Finally, here is the eagerly anticipated official on-air and observer lineup for VALORANT Champions Paris, and the community has already split – half of them are hyped, and half are all out in horrified outrage. While the lineup had some household names, it was said that a couple of major names really expected to be there.
What went wrong? Well, actually, the moment you click on the Setup tweet made by the official Valorant Esports account, you will realize they announced the entire crew responsible to bring for you a broadcast worthy of this biggest event of the year-the casters, the analysts, the hosts, and so on until the observers came about. Observers are pretty much critical as they decide what we see during matches. With a graphic containing all the deserving names and faces, the official announcement went off-to-the-races in reply opinions.
Let’s get down to those that ARE THERE first, shall we? For the group of old-timers, pansy with hypoc went back to Champions, an adrenaline rush for many of the old school fans. Ben_795: “pansy and hypoc back at Champions!!! Love this duo so much”-yeah, I’m with him. Their Insane chemistry and they have called some of the most iconic moments in Val history. Then the love was thrown to Tombizz and Mitchman by PallasFPS and EsportsDoug telling us that AlyssaTheAmazon freaked out in all caps, “HELL YES ESPORTSDOUG AT CHAAAAAAAAMPS.”
Now, let’s get into the messier stuff. Simon bluntly asked, “only 4 observers? for champs?” and… well, it is a scoring point. Well, you see, this is by far the biggest tournament of the year with the biggest prize pool, so four people covering all the action seems a bit skinny in numbers. Knowing how quickly Valorant moves and how many angles there are to cover makes it an even bigger issue. Adding to that, Flowerroadbb123 from the soul pleaded, “Pls make sure you guys get replays of all the kills missed for preround,” which is an issue that has been brought up so many times before in previous events.
Here comes the real shapeshift drama: the continuos “Who’s NOT there”. TobiasBrandhof1 addressed it as “the most criminal offense ever” NOT having HazzaJC_ and KairoCasts.” And they’re not alone in this opinion – ZzKINGMANNYzZ straight-up demanded “Justice for Hazza and Kairo.” These are popular casters that have been grinding in the scene and apparently got passed over for Paris??
There’s also the whole thing about regional representation. ElevatedSpeaks pointed out “0 #VCTCN reps” from China and only a handful from Pacific compared to “7-8 from EMEA and Americas.” Which yeah, when you actually step back to look at global Valorant esports, that seems a little off. Though mayadotexe definitely clapped back with “Yeah man China, which doesn’t even have an official English broadcast, is going to send talent to the English Champions broadcast. Surely” so there’s that take as well.
Some that most of us cherish did make it-yet again, Louhngle received huge praise from many, among them was WiPRenaud who just spanned the chat with “Ouaiiiiis Louuuuu”; and AshCasts reckoned Louhngle is “my goat.” Also, the presence of Kaquka is another reason to celebrate for GIANTXVALORANT. Then questions started buzzing about Mimi and Liz not getting the call with Jujudeerie simply sighing “yet again no Liz… still goated though…”
Speaking of observers, TiieOBS was called “my goatttttt” by grantvibn so at least someone’s happy. But four observers in total?? An event of this magnitude?? That’s crushing. BloodyCain60 also pleaded, “Please make OP shot in slowmo. Can’t see that in Pacific but I can see it in EMEA,” yet another matter on production quality that hopefully gets fixed.
The talent side is definitely quality, in the words of blu_embers, “The caster lineup is awesome! It’s going to be so fun.” But there are definitely some glaring absences that have some portions of the community feeling some type of way. The excitement and disappointment in the replies’ section are crazy to read through, honestly.
That said, Valorant Champions will inevitably be a great event no matter who’s casting it. The game speaks for itself and Paris is going to be wild. The tournament is about to kick off very soon, and we now know who’ll be bringing all the action in-full force. Sadly, some of the favorites were not invited to this roster this time around. But maybe next year, it will have more regional representation and be filled with fan favorites. For now, brace yourself for some honorary matches called by this crew.
