Dignitas may no longer be underdogs.
The eighth-seeded team easily beat first seed TSM in the first match of the Pop Flash VALORANT Ignition Series 2-0 today. Dignitas, which consists of four former Homeless players and newcomer Ryan “Shanks” Ngo, are showing promise in their first pro VALORANT appearance together.
The series kicked off on Haven, where Dignitas snagged a lead and never looked back. Powered by former CS:GO player Rory “dephh” Jackson, Dig took the map 13-5 and cemented themselves as contenders in the scene. Dephh and Shanks, who’s “on trial” with the team, put up a whopping 17 kills each.
Phat “supamen” Le clutched the seventh round and taught TSM a valuable lesson—pros don’t fake. The pro snuck around C site’s default and stuck the defuse, faking out TSM’s Taylor “Drone” Johnson.
Bind yielded similar results for Dig, who beat TSM 13-4.
Despite TSM’s difficulties, there were definitely some bright moments. Drone fueled his team to a second-round win with a clean three K, weaving through Bind’s A site with clean headshots and ending the play with a beautiful flick.
Shanks played the role of OPer for Dignitas, going toe-to-toe with Jett main Matthew “WARDELL” Yu. The newcomer certainly has a lot to play for since a great performance can help him cement a permanent spot on the Dig roster.
Despite TSM’s early defeat, the team can still make it out of the group stage with victories in the lower bracket semifinal and final. The Pop Flash tournament runs from today to Aug. 30, with the playoffs taking place on Sunday.
