Orangutan vs Ec1s: What Actually Happened
Was that below the belt or fair enough?
The best-of-five grand finals between Orangutan and Gods Reign was a shortlived affair as the Sabyasachi "Antidote" Bose led lineup handed a clean sweep to their regional rivals. They lifted the trophy high and walked away as the champions of Valorant Challengers League 2023: South Asia Split 1 (VCL 2023: SA).
Shortly after this achievement, Adam "ec1s" Eccles sent out a tweet congratulating Antidote on the win but calling the championship a "mickey mouse trophy." Orangutan's captain simply responded by stating, "You're already a legend bro. It will be nice to face you."
However, Orangutan Gaming poked back at ec1s in a follow-up tweet to continue the banter the the latter had started. Not missing out on this opportunity, Velocity Gaming's captain retorted in kind.
Unfortunately, this exchange of words was not taken lightly by Orangutan Yash "Yash" Bhanushali. He called out ec1s indirectly in an statement of his own mentioning, "Time to back up your shit talk or else it looks like a goodbye from SA (South Asia) as well."
Valorant banter between Orangutan and ec1s goes south: Friendly trolling or outright disrespectful?
Velocity Gaming was primed as one of the top contenders to win VCL 2023: South Asia Split 1 alongside Orangutan. Surprisingly, they were handed consecutive 1-2 defeats by True Rippers Esports and Gods Reign during the playoffs, resulting in early elimination from the event.
This resulted in an uproar across the South Asian community which involved a lot of friendly trolling and memes being shared. Three days later, Orangutan won the league and published a tweet waving at ec1s, to which the overseas talented responded by claiming that he was bigger than the organization.
Immediately after this response, the community was split in two. One felt that it was a solid response and appreciated the healthy banter the South Asian region was witnessing. On the other hand, some felt that the response from ec1s was uncalled for and crossed a line. Earlier today on 24th April, Yash - Founder of Orangutan, made a tweet of his own on the topic, sending a loud and clear message indirectly targeted towards ec1s.
Neither the British player nor the Velocity Gaming organization has responded to this at the time of writing.
What is your opinion on this matter? Was it just regular banter and should be treated as one or did it cross a certain limit by coming off as disrespectful?