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Enigma Gaming recently emerged as the first South Asian team to qualify for the upcoming Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) 2022 Stage 2 APAC Challengers. After securing a victory over Orangutan at the AMD Skyesports Champions Series (SCS) LAN in Chennai, Enigma claimed one of the two APAC Challengers slots dedicated to the region.
At the Valorant Conquerors Championship 2022 in VCT 2022 Stage 1, Enigma Gaming was one victory away from qualifying for the APAC Challengers, as Velocity Gaming and Global Esports earned the badge to represent the region on the Challengers Stage. After enjoying an unbeaten run at SCS, Enigma is set to compete against the top Valorant squads from Asia-Pacific in the upcoming VCT Masters in Copenhagen.
Global Esports will accompany Enigma Gaming at the Stage 2 APAC Challengers. The Grand Finals of SCS, which is scheduled to commence on June 5, will ultimately decide their seeding for the upcoming tournament.
Enigma Gaming's owner Aryaman Wasan opens up about the team's future in Valorant Game Changers, content creation, and Stage 2 APAC Challengers
In an exclusive interview with Adarsh J Kumar of Sportskeeda Esports, Enigma Gaming's owner Aryaman Wasan discussed the team's future on several new fronts, including content creation and a possible expansion into Valorant's Game Changers program.
Q: In your opinion, what has been the key to Enigma Gaming’s success here at the AMD Skyesports Champions Series so far?
Aryaman: To be honest, the way our team looks at the match and the tournament is like an exam at school where you have all the time beforehand to prepare for it, but it's the preparation that goes in behind the scenes that no one sees that will dictate the result of the match.
Very lucky to have a hardworking bunch of people. Our coach, Lukas, has been phenomenal; a huge shoutout to him. He's been pushing the boys, making them work hard, and doing research on other teams, and the results on the day could have gone either way, and I'm thrilled that it went our way this time.
Q: Looking back at the group stage, how do you think Enigma Gaming performed and did it match the expectations you had set for the team?
Aryaman: We ended up being the only undefeated team in the Group Stage of the tournament, so it's a fantastic feeling to be dominating all the other teams. We had a lot of close games, of course. All the other teams were also excellent.
As the team's owner, it felt amazing to see the boys go out there and win every match. Everyone was very confident. Everyone felt perfect. Everyone knew they were taking the momentum into the finals, into the LAN in Chennai. Everyone had only one goal.
We ended up coming 2nd in the previous LAN tournament (Skyesports Souvenir 2022 - Mumbai), which pinched everyone. We also won all the Group Stage matches in that tournament and missed out on a final win. So this time, everyone's been very excited. They have their eyes on the trophy and want to prove themselves to all their fans.
Q: What was your goal for Enigma Gaming’s Valorant roster when the team was set up, and how far have you progressed?
Aryaman: When we started in January 2021, the two big dogs in the community were GE and VLT, dominating and making it to every final. Our goal was to challenge their status quo.
Valorant is something that is constantly evolving, always changing. It's tough for a single team to stay at the top constantly. That's the hope that we came up with, and that's the ambition that we've always had. We have to challenge that, make a difference, and change the scene.
It took about a year or maybe more than that to be able to achieve that, but it's phenomenal to have such amazing people working in the organization, to have such support staff, to have the privilege of working with such amazing athletes, and to be able to achieve what we set out to achieve.
Our ambition goes higher and higher by achieving everything we have done so far. It's a great feeling. We are fortunate to have the boys that we do so that they can make our dreams a reality.
Q: As we know, if Enigma succeeds in securing an APAC Challengers slot, you will be up against the best Valorant teams from various parts of Asia. In terms of quality, how would you compare Enigma to teams from the rest of APAC?
Aryaman: In terms of quality, to be honest, I don't think there's as much of a difference as anyone thinks there is between the two regions. But having said that, where there is a huge difference is the experience.
The top South East Asian (SEA) teams play against each other regularly. They've been doing so ever since the onset of Valorant, before that in other FPS titles. India hasn't had that opportunity as much.
Playing on a big stage, getting used to a different meta and the nerves of playing against the top teams, and watching them perform on the international stage is a mental battle that the teams must start facing and overcoming.
The only way to do that is with experience playing against them regularly and getting the confidence that you can also do it. The teams do play them in scrims regularly, but that's not the same as playing them in an actual tournament.
The way I see it is that this is a much-needed experience. We hope to get a lot more experience in the coming few months. After that, we can maybe talk about taking over the South Asian Valorant scene, beginning to rise, and competing with the South East Asian teams on a level playing field.
Q: Valorant's Game Changers is a growing program that promotes members of the female Valorant community. Considering its untapped territory for Enigma Gaming, do you have any plans to enter the Game Changers program and invest in a female Valorant squad?
Aryaman: This is something I was discussing with Jai Shah, the owner of Orangutan. He told us about their thought process about entering the scene, and it was very intriguing. I don't have any immediate plans to enter the Game Changers scene, but it's something exciting that we have started looking into recently, and who knows what could happen in the future.
Q: Enigma is on par with teams like VLT and GE regarding performance quality. However, when compared to those organizations, Enigma may lack content creation. Is that an area you plan to expand on, or do you feel it's secondary to the team’s Valorant esports ambitions?
Aryaman: It's secondary. I think it will always be secondary. We're an esports team first. Content creation is also an essential part of esports teams. Since they are practicing, Esports athletes don't get enough time to connect with the audience. If they're going to be competitively on par with the best teams in the country, SEA, and the world, they have to play and practice more.
Content creators need to be able to connect with fans. This is what makes the organization and the entire community. Fans help us thrive.
Initially, our focus was on esports to get the team up to the top teams first and then focus on the peripheral requirements of the organization. We have a lot of announcements coming up very soon. You should expect a bunch of things. We will focus on bringing in some of the top content creators on board as well.
Q: Valorant teams from India and the rest of South Asia are steadily improving and making their way towards the global stage. As the owner of an esports organization, what can owners do to ensure the team gets the exposure they need to compete at the highest level in Valorant?
Aryaman: There's not much an esports organization owner can do for the teams to get the exposure. What we can do is communicate with amazing TOs (Tournament Organizers) like Skyesports and everyone else. They may want to invest in the space and help grow the talent and give us more opportunities.
Riot Games, of course, has done a phenomenal job - Sukamal and the entire team. I think we're working more closely with them now to find more opportunities. We need to play against those teams very regularly, as I mentioned earlier. I think that's a statement that we've been echoing.
With all the team owners here for the LAN tournament, we've had a couple of meetings with him to try and promote that as much as possible. As I said, I don't think that skill-wise, there's as much of a difference as everyone may think there is. It's the exposure and comfort that everyone needs. Playing with them repetitively and getting used to that, having that experience, we will be able to give them a run for their money more than we have in the past.
As esports owners, we can provide them with all the facilities and support they need. That's probably something we can focus on for all the athletes. Communicating with the TOs and Riot Games to try to make those competitions happen more often so that we can be on a level playing team.
