Player Spotlight: ardiis vs NA and LATAM teams

Ardis "ardiis" Svarenieks joined NRG Esports ahead of the VCT 2023 circuit and he will compete in North America for the first time in his career. However, he had played against NA and LATAM teams in the past at international events. It will be interesting to see him against new opponents but here is all the information we have on him competing against some of the best NA and LATAM teams at VALORANT Champions 2022!

First of all, let’s have a look at the Latvian player’s history in VALORANT. ardiis started his professional career competing at amateur and low-tier tournaments with ec1s, soulcas, Kryptix, and L1NK. He then joined G2 Esports and won trophies like WePlay! Invitational, BLAST Twitch Invitational and reached the First Strike Europe Semifinals. He left G2 and joined Heretics for one tournament but then signed a contract with FunPlus Phoenix for the 2022 season. The Latvian player had phenomenal performances under the FPX roof, winning VCT 2022: EMEA Stage 1 Challengers, VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen as well as placing fourth at VALORANT Champions 2022. Even though all of his teammates from FPX joined Natus Vincere, he chose NRG Esports as his new home and moved to NA for the next challenge in his career.

We have seen him compete against some of the best EMEA players many times during regional tournaments. However, ardiis attended two international events last year, missing the Stage 1 Masters Reykjavik. We might have a little bit of information if we look at his performance against VCT 2023 - Americas League teams in the past, especially VALORANT Champions 2022. The Latvian player competed against KRÜ Esports and XSET twice and Leviatan Esports once in İstanbul. Even though the XSET roster was disbanded a while ago, he still competed against some of the top players of the region who have found themselves new homes in different organizations. Before that, he played against OpTic Gaming at VCT 2022 Masters Copenhagen and held a 1.11 rating, 210 ACS with a 1.20 K/D. He was the second-highest-rated player of the match that day.

FPX’s debut in İstanbul was against KRÜ Esports. KRÜ gout until the end on Icebox and Bind but the EMEA team won the series with a score of 2-0. ardiis picked Chamber and KAY/O and held a 1.01 rating, 1.07 K/D, and 186 ACS and he had his lowest rating against Americas teams. FPX made a great start to the tournament with a sweep against KRÜ in the opening game but XSET managed to take them down in the winners' match. This time ardiis had a great performance with a 1.26 rating, 1.11 K/D, and 260 ACS, but it wasn’t enough despite being the match MVP. FPX faced KRÜ one more time to make it to the playoffs and they succeeded once again. The Latvian star had a 1.21 rating, 1.20 K/D, and 247 ACS on top of the 8 first bloods he grabbed to help his team get the man advantage on the battlefield.

The EMEA team came up against Leviatan Esports in the first round of playoffs. FPX completed another sweep and ardiis had another impressive performance with a 1.16 rating, 1.11 K/D, and 249 ACS. This time, he grabbed 11 first bloods and he was definitely on fire. Lastly, FPX took revenge on XSET and kicked them out of the upper bracket race. ardiis completed the series holding a 1.13 rating, 1.07 K/D, and 235 ACS on Jett, KAY/O, and Chamber, headlining as the match MVP one more time. During last year, ardiis averaged a 1.15 rating, 1.11 K/D, and 235 ACS against NA and LATAM teams.

Despite making a slow start to VALORANT Champions 2022, ardiis had put in impressive numbers against some of the best NA and LATAM teams in the tournament. Americas and EMEA are the two regions that won the World Championship tournaments so far and ardiis proved himself in one of them. Looking at his performance against Americas teams last year, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that he is ready to take on the competition next year in his new home. NRG Esports surely have faith in him and the abilities that he had already shown against his upcoming opponents last year.

You can follow ardiis and NRG throughout VCT 2023 through our dedicated hub.