VCT Americas: viewership, Agent and weapon stats, player spotlight and more

With Masters Tokyo on the horizon and the VCT Americas, VCT EMEA, and VCT Pacific all wrapped up, we thought it'd be worthwhile to have a look at some statistics from one of the events. VCT Americas saw LOUD lift the trophy on stage following a victory over NRG Esports in the grand final. Here are what we thought would be the most interesting statistics to highlight alongside the players that impressed us over the course of the group stage and playoff stage.

VCT Americas: Meta and viewership stats

Most picked maps

Out of a total 139 maps played at the VCT Americas event, Ascent was picked the most times, at a total of 26 picks. Pearl follows closely with a total of 23 times the Portugese-based VALORANT map was selected by teams. Lastly, Split, which made a return to the competitive map pool at the beginning of 2023, has been played 21 times at the event.

Most picked Agents and composition

When it comes to Agents, there were a couple of clear winners in the most-picked department. Killjoy, to nobody's surprise, was the most picked Agent at the event, sitting at a whopping 75% pick rate. Agent Jett, currently the only viable pick to carry the Operator duty, was not far behind at 71% pick rate. Lastly, Skye, Viper and Omen close the top 5 most picked Agents, with Skye being the favored Initiator and Omen and Viper being the most picked Controllers of the tournament. Here are the most picked VALORANT Agents with their respective pick rates at VCT Americas League:

1. Killjoy - 75%
2. Jett - 71%
3. Skye - 61%
4. Viper - 57%
5. Omen - 37%

When it comes to Agent composition statistics, the following composition was the one that was played the most times (54 in total):

• Viper
• Jett
• Killjoy
• Skye
• Harbor

With a total pick rate of over 19%, this composition was used in total on four maps. However, the composition was popular on two maps — Pearl and Haven. On Pearl, the composition was the most picked at 36 picks. On Haven, it was also the one teams chose the most times at 14.

Vandal vs. Phantom

While the Vandal was seen to be an extremely favored choice for many players, especially in the 2022 meta of VALORANT, a lot of teams are starting to pick up the Phantom just as frequently. The removal of Breeze and Bind, two very large maps where long-range battles were the norm, and the return of Split and Bind, two maps where close-range engagements are much more frequent, see the rise of the Phantom in the VCT Americas meta. Following the end of the event, Vandal was picked 31.55% of the time while Phantom almost matched its counterpart at 29.23%.

VCT Americas viewership

When it comes to viewership statistics, the grand finale between LOUD and NRG Esports brought in the most viewers with the match peaking at 554,170. With over half a million VALORANT fans tuning into the final, the Brazil vs. USA showdown was a much sought-after affair that brought two of the most hardcore fanbases together to enjoy the spectacle.

Fittingly, LOUD and NRG were also the most watched teams at the event at a whopping 10.4 and 9.1 million hours watched respectively. Sentinels joins the top 3 in third place at 7.9 million hours watched at VCT Americas.

VCT Americas: Best players

*Note: Players had to play at least 280 rounds over the course of VCT Americas with the Agent class to be taken into account.

Best Duelist + Best Entry: aspas

Without a doubt, apart from receiving the overall best player of the event award at an incredible 1.23 THESPIKE Rating, Erick "aspas" Santos was also the best Duelist and Entry Fragger of the tournament. The Brazilian was just a spectacle to behold. With a First Blood Success Rate (FBSR) of 61%, aspas had some of the most impressive stats across the board. Apart from his incredible Rating and FBSR, he had the highest K/D ratio at the event at 1.47, highest Kills Per Round (KPR) at 0.91, and was the second-best player in terms of Average Damage per Round (ADR) at 158.6. The statistics speak for themselves.

Best Initiator: crashies

NRG's Initiator main takes the cake in this category. Austin "crashies" Roberts, attaining a THESPIKE Rating of 1.13, mained Skye and Sova for the majority of VCT Americas. You can tell crashies is an Initiator main by looking at just one metric: Assists Per Round (APR). With a 0.42 APR — second-highest in the League — crashies did exceptionally well to set his teammates up for success. When it comes to Initiator play, crashies remains as one of the most elite players to take up the reins of Skye and Sova on the VALORANT scene.

Best Controller: Less

Felipe "Less" de Loyola Basso would be contender for MVP if not for his teammate aspas consistently putting on a blowout performance. The Viper-main accumulated a THESPIKE Rating of 1.25 on the Controller Agent over the course of 395 rounds where he's picked her up. Less had a phenomenal K/D ratio on Viper of 1.33 as well as an ADR of 162. He also scored a KPR of 0.86. Less is constantly showing that Controllers can in fact be more and be as effective in fragging as the main stars of the team, which tend to be Duelist players.

Best Sentinel: Victor

Despite Victor "Victor" Wong being very much so a flexible VALORANT player, his most-played Agent at the VCT Americas was Killjoy. In the current meta where Killjoy is one (if not the) strongest Agents, having a reliable Killjoy is crucial to a team's success. While playing Killjoy, Victor attained a THESPIKE Rating of 1.06, accumulated 216 ACS, a 1.20 K/D ratio, and had a 21% 1vX% success rate. Victor came in clutch for NRG and was surely a solid part of why they reached the grand final of the event and are going to Masters Tokyo and Champions in Los Angeles.

Clutch Machine: bang

Sean "bang" Bezerra emerged as the best clutch player of the event. With 511 rounds played, bang was put into a 1vX situation 36 times and has come out on top on 11 occasions, leading to a 1vX% win of 31%, highest in the League. Some players came close to that record, but if we follow this metric, it's almost fair to say that one out of three times, bang will outplay his opponents when left as the lone survivor after his teammates have fallen.

Make sure to check out our comprehensive stats page for Agent picks, maps, weapons, and more so you can see what the pros are picking, banning, and playing.

*Featured image credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games