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As Valorant keeps picking up traction, more and more focus is placed on determining which are the best Valorant players in the world.
While a comprehensive list might take at least another year of competitive play to be proficiently accurate, there is enough data to accurately represent a few of the best Valorant players so far.
1. Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom
ScreaM is a former professional CS:GO and CS Source athlete. He made the transition to Valorant in August 2020, after playing several of the initial Valorant beta events.
At first, he played as part of Prodigy, a mixed team of all the athletes the talent agency represents, before ultimately being signed by Team Liquid.
Image Credits | @ScreaM_
Over the course of his Counter-Strike career, he has been praised for his Rifling skills and has been a part of the Top 20 player list each time between 2012-2016.
His Valorant career is looking promising as Team Liquid is one of the Top 3 teams in Europe in 2020 and a big contributing factor to their success is ScreaM himself.
2. Oscar “mixwell” Cañellas
M1xwell is the former Spanish CS:GO superstar turned Valorant player currently the captain of G2 Esports. He was one of the first Counter-Strike pros to make the transition to Valorant as early as June 2020. This came only three months after he played his last CS:GO match.
Image Credits | @Mixwell
He was best known for his time on OpTic Gaming and Movistar Riders. With G2, they are currently the most dominant Valorant team featuring some of the best Valorant players in Europe. We could feature 3 out of the 5 players of G2 in this article easily, but we selected Oscar as the main pillar of the roster.
3. Jay “Sinatraa” Won
Sinatraa is a former Overwatch League Champion and MVP Player. He currently plays for team Sentinels.
The transition of Jay into Valorant marked a huge scandal for the OWL, as its star player decided to stop playing competitively mid-way through the season.
Image Credits | @sinatraa
At the time was the reigning Overwatch League Champion with San Francisco Shock, Overwatch World Cup Champion with Team USA, and Overwatch League MVP.
Sentinels as a team were among the first Valorant teams in the competitive scene, featuring CS:GO and Overwatch athletes all of whom retired from their respective games to commit to Valorant.
4. Kirill “ANGE1” Karasiow
ANGE1 is the current captain and IGL for FunPlus Phoenix. He is a former Counter-Strike professional with a lengthy career going all the way back to 2005. For many years he was considered the de-facto leader of Hellraisers, one of the premier CIS gaming organizations.
Image Credits | @OfficialANGE1
He committed to Valorant this past summer and was quickly picked up by FPX. Next to G2 and Team Liquid, FunPlus is considered one of the top teams in Europe.
5. William “draken” Sundin
Draken is another former CS:GO pro who made the transition to Valorant in 2020. He built his name as an AWPer for world-class organizations like NiP and Fnatic in CS:GO before picking up the Operator in Valorant.
Image Credits | DreamHack
Currently, Draken is part of the new Guild Esports roster announced on October 21st. Before that, all five players on his team were competing under the team BONK throughout the 2020 season. Together with teammate “Yacine” Laghmari, they are considered the best Valorant players on the roster and in Europe this season.
What’s Next
The upcoming Valorant First Strike events will further clarify the skill gap and level of these and other Valorant pro players. As teams and players transition constantly in what is considered a grassroots competitive scene, there are at least a few months before the best Valorant players are set in stone.
If your interest is Valorant betting, then these are the five best Valorant pros you should consider. The organizations they represent should also be your natural choice for outright esports betting at any upcoming event.
Featured Image Credits: Riot Games
