So Valorant Esports just dropped this wild tweet, giving players a situation: they only have 4,500 credits to build a balanced fantasy five-person team. And the responses absolutely exploded. Within minutes, hundreds of gamers were just throwing their dream teams there, trying to flex on their pro scene knowledge and budgeting skills. This is basically the quintessential offseason brain teaser for VCT fans, and everyone has an opinion.
The tweet itself was pretty straightforward: it showed a conference graphic displaying prices of players, from cheap 500 cred picks all the way up to 1500 cred superstars. The challenge was simple: spend exactly 4500 to build your ultimate squad. No going over, no leftover credits. Gotta spend them all. And the community went crazy.
Then you start to see a lot of recurring names. It’s as if people are all min-maxing their roster for maximum value. That would include Boaster, for Fnatic, who’s bizarrely set at 500(?) An absurd value for an IGL of his level. He’s in about half of the teams people have started to build. Then you have the 1000 cred workhorses – Zekken, Forsaken, nAts – these guys are the backbone of many suggestions. They have been consistently good and reliable while not denting the wallet as much as the 1500 cred guys.
That’s where the disputes really begin: 1500 cred players, and how should one value them? Some feel it is a waste of money to drop so much cash on one player, maybe Aspas or Derke. Maestro put it nicely when he said, “1500 is way too expensive. maybe if they were 1250, then it might be worth.” I agree with that statement to a point. Why would you spend almost a third of your whole budget on one dude when you’d have enough to get two other solid players on the same cost? It’s all about value.
Then you have the opposing side. One such lineup was put forth by Cyrus: “Aspas Duelist 1500, Boaster Controller 500, Jawgemo Duelist 1000, Benjyfishy Sentinel 750, Verno Initiator 750.” That adds up to a grand total of 4500, with nothing left on the table. High-risk, high-reward; if Aspas puts in work, you win. If not, your entire economy is tanked. It’s a brave plan.
Probably the popular choice falls into some variation of Zekken, Forsaken, and nAts, along with cheap options like Boaster or JonahP. User tolerateitmax put it best: “Zekken, Nats, Forsaken, Reins, Boaster… 4 people who will pop off every game and Boaster the greatest IGL of all time. S tier team. Who needs a 1500 player when you can stack up on players just as good for cheaper.” Hell yeah! Efficiency over everything.
Then there are teams for pure vibe check. “Forsaken, Zekken, Nats, Verno, Zellsis” according to Yeck, who added, “flame me for zellsis over benjy idc the vibes need to be high for verno.” Sometimes it’s not just about stats; it’s about how the chemistry feels. You want a team that won’t tilt and will keep the energy going. Can you put a price on that?
Then comes the language barrier question, which is a legitimate concern for a global esport. Po1ar mentioned, “Zekken, forsaken, jonahp, nats, mako clears that is if they all could randomly speak English.” On paper, you could have the most mechanically gifted team, but if they are not able to communicate, all that is lost. Thus, cheap English-speaking IGLs such as Boaster are so precious—they really hold things together.
Certain replies are wild. Elias Santamaria stated, “4 forsakens and boaster.” Four of the same player? That is either genius or insanity. Probably both. And it is not behind that Reqru1t mixes things with “nAts t3xture TenZ stax and crashies”, a kind of juxtaposition between region and playstyle. TenZ for 1500 is clearly a statement.
Even the Valorant Champions Tour official account gave a shout to “the fire lineup 🔥,” so that’s pretty cool to see. They have been engaging with the fans and joining the conversation on their own. It’s some good off-season entertainment while we have so little happening going on, after all.
The really interesting thing that one can glean from this is how often the same players are deemed good picks. Forsaken’s name is everywhere. Zekken seems to be in almost every team. nAts is a popular pick for sentinels and IGL duties. And then Boaster rules the cheapness scale: the guy everybody wants to build around for how cheap he is for what he can deliver. Meanwhile, the 1500 credit stars like Aspas, Derke, and TenZ are divisive: some think they’re a necessity, some think they’re a trap.
This is just a gigantic fantasy draft game, but for Valorant. Every coach tries to find hidden gems: undervalued players that exceed their price tag. And everybody thinks their team is the best, which reflects in some really humorous alternative line-ups that are quoted unwillingly at least.
The whole affair just shows how much the community is engaged. People aren’t merely watching matches—they’re putting a value on players and dissecting team-building and strategies. They even care about the nitty-gritty. It’s not just about who’s good at aiming or out-CSing the rest. It’s about putting a team together—how you manage things: in-game and in this silly credit challenge. Eh, maybe it’s just a tweet, but it really stirred the discussion, made people think, and got a lot of people participating. That’s a huge win for me. Now, if you excuse me, some tinkering of my own fantasy five-stack awaits. I’m looking at Zekken, Forsaken, nAts, Boaster, and…wait, 4000 only. Crap, one more 500-cred player, please. This is a lot harder than it seems.
