Valorant pros weigh in on Phoenix’s return to competitive meta

Phoenix has been out of the competitive Valorant meta for some time as new Agents have come out and risen to prominence over the Duelist. However, in the various last-chance qualifier tournaments around the world, he has made a resurgence.

In North America, Evil Geniuses pulled out a surprise Phoenix pick in their Valorant Champions Tour LCQ match against FaZe Clan on Ascent. The tiebreaking match saw Kelden ‘Boostio’ Pupello pilot the Duelist to a 31/29/9 score line in a 19-17 loss.

The pick came out of nowhere for 100 Thieves player William ‘Will’ Cheng, who was watching the series ahead of his own team’s match in the tournament. Will said he didn’t even realize that they were playing on the Valorant patch where Phoenix received buffs to his abilities.

“I think he had a couple of really cool plays, and obviously I know Boostio from the tier-two scene and he was a really good Phoenix player back then,” Will said about the surprise pick.

For NRG Esports player Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold, the Agent itself is strong at the moment, but he has doubts about its viability as a solo Duelist.

“There’s not that much space creation on attack, compared to, like, Jett right? Kind of like Raze, too. But I think the actual agent itself is really, really good right now. The six orb ult is insane for how much value he gets,” Ethan said about the pick.

“The flashes obviously are crazy right now. But yeah, I think you’ll probably see more of it in the future.”

Phoenix in other LCQs

Riot Games

Phoenix has not been a meta pick throughout 2022, until now.

Over in EMEA, Team Liquid’s Adil ‘ScreaM’ Benrlitom brought the Agent against BBL Esports in their opening match, also on Ascent.

He went 19/15/6 on the map in a 13-11 win over the Turkish side.

Valorant fans should expect to potentially see the Agent more as the meta evolves over the course of this year and he continues to see buffs to his abilities.