On a good day of VALORANT, a debuff from Breach’s Fault Line or Rolling Thunder is nearly a death sentence—it slows you down, messes up your vision, and caps your weapon’s fire rate. While nobody can be expected to pull off an audacious one-versus-three if hit by a Breach’s ultimate, EDG’s Wang “Nobody” Senxu has done the seemingly impossible, damaging the Swedish initiator’s reputation.
On June 18, EDward Gaming clutched LOUD, 2022 Champions winners, in an unbelievable 2-0 series, keeping the recently-planted Chinese flag soaring high in VALORANT esports’ territory.
While EDG performed exceptionally well as a team, nobody’s highlight play against LOUD’s aspas, cauanzin, and tuyz in the 22nd round brought the team to map point, possibly setting the exact momentum they needed for their win on Fracture.
At the start of the round, Zmjjkk, Haodong, and Smoggy grouped up in Attacker Side Bridge, while nobody and CHICHOO stayed back in Attacker Side Spawn: a classic A-Split push strategy. But it wasn’t easy to fool LOUD with such a basic plan: Saadhak was ready to call for A-Main and Hall control, with Breach’s Rolling Thunder to anchor the space.
After sensing a push from EDG through A Drop, LOUD called for an immediate push into A Main, a move designed to take control of A Main, paving the way to play a strong retake for A-Site.
Fueled by Breach’s “reliable” Rolling Thunder, aspas, cauanzin, and tuyz pushed through A Hall into the Attacker Side Spawn. Both nobody and CHICHOO were hit with the Rolling Thunder, but CHICHOO moved toward B Main to tackle any alternate push from that angle: nobody was left alone to deal with three of the best VALORANT athletes in the Americas.
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While every last bit of odds favored the LOUD trio then, nobody just wasn’t ready to go down. In an otherworldly fashion, EDG’s valiant Skye took down aspas, cauanzin, and tuyz while being dangerously debuffed from the Breach ultimate, shocking onlookers.
This magnificent display of mechanical skills proves how important “precise gunplay” is in VALORANT, even though abilities can steal the show sometimes.
It’s definitely a great feat for EDG, as they joined the small group of esteemed teams who have managed to defeat the Brazilian Titans so far. But nobody’s excellence has left the community questioning Breach’s usefulness—not something the beefy earth-shatterer was expected to face anytime soon.
With viewers and professionals worldwide calling for a buff to Breach’s concusses, Riot Games may have something to consider for their upcoming agent changes. Many even had specific, interesting tweaks in mind for the initiator.
Until nobody’s play from today, Breach’s ultimate was considered one of the strongest in VALORANT. After all, it sends players flying up in the air, concusses, cripples, and whatnot, making it nearly impossible to win concurrent fights while being hit by Rolling Thunder.
What nobody managed to do was a product of excellent mechanical skills, coupled with luck and a major misinterpretation of his positioning from LOUD’s side. To top it off, he had a Phantom, a weapon known to pull off miraculous things at close range.
Aspas and cauanzin pushed to take a face-on fight through tuyz’s smoke, giving nobody exactly what he needed in this situation. Things could have turned out in favor of LOUD had Omen’s Dark Cover not been at the chokepoint: it simply blocked vision for LOUD even further. And tuyz’s whiff afterward was just the icing on the cake for nobody’s play.
Analyzing the situation really sheds light on whether Breach’s stuns need buffs or not. Of course, some changes could make him a viable agent on maps other than Fracture and Haven.
But based on just nobody’s play, which was most likely an exceptional event and occurred due to LOUD’s miscalculation, Breach’s kit may be better left untouched.
Besides today’s incident, Rolling Thunder is an incredibly powerful ultimate in VALORANT; it can pull off game-breaking set plays when paired with other abilities and used cautiously. Breach also offers one of the most potent flashes in the game, in addition to a lethal deterrent ability, Aftershock.
Tweaking Breach’s stuns at this point may cause an unwanted, broken shift in the Initiator meta, which is currently as balanced as possible.
As for EDG, the team will continue their lower bracket run from June 19 as they cling on to their only remaining life at VCT Masters Tokyo.
Published: Jun 18, 2023 09:44 am