VALORANT esports is still a messy “spam fest,” with the double-controller meta continuing to be the focus of VCT Masters Tokyo. While the Harbor-centric meta has been prevailing since the start of VCT LOCK//IN, NRG’s Austin “crashies” Roberts said he isn’t a fan.
The winner’s Group A match between T1 and NRG on day two of VCT Masters Tokyo was incredibly close, with the rising South Korean roster giving one of North America’s top VALORANT teams a run for their money.
Besides highlighting his team’s sloppy performance, when asked about the prevailing VALORANT meta in the post-match interview on June 13, crashies labeled it “boring,” even though it doesn’t seem to affect his initiator-only playstyle much.
“It’s alright…I think this Harbor meta is a little boring, to be honest,” crashies said.
It’s noteworthy that the esports side of competitive games like VALORANT always sees teams overusing powerful strategies, and oftentimes, it becomes repetitive after a while.
Before his brutal nerf in Patch 5.12, Chamber had become a must-pick for every esports team, on every map. It led to a stale sentinel meta, with Cypher and Killjoy being overshadowed by the broken French weapons designer.
But crashies revealed that he preferred Chamber’s dominance over the Harbor meta. “At least with Chamber meta, you had to push the OP back a lot. You had to be a lot more strategical, how you play the game,” he said.
“And right now, it’s just a bunch of spamming Phantoms through smoke. Yeah, it’s kinda boring to play,” he added. “But I feel like I can play anything, so doesn’t really affect me.”
Crashies is an initiator main and is often seen playing Skye or Sova—and Killjoy in rare cases. With invincible clutches spread across his esports career, he has been deemed the world’s best initiator on multiple occasions.
Crashies may not be affected by the Harbor meta, but it’s definitely hard to watch for some fans. With teams throwing around strategies like the ‘pizza slice,’ it becomes very difficult for the audience to decipher what’s happening.
Related: How to use Viper and Harbor together in VALORANT: The pizza slice strategy explained
And as crashies mentioned, spamming through smokes doesn’t require much strategical execution—it’s more dependent on a fluke. VALORANT was always advertised to be a tactically intense, precise shooter experience, and these trends can spoil the game’s crux.
Thankfully, Riot Games has already taken the Harbor-Viper duo and Phantom spam trends into account and deployed huge nerfs to both in Patch 6.11.
While VCT Masters Tokyo is being played on Patch 6.10, the professional scene is expected to shift to the new update in the forthcoming tournaments, thus possibly putting an end to the tiring meta for good.
Today’s win has secured NRG a spot in the playoffs, the next stage in VCT Masters Tokyo starting on June 16.
