Who is nats from Gambit Esports’ Valorant line-up, and why is his Cypher the best in the world?

Nats from Gambit Esports (Image via Sportskeeda)
Nats from Gambit Esports (Image via Sportskeeda)

In yesterday’s Gambit Esports vs G2 at Valorant Champions Tour Masters Berlin, nats dominated G2 with his skillful Cypher gameplay.

The Valorant Champions Tour is heating up as the Stage 3 Masters Berlin awaits the best-of-five grand final between Team Envy and Gambit Esports. Gambit Esports not only won the best-of-three semifinals against G2 with a 2 - 0 score but took the second map in a landslide 13 - 0 victory. Following the match, Gambit Esports’ Ayaz “nAts” Akhmetshin became the center of discussion for his fantastic performance. Nats play the Sentinel Class Agent Cypher in Valorant. Sentinel classes are known for watching out for backstabbing and supporting the duelists.

With that being said, let’s take a look at who Nats is and why is his Cypher play is considered the best in the world.


Ayaz “nAts” Akhmetshin and his journey in the Gambit Esports’ Valorant team

Ayaz “nAts” Akhmetshin is a former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional player from Russia who currently plays for Gambit Esports’s Valorant roster. He kicked off his Valorant career playing for FishkaVTom from June 1 to September 13, 2020. He Joined Gambit Esports, alongside Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov, Nikita “d3ffo” Sudakov, Bogdan “Sheydos” Naumov, and Danila “Sunset” Soloviov as one of the first players on their Valorant roster.

Under the banner of Gambit Esports, nats and his teammates dominated the entire CIS region in the Valorant Champions Tour Stage 1. The team fell short of qualifying for Stage 2 Masters Reykjavik as they lost to Fnatic in the semifinals stage of the Stage 2 EMEA Challengers Final. During the Stage 3 Challengers, Nats put forward his best performance as Viper and Sage alongside his teammates and secured Gambit’s place in the VCT Masters Berlin.


Is nats the best Cypher player in Valorant worldwide?

While nats have maintained a strong performance playing as either Viper or Cypher, he knocked it out of the park during Saturday’s match against G2.

The Moroccan Sentinel agent is an interesting loadout, designed to keep tabs on multiple entrances. From his Tripwire to his Spy Cam, to his Cyber Cage, Cypher can alert teammates of enemy movements and block off sightlines when required.

Nats played the first map as Cypher and took 25 kills with 6 first kills to top frag the match. He also had 3 assists and a headshot percentage of 41.

Ayaz “nAts” Akhmetshin utilized the abilities of Cypher to the fullest and turned a defensive agent into one of the strongest attackers. He understands the best way to utilize the agent’s knowledge and uses it to the fullest. While many professional Valorant players have chosen Cypher as the agent of choice, none has used him as well as nats. It won’t be far-fetched to say that he is currently the best Cypher player in the world.

With the Valorant Champions Tour Stage 3 Masters Berlin coming up, all eyes are on him to see how he performs against Team Envy.

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