One squad that’s seemingly having a sneakily solid offseason so far in VALORANT is the Pacific team Global Esports, who is looking to improve on a disappointing season in 2023. For 2024, the org has already made some strong signings, and it added another promising player from Indonesia to that core today.
Global Esports has officially announced its fourth pickup of the 2023-24 offseason: Indonesian initiator Gary “blaZek1ng” Dastin, formerly of BOOM Esports. Avid VALORANT fans will remember him from his short time at Champions 2022, but also his semifinal finish at Ascension Pacific, losing to eventual victors BLEED in a close 2-1 fashion. Despite those two losses, he’s made a name for himself as a top initiator player regionally, now looking to prove it in the tier-one scene.
With this pickup, it seems like Global Esports is looking into making a mixed roster, but with a different focus in comparison to 2023. Last year, the team’s goal was to mix some up-and-coming Korean talent alongside Indian prospects, with limited success. Now, the team is still trying to mix Indian players with other regions but is going down a different avenue. The org has already picked up talent from places like Singapore and Indonesia, which have developed some of the best players in VALORANT—as fans have seen through Paper Rex.
Speaking of Paper Rex, Global Esports’ first pick-up of the offseason was Benedict “Benkai” Tan, formerly of Paper Rex. Then, after announcing the return of Indian player Abhirup “Lightningfast” Choudhury, Global surprised many by picking up former Guild Esports player Russel “Russ” Mendes. Now, with blaZek1ng, the team is almost complete, adding a regionally dominant initiator who can flex over to other roles if need be.
He made a name for himself on his go-to Sova, but 2023 was a year of adaptation for blaZek1ng, playing controller and sentinel often for BOOM Esports. For context, in his entire career, he played Sova in 59 percent of his matches, but he never touched the initiator role in Ascension Pacific. He still proved himself as a good talent, leading his team to earn the region’s only spot at Ascension by winning Split Two and losing in the semifinals of Ascension.
Now, since he’s joining a team that has two great sentinel players in Benkai and Russ, he could be playing the controller or initiator role on the team, based on who Global Esports’ final signing is. That flexibility is what makes this roster move so interesting for 2024. If there was one thing we learned in the 2023 season, it’s that flexibility was key—with Evil Geniuses and Paper Rex as the best examples.
Getting an experienced player who led his team to victory in two different roles could be crucial if Global Esports are looking to get more wins in the 2024 season.
