VALORANT Patch 5.12 is one of the single most impactful updates to the game, with changes to 15 different agents, the enhancement of utility destruction via abilities, and, of course, the long-awaited Chamber nerfs.
Virtually every top VALORANT team playing in the VCT next year will have to come to grips with the changes to Chamber, with so many of the game’s most prolific and impactful stars rising to prominence this past year thanks to the overpowered sentinel agent. But 100T, fresh off a strong finish to the 2022 VCT season and looking ahead to 2023 after acquiring Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiban from XSET, isn’t as concerned as it believes other teams to be.
“I think [the nerfs] definitely pushed Chamber out of the meta for most of the teams,” Cryocells told Dot Esports just before the start of Red Bull Home Ground. “I definitely think that Cypher/Killjoy will be more utilized as the main sentinel.”
While Cryocells himself said that Chamber’s been pushed out, he still anticipates that teams are going to continue using him, and even acknowledged that some teams could still make him work. While the most prolific change to Chamber appeared to be the updates to his teleport anchors, Cryocells believes that the addition of a range restriction to his Trademark trip was the “biggest” change.
While Cryocells certainly earned a great deal of international prominence during Masters Copenhagen and Champions 2022 thanks to his Chamber play, 100T is already looking to scale back its reliance on the sentinel. Recently promoted head coach Michael “Mikes” Hockom believes other teams will face greater difficulty in this endeavor.
“I think some teams are probably in more trouble because they’ve built their lineups around having a sole Chamber player,” coach Mikes told Dot Esports. “The rest of their roles get kind of messed up after that; whether they don’t have an actual sentinel player that knows how to play Cypher and Killjoy at the top level, or they’re missing Flex players, depending on the way teams are built.”
“I think it’ll be an issue for them. I think we’re fine,” Mikes continued. “I think Cryo’s agent pool, if we ask him to step away from Chamber, is going to be just fine over time. The main thing there is just how much [he] wants to Op really, and I think Jett is still perfectly capable of Op-ing and being super abusive to the game with that mechanic combination.”
Cryocells also said he’s “already been working on [his] agent pool since before the Chamber nerfs.” But he and coach Mikes both noted that they’d be fine sticking with Chamber in certain situations. “We’re still trying to figure out what’s the best fit for us,” Cryocells said.
But a team is more than just one really good player on one broken agent. Coach Mikes said that Brenden “stellar” McGrath was “excited” to play more Killjoy and Cypher on more maps and heaped tons of praise on the playmaking and potential of Sean “bang” Bezerra, praising his talent, hard work, and ability to “retain [new things] like a sponge.”
100T will officially debut its new roster in round one of the Red Bull Home Ground event against Team Heretics at 7am CT on Dec. 9. They will also play Liquid and FUT Esports later in the day.
