Middle Eastern VALORANT teams put on a show to the world

Following support from Riot Games towards the Middle East and North African region, giving them dedicated servers and adding Arabic language for localization purposes, VALORANT MENA players finally had the opportunity to show the world what the region had in store. With each part of the region having its own qualifier towards its respective Regional Final, we got to enjoy numerous playstyles and countless matches to discover hidden talent.

North Africa Regional Final

Fox Gaming was crowned as the First Strike North Africa Regional Final champion, following their hard fought victory over Team Majesty. Going to four maps, Fox Gaming took an early 2-0 lead over Team Majesity.

They came into the tournament as the #1 seed from the Strike Arabia - North Africa Qualifier following multiple stomps with 13-0 and 13-3 scorelines. Fox Gaming went in the tournament as clear favorites, and indeed proved the critics they deserved the praise with their Moroccan talent and distinct aggressive playing style, something they are known for in first-person shooter titles, especially Rainbow Six Siege and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

The Tunisians gave their fans a glimmer of hope for a comeback by winning Bind 13-6 to make it 2-1. However, Split ended in a convincing 13-6 to the Moroccan team to end it all. Youssef Ait "Cactuzio" Amghar stood out from the rest with a 248 ACS, getting a 33% headshot percentage, 7 triple kills, and even clutching a 1v3 in Haven.

GCC & Iraq Regional Final

RvN deservedly won the First Strike GCC & Iraq Regional Final after reverse-sweeping The Ultimates. The Saudi Arabian team took the first map Haven out of RvN’s hands, then lost all three to their Kuwaiti counterparts.

Undefeated since their formation, RvN went into the tournament with 9 wins and 0 losses. They even had already managed to win against The Ultimates before going into the Regional Final during the Strike Arabia - GCC & Iraq Qualifier to secure the first seed.

Their star player, Obaid "breAker" Al-Muhairi, is a former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player for NASR Esports and is considered one of the best in the region, with the WESG 2018 South & West Asia title and a 2nd place finish in the eXTREMESLAND 2018 Asia Finals under his belt.

RvN put on a memorable display on Ascent, finishing the map 13-1 and Fahad "Near" Salem scoring an astonishing 391 ACS. He contributed 19 kills, of which were 4 triple kills, and 2 1v2 clutch situations.

Levant & Egypt Regional Final

NASR Esports came into this tournament after finishing 2nd in the Strike Arabia - Levant and Egypt Qualifier behind G2 Esports following a 2-0 defeat, meaning they had a lot to prove going into the First Strike Levant & Egypt Regional Final. They had the chance to once again come up against Anubis Gaming but this time with the title of the best team in Levant & Egypt on the line.

NASR Esports’ members are all well-known within the Middle Eastern VALORANT and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community, and their talent and experience helped them bounce back from the defeat in the qualifiers to win with a comfortable 3-0 scoreline against their Egyptian counterparts.

NASR Esports took Ascent 13 to 9 after Baha "B4HA" Mohamad Oqap put up 22 kills with a 200.1 ADR and 1.47 K/D to top it off. Bind was closer than its predecessor, ending in 13-11 in favor of NASR Esports again but showing what Anubis Gaming are capable of. However, it wasn’t enough as they lost the third and final map, Split.