For the 2024 season of the VALORANT Champions Tour, the only way Karmine Corp can go is up. KC’s 2023 season was nothing but rough, and reports came out toward the end of August that few members or coaches would remain for the 2024 season.
While fans still have yet to see those sweeping changes, a new report shows that two rookies are making their way to tier one, and one of them would be the first NA import to EMEA in franchising.
Karmine Corp has come to a verbal agreement with American duelist Marshall “N4RRATE” Massey and Portuguese duelist Tomás “tomaszy” Machado, according to blix.gg. Both are young, high-potential duelists coming out of their respective tier-two scenes. It still leaves Karmine Corp without an IGL, but the surprise import and shrewd pickup from Portugal could pay dividends in the future.
These two additions will give KC flexibility for any potential duelist that becomes part of the meta, especially looking at their most played agents. N4RRATE is primarily known for his Jett and Raze, as tomaszy mains Neon while providing the ability to play any other duelist, including Reyna. Considering how KC never used double duelists in any game across the 2023 season, this already offers something new to the organization.
Both players come from very different backgrounds. N4RRATE, the first NA import to EMEA since franchising began, has exploded onto the scene, with his first official VALORANT tournament in early 2023. He joined MAD Lions, and despite his team not getting any significant wins, his stats told another story. Despite being on a losing team, he finished eighth in match rating over the entire Challengers season, in the same statistical spot as players like Jonah “JonahP” Pulice and Mouhamed “johnqt” Ouarid. N4RRATE also finished first in average combat score with 257.4 and first in average damage per round and kills per round, according to vlr.gg. A prime candidate of someone who played great on a losing team, he seemingly is getting his shot at tier one thanks to KC.
Tomaszy is different because he was one of the best players in the Portuguese tier-two scene, and his team won because of it. SAW won both Portugal Splits for Challengers, only losing one map in both finals. Similar to N4RRATE, he led lots of stats regionally, including ACS, damage per round, and kills per round for Split Two. Where he stands out is that final stat, as he averaged 1.01 kills per round, meaning he was essentially guaranteed to get a kill every round. That regional dominance couldn’t lead the team to winning Ascension, losing in the semi-finals to eventual victors Gentle Mates. But KC spotted the talent available from SAW and picked up their star duelist.
Without knowing how KC’s team is going to look in 2024 besides the earlier report of Martin “Magnum” Peňkov, these two players both have the potential to top charts statistically in EMEA if they keep up their form from previous competitions. They might not always get playing time together, but having two players who can frag out and lead you to victory will be a nice situation for a team desperate to rebound from a disappointing debut season in franchising.
