Hot on the heels of the news that global girl group XG will release the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific’s official 2024 anthem, entitled UNDEFEATED, news of another debut has made waves in the gaming community. Just this April, gaming authority ValorantEsports shared a post on X that announced Clove would soon be a playable character for VCT esports pros. This is exciting news for many, following an already eventful first few weeks of the Pacific leg.
A Quick Primer on VCT
Inarguably, Valorant is one of the biggest competitive gaming titles today, with Dexerto estimating that there are about 19 million active players globally. This is why VCT garners massive attention every year. As explained in a Valorant betting guide, VCT is relatively new, seeing that it was only in 2020 that developer Riot Games began holding the inaugural “First Strike” regional tournaments that would eventually lead to the international version we know today.The present-day format of the VCT includes three levels: the Challengers, Masters, and Champions. Starting from a regional stage, teams that succeed then move on to international skirmishes that are akin to mid-season invitationals. From there, the cream of the crop battles it out at the annual finals.
Since its inception, VCT has risen to become one of the most successful esports events. So much so, in fact, that the VCT Masters Madrid 2024 broke international viewership records by recording up to 1.3 million viewers at its peak. Aside from its talented esports athletes, another reason why VCT attracts mainstream support is that the game’s meta always changes. This makes every season different for teams as they’re introduced to map changes, buffs and nerfs, and playable agents.
Here comes Clove
Speaking of agents, the latest to join the Valorant fray is the Scottish Clove. Introduced by Riot Games just this March, Clove was revealed as Agent 25 in Episode 8: Act 2. A Controller, Clove is responsible for helping “control” the defensive line of the battlefield and protecting entry.
Controllers primarily do this by putting down strategic smokes throughout the map. Each Agent has their own unique utilities, including how they can utilize their smoke. Clove’s smoke ability, called Ruse, allows her to deploy up to two pinkish-purple clouds that recharge during a 30-second cooldown. Her battlefield view is similar to Brimstone’s but has a shorter duration. While this may seem like a disadvantage compared to other Controllers, Clove has the added ability of being able to smoke even after their death. Ruse has the same cooldown rules in death, with the added limitation of only being able to access the top view of the map near where the player died.
On top of this, Clove’s other utilities include Pick-Me-Up and Meddle. The former gives Clove a temporary boost to life and speed after killing an enemy, while the latter inflicts Decay on targets in its range. With their Ultimate Ability called “Not Dead Yet,” Clove can revive after death and be invincible for several seconds. In order to stay alive permanently, the player must be able to get a frag or an assist.
Interestingly, despite having the shortest smoke time, a recent post from Gosu Gamer stated that Clove has the highest pick rate among Agents and currently outranks the rest in terms of win rate. A few weeks after their release, Clove’s win percentage was over 52%.
What Clove’s debut could mean for VCT
Considering the impressive reception Clove has gotten since their introduction, many VCT players and viewers will be happy to know she’ll be joining the playable characters starting from Week 3. Initially, Clove’s participation in VCT was delayed due to bugs that would hurt the competitive matches. Fortunately, while annoying, these issues were not as significant as the vulnerabilities exploited by hackers in a 2024 Apex Legends finals game.
Recent Valorant patch note updates reveal several fixes were focused on the Scottish Controller, with the biggest targeting the game-breaker that saw Clove reviving without a primary weapon. Other significant adjustments should now let players track utility use throughout the match.
This marks a promising turn for agent lineups in the upcoming VCT matches, with Clove’s offensive capabilities making them a prime Controller for aggressive plays. Their utilities can potentially make them the go-to for confrontational approaches, combatting Omen as the main smoke fragger of the bunch. Whereas previous acts have seen Omen maintain his position as one of the most picked Agents in tournaments, pick rates will likely shift in the coming season. The introduction of Clove also seems to be Riot’s attempt to introduce more variance in the meta in the hopes of appeasing a pro scene that largely lambasted their decision to lower the skill ceiling for Controllers and their smokes.
It will also be interesting to see how the biggest and best Controllers in the pro leagues will adopt Clove. Players like NRG’s Marved and DRX’s MaKo are known as the definitive Controllers out there, and it remains to be seen whether they will lead the charge to a competitive shift toward the new Agent. With Clove in the professional mix, VCT fans and casual Valorant players alike can look forward to a whole new dynamic worth tuning into.
