Author: Grayson Neander

Let’s face it, Envy had the easiest group stage of every team at VALORANT Champions Tour 2021: Stage 3 Masters: Berlin. Playing against two of the worst teams in the tournament (ZETA DIVISION and Keyd Stars) and a team that was run over in round one of the bracket stage 2-0 by G2 Esports (KRÜ Esports), Envy was practically guaranteed a spot in the bracket phase. There’s very little to analyze in their group stage as it was a total sweep against teams who had no chance of winning since the groups were determined.Sentinels, on the other hand, actually had to play against an EMEA team (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), a region known for its historical dominance in shooter games. While EMEA team G2 Esports were not nearly as dangerous as the VCT Stage 3 Champions, Gambit Esports, they gave Sentinels a run for their money. Handing Sentinels their first LAN loss ever and their first loss in months. G2 Esports actually made the group stage difficult for the NA team in their bracket.Despite these vastly different group stages, Sentinels’s TenZ still managed to demonstrate a consistently high level of play across the tournament, while Envy’s yay demonstrated just how low K/Ds can go without losing a match until Grand Finals.TenZ > yayWhile yay’s performance for Envy was some of the most dominant shooting we’ve seen in a VCT since Sentinels’s VCT Stage 2 run, he seriously choked against Gambit Esports in the Grand Finals. With a less than stellar performance on map 1 Bind, and an abysmal showing on map 3 Split, yay demonstrated nothing worthy of being compared to TenZ.Admittedly, both map 1 and 3 were Gambit Esports’s picks, but even so, yay’s performance was nothing short of disappointing. Although he sported a 0.95 K/D in map 1, yay’s egregious 0.61 K/D in map 3 was appalling. It should be mentioned, however, that yay’s showing in map 2 was incredibly impressive.He sported the highest K/D across both teams on map 2 even though Envy lost. However, one good map doesn’t make a champion. Inconsistent performances like that are not how champions, like TenZ, play.The Stats Don’t LieLet’s take a look at TenZ’s showing in the tournament compared to yay’s. Having only played one extra map, TenZ demonstrated a higher KDA (by 0.01), a higher assist and assist/map count (10 more assists, 0.6 higher assists/map), and a lower death and death/map count (4 less deaths, 1.6 less deaths/map) than yay. Even more impressive, this performance is coming off of two back-to-back 0-2 losses.Envy’s yay, on the other hand, demonstrated a higher kill/map ratio (3.1 more kills/map), a higher kill total (15 more kills), and a higher combat score/map (11 more ACS/map). While these numbers might seem more impressive, only 3 of yay’s 11 maps were losses. When compared to TenZ’s ratio of 6 out of 12 losing matchups, yay’s performance is much less impressive.Envy’s Star Player yay’s ShortcomingsSimply put, putting up higher numbers when your team has a better economy and consistent access to better weapons than the opposing team is unsurprising; however, what is surprising is having a better economy and consistent access to better weapons and dying more often with less team contribution (assists) than a player who does not have similar economic and weapon advantages; Sentinels lost half of the maps they played, and TenZ still managed to pull off incredible numbers. Envy only lost the last 3 maps they played, and yay only showed up for one of those losses.Furthermore, TenZ’s ability to drop consistently high numbers across multiple characters (Reyna, Jett, and Raze) is unmatched. On Jett alone, yay’s inconsistency is his greatest flaw. Despite only playing a single character, yay can demonstrate both K/Ds as low as 0.61 and as high as 3.44.That kind of range is incredibly volatile for someone who is meant to be considered the best. Let’s face it, it is not even a competition. When the cards are stacked against TenZ, he’s consistently elite.When the cards are stacked against yay, he chokes and drops a 0.61 K/D. These two players shouldn’t even be in the same conversation. TenZ is better and the numbers prove that.