Texas A&M Esports Team Takes Top Prize in Valorant Tournament
The Texas A&M Esports team started the new year by taking the top prize in the Collegiate Valorant Hub Winter Warmup Invitational on Jan. 7, defeating the University of Waterloo (Canada) in the final round.
The seven-person team, known as TAMU Maroon, defeated those from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University of Illinois Chicago, Toronto Metropolitan University, Florida International University and Fisher College en route to the title matchup. Thirty-two teams participated in the weekend event.
The team is advised by the School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts. Team members practice and play remotely and put in more than 10 hours a week preparing for tournaments, said team member Nick Barrionuevo, a junior multidisciplinary engineering major. He joined the team in fall 2021 after transferring from Texas A&M University-Commerce, and said he found his way to Esports through his love of sports competition and video games.
“Being here at A&M, joining the Esports team has given me an opportunity to meet some great people and continue playing this game at the highest level I can,” he said.
TAMU Maroon moved up to No. 6 in the Valorant collegiate team rankings with the victory.
The championship match involved three first-person hero shooter games: Ascent, Bind and Icebox.
“Each character has their own gimmicks and quirks and brings their own utility that they use,” Barrionuevo said. “But everyone has access to the same weapons and armor. Everyone has four unique abilities which can range from weapons or a smoke grenade or a flash bang.”
The semifinal win over Fisher College, then ranked No. 3, was especially gratifying after TAMU Maroon lost to the Massachusetts school earlier in the season, Barrionuevo said.
“We were able to play them and beat them, so that was a very good victory to have under our belts,” he said. “That was definitely our most competitive game for the weekend.”
The team had to shuffle players for the final round. Barrionuevo was ill, and substitute player Dylan Nguyen, a junior management information systems major, stepped in to replace him. The team defeated Waterloo, 3-0.
Barrionuevo said TAMU Maroon’s outlook is a good one, with early success while introducing a new player on the roster: Ethan Dinh, a sophomore finance major.
“It was a very good testament,” he said. “Having the player mesh very well and seeing it come to fruition fairly quickly was a very good thing for us to see, especially when we were going up against really good teams like Fisher Navy,” he said.
Dinh said he was pleased to win the event but noted there are challenges ahead.
“It gave us all a decent idea of how we match up against the other good collegiate teams,” he said. “This was really important since we are player-run, and we all have our opinions on the best way to approach matches and where we stand. This tournament should just be a steppingstone for us to improve and hopefully become the No. 1 team in collegiate.”
