The official VALORANT Twitter account has made a post that can be called both humorous and quite relatable at the same time. The image features four winter-themed player cards with the caption, ‘You know it’s cold when you bust out these player cards.’ And honestly? The reaction of the community is exactly what you would anticipate—a total mixture of eagerness, envy, and also some always-existing gamer demands. It’s a complete vibe.
For those who are not so much into the tactical shooter community, player cards are basically the small profile pictures that are shown before a match. They are an important part of the cosmetic game in VALORANT and a way of expressing your style or allegiance to a specific agent. The game’s developer, Riot Games, distributes them in collections according to their themes and winter ones are definitely the most liked. The tweet provides you with a view of four different cards, all having a winter vibe that is enough to make you want to have a hot cocoa just by looking at them.
The comments are full of surprises and very valuable. Gamers started to showcase their collections right after that. One of them, Jaskirat ‘SHAYDER’ Aidan, revealed his collection saying, ‘I got all of them ;)’. Another player named Yokai replied, ‘Got the first two :)’. But for every collector, there is someone who is feeling the FOMO. ‘I don’t have any 😭,’ said el_p3droo while Mr Ash expressed his opinion with the words, ‘Me who didn’t get any of these 😭’. This is what typically happens in the gaming scene—seeing good stuff and wanting it right away.
Yet the main topic of the chat is quite clear—agents! Sova is the one card that should now be the winner of this winter release without any question. It is almost impossible to refuse the card demand. User ‘rey’ simply said, ‘i need the sova one.’ Sarah was even more to the point: ‘need that sova card😕’. The enthusiasm got to the point where comment like ‘I GOT THE SOVA ONE SO MUCH AURA’ by bad_vlr and ‘Valorant give me the sova one and my life is yours 😭🙏’ from Oscar were made. Finn even asked the developers: ‘WE NEED MORE SOVA CARDS PLS😭😭😭’. The love for the silent archer from Russia is really, really cold.
On the other hand, Sova was not the only one to get the love, but rather the opposite where some players chose to take the humorous side. ‘Penguin Sick asf he shredding,’ commented burn probably speaking about one of the cards that has a funny design. Grumpy raised a good question: ‘When will we get a winter omen card 🥺👀’. Also, there were Ali and another guy, who jokingly (or maybe not?) spamming ‘hahaha make a Deadlock one hahahahah’ as a call for more agents. The community knows its wants and is not shy to express it.
As expected, every gaming Twitter thread has its spontaneous diverting moments. One user attempted to auction his/her euw account claiming it contained ‘2k€ skin on it,’ which surely is impressive but also possibly not the most appropriate place to mention it. Another user talked about a different game, saying ‘Rainbow 6 is going mobile. When is valorant going to at least tease us with something…?’. And Mark dufarlf took the opportunity to plead for more: ‘Replication? Snow maps? Do anything for the community!’. The discussion moves from player cards to game modes and map design. Gamers are never just talking about one thing.
What is really astonishing is that such a trivial tweet, merely displaying digital cosmetics, activates this whole mini-ecosystem of conversation. One part is to show off, another one is to make a list and the last one is just to hang out. Lee Shin even uploaded their own screenshot of a card that they think is the best, almost proving that the debate centers around both personal preference and possession. Some players like woahtriss might have the cards but have not even made them public, which is quite a courageous casual flex.
The focal point could not have been more apparent. Even the smallest seasonal additions like player cards in VALORANT can change the game. They retain the players’ interest, they provoke them to talk about their favorite characters and they just look good, to be honest. This is the point in a competitive game where one can have fun and these little embellishments provide that little bit of personalization, a means of being different in the lobby before the shooting starts. Besides, with winter as the theme, it is even more enchanting. It establishes a communal experience even if it is just about who has the coolest Sova portrait.
Thus, Riot is spot-on; they released winter cards and the community, including players on PlayStation and Xbox, is buzzing.
