Somewhere between esport events becoming easier to watch, and everyone attempting to hype themselves up as the next big Twitch streamer, frag movies have all but died.
The scene back in the late 90s/early 00s ran almost entirely on frag movies for some, set to the tunes of Linkin Park and Eminem, highlighting players as they offer unprecedented plays that were mind-boggling to watch, followed by LAN parties where everyone attempted to mimic the frag movie.
Now there are very restricting IP rights for some titles, and others have simply reached saturation to the point that frag movies don’t carry the same gravitas that they used to.
Someone over at FaZe Clan, however, still remembers the tricks of the trade as seen from the tweet where FaZe Clan officially announced the signing of Babybay.
[embed]https://twitter.com/FaZeClan/status/1290770877353779203?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/embed]Andrej ‘Babybay’ Francisty is now the fourth official member of the FaZe Clan’s professional Valorant team and the third member that joins directly from the Overwatch League. He joins ‘Corey’ Nigra and Zachary Lombardo, along with retired Counter-Strike player Jimmy ‘Marved’ Nguyen.
While this might seem like simply another signing, it could have critical reverberations for both the Overwatch League and Valorant in the very near future, and we’ll find out this Thursday as the Ignition Series tourney kicks off with FaZe being front and center of the action.
If this team can bring about a massive appearance, as Jay ‘Sinatraa’ Won has joined the Sentinels and has done admirably well, it could spell trouble for the Tier 2 scene of Overwatch League, known as Contenders.
There would be a mass exodus of players, frustrated with Blizzards hands-off approach with the lower tiers of competitive play, all shifting over to Valorant to be somewhere where they feel needed, or at least have the ability to play in front of fans.
It would further cement the Overwatch League itself as a breeding ground of players that are poised and ready to play competitive first-person shooters, have experienced the difficulties of playing on a stage in front of screaming fans, strange patches that have teams desperately scrimmaging while attempting to figure out what the new strategy is, and are otherwise safe bets in terms of conduct and professional integrity.
Unless you’re a tank player, in which case you’re likely stuck in the Overwatch League. It’s interesting to think about the League with just a bunch of tanks facing off against each other, but it ultimately will come down to precisely how much teams are willing to financially leverage at the players to have them make the switch.