nonetheless, the feud has sparked more ire between the already rival teams.
This rivalry may be soon settled on the battlefield of the NA First Strike tournament.
Many fans are waiting to see the Sentinels and TSM face off once again and settle their long established rivalry.
Just a little bit more waiting and we’ll finally see a rematch we’re all anticipating!
Many fans expressed their support over the “healthy” rivalry between the two pro teams:
“One of the best things for VALORANT esports would be if these two teams absolutely despise each other. It makes every match that much more exciting. I love this rivalry.”
“I dig it!! Need some rivalries and stories”
“Its not like you said terrible things either, you guys consider them rivals, thats respect”
“I love you both too much to let this beef continue. Please stop or I’ll literally clap you both irl”
“literally you state it’s a rivalry, and rivalries there’s smack talk to hype it up though”
