ScreaM leaps to Envy’s defense after Valorant Champions exit

Liquid star Adil ‘ScreaM’ Benrlitom has spoken out in defense of Envy after the North American side were eliminated from Valorant Champions in the group stage.

Valorant Champions has not been kind to North America.

VCT Stage 2 Masters champions Sentinels were the first team from the region to be eliminated after losing to Chilean/Argentine team KRÜ Esports in Group B’s decider match.

And Envy, the runners-up of VCT Stage 3 Masters, were on December 7 sent packing following a 2-1 loss to X10, leaving Cloud9 Blue, who scraped past Vision Strikers, as the sole North American team standing as Valorant Champions enters the knockout stages.

After Envy’s defeat, ScreaM was quick to point out that their early exit in Berlin comes with a caveat after one of their players, Victor ‘Victor’ Wong, returned a positive PCR test ahead of the event.

“Just want to point out the fact that Envy had a player with Covid,” ScreaM wrote on Twitter. “Knowing that, no one can judge their performance here.

“I’m pretty confident they are the best North American team.”

Victor had to play from his hotel room, isolated from the rest of the team. After Envy’s loss against Acend, he described the experience at the event as the “worst one” he’s ever had.

In an interview with Dexerto, Envy’s in-game leader, Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta, was very critical of the conditions in which Victor had to play. According to the Canadian tactician, the window in his teammate’s room was broken and he was freezing throughout the match against Acend, in which he was Envy’s worst performer.

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With Sentinels and Envy eliminated, North American hopes will now be carried by Cloud9 Blue, who will face ScreaM’s Team Liquid in the quarter-finals.

This will be the first time that Liquid will play on stage at the event after they had to play their group matches from a hotel room due to a positive test returned by ScreaM’s brother, Nabil ‘Nivera’ Benrlitom, who has now been cleared from the event’s health and safety protocols.