BLEED’s Valorant Roster Debut Ends In Disappointment

After an unacceptable VCT Pacific Kickoff tournament performance, the BLEED Esports organization immediately sought changes. The Singaporean organization returned to the big stage with a new iteration of the roster, only to falter in the opening match. 

What Happened For BLEED In The Past Month

BLEED Esports was one of the most anticipated Pacific rosters at the start of 2024 after adding world-renowned Duelist Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker to the team’s arsenal. However, the team heavily underperformed in the first regional event of the year, losing two matches in a row, resulting in an early exit.

The North American world champion received a lot of flak for an underwhelming display and mentioned he had problems with his eyesight and wasn’t feeling himself. Despite taking the blame, the team removed two players, Ngô “crazyguy” Anh and Javier “Egoist” Chua, from the team. 

These two players had only played in two official matches with the BLEED roster and had already been cut short. Fans were angered by this move, considering the two players weren’t the lowest performers on the team. 

Following the dismissal of the two, BLEED recruited former DRX player Kim “Zest” Ki-seok and Singaporean prospect Jorell “Retla” Teo. The roster looked good on paper, but the community was somewhat praying for the team’s downfall as most were unhappy with what the team did to its former players.

Regardless, BLEED was set to play against Talon Esports in the Champions Tour 2024: Pacific Stage 1 tournament. In this matchup, BLEED was a heavy favorite to win. 

Map 1 – Lotus

BLEED was off to a great start on their opponents map pick of Lotus. On the offense, yay and company took the first five rounds to lead 5-0. However, a timeout taken by Talon proved to solve issues, as they could strike back, salvaging the half 7-5, still in BLEED’s favor. 

Though the score at halftime would favor Talon, the BLEED squad continued to display their good form and shut down the Thai team’s offense. In particular, yay and sScary proved to be iron walls on defense, preventing opponents from finding success.

BLEED could win the six rounds required in the second half to win the first map 13-9, a pretty convincing performance. Fans were sold that the roster had already improved, but what ensued would change their minds.

Map 2 – Bind

The second map of the series was Bind, picked by BLEED. Talon took the first map loss personally and returned the favor, sweeping the first four rounds on their offense. BLEED could recover two rounds, but Talon struck with another three to lead 7-2. The BLEED boys could mirror the result of the first map, winning three straight to end the half 7-5 again, but not in their favor this time. 

BLEED attempted to make a comeback, winning the second pistol and the following round to level the score. However, JitBoyS on Harbor put up a devastating performance on defense to help Talon string six rounds to win the map 13-7. The Thai posted a 12/3/3 KDA in the second half. 

Map 3 – Icebox

The decisive map was Icebox, where fans finally got to see yay back on his trusty Jett. 

Talon started the map with a pistol round win, but BLEED could win a thrifty round to pull the game in their favor, 2-1 in rounds. However, what happened next was a complete disaster for BLEED fans. 

The Thai-based team could win nine consecutive rounds to end the first half 10-2 in their favor. Specifically, ban on KAY/O had a monstrous performance at the half with 13 kills and only 3 deaths. 

BLEED attempted a comeback with a pistol round win, but the lead was too much to recover. The game ended with Talon winning 13-6, a total blowout. The two lowest-performing players on BLEED were the newest recruits. Notably, Retla ended the map 2/15 on Killjoy, which was not a great look.

Despite a subpar performance, it is still early days in the Valorant Pacific Stage 1 tournament. The new iteration of BLEED will still have time to recover and hopefully put up a stronger showing in the following matches. 

Header: VCT Pacific