The Indian Valorant scene has been on the rise with the Valorant Conquerors Championship (VCC) and the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) 2022 Asia Pacific (APAC) Challengers presenting some quality Valorant action to the Indian fans. A record 55.7K viewers tuned in to watch VCC in August 2021 and in February this year, as many as 40.2K viewers tuned in to watch VCC 2022 Stage 1, according to Esports Charts.
VCC 2022 kicked off on 18th February with eight teams from South Asia competing for glory. The top two teams from VCC – Global Esports (GE) and Velocity Gaming (VLT) – found their spots in VCT APAC Challengers Stage 1. But Global Esports’ dream was cut short in the tournament after consecutive losses to Fancy United Esports and Griffin Esports. Enigma Gaming was one among the top teams in the Indian Valorant scene which barely missed out on qualifying for the tournament. It was just one win away from making it into VCT 2022 APAC Challengers Stage 1 but a devastating defeat at the hands of Global Esports in the lower bracket of VCC stripped it of its chance. However, the team is relentless and wants to climb its way to the very top of the summit.
AFK Gaming had the opportunity to interact with Enigma Gaming’s Valorant roster featuring Shakir “hikkA” Razak, Akram “Rawfiul” Virani, In-Game Leader (IGL) Sabyasachi “Antidote” Bose, Tejas “Rexy” Kotian, Rishi “RvK” Vijayakumar, and recent addition Karan “excali” Mhaswadkar. The team discussed the team’s evolution over the course of two years, how it came together, and roped in coach Lukas "yb" Gröning, the challenges it has faced, and their goals for the upcoming season.
How did Enigma Gaming’s come together
Enigma Gaming is one of the top esports organizations in India. It is based in Mumbai and was founded in 2020 by Aryaman Wasan and JP Renaud. Currently, the organization has rosters in Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), Garena Free Fire, and Valorant, but the Enigma Gaming Valorant team has brought the organization into the limelight on multiple occasions. This team became the talk of the town when it exceeded expectations in VCC 2022 Qualifiers 1.
From humble beginnings, Enigma Gaming has since grown and built itself a really strong fan base in India inch-by-inch. The team has earned the love and support of Indian Valorant fans over the past couple of years, but the journey here hasn’t been easy. There is no success story without a bit of blood, sweat, and tears and Enigma Gaming has persisted through tough times to get to the place that it is today. The team had to battle numerous roster changes, experiment with different IGLs and shotcallers, and suffer tons of losses on its road to becoming an elite contender in Indian Valorant.
The current roster that we see today is not the five man lineup chosen by the organization back in 2020. In fact, hikkA is the sole remaining player from the original roster. HikkA also pointed out that if we were to consider the second iteration of Enigma, then Rawfiul would come into the picture.
There is a story behind how every player on the Enigma Gaming Valorant roster was roped in and the current lineup had to be chiseled every step of the way. “When I left my previous organization when I was competing in Valorant, I decided to form my team and move to India. Enigma Gaming contacted me and asked if I would like to join them. They wanted to form a roster around me, which I agreed to because I thought it would be a good beginning for me, and forming my own team was always my goal,” said hikkA.
HikkA said he handpicked the roster from the tier-2 scene. He dug out players who were less known but were pretty good players. “We took part in tournaments and slowly started becoming famous by winning tournaments and also because we gave a tough fight to Global Esports and Velocity Gaming from time to time. That's how Enigma was formed,” he said.
While the original roster did achieve decent results in local tournaments, the team could not clutch when it mattered the most, placing fourth in the VCC event that was held between 20th-28th August 2021. Following this, the roster underwent significant changes. Players Saharyar “BadmaN” Shaikh, Rishabh “Ezzy” Gupta, and Sameer “godvexy” Sharma all left the organization in September 2021. Now, it was just hikkA and Rawfiul who stayed back with the organization and started the rebuilding process.
HikkA said the old rosters were plagued by issues and since he was the former captain, he was looking to make changes. He added that he wanted to bring in an IGL as he felt that was lacking in the team. “Rawfiul and I had a chat and we wanted to stay back with Enigma and form a new team. GodLike was also disbanding its team at that time so Antidote was an option. He’s really experienced in Valorant. He’s been in the scene from the start and I thought of contacting him,” he said. After having a few meetings with the team members and Enigma’s founder and owner Aryaman, Enigma narrowed down on Antidote. “We were also looking for other players and fortunately, Rexy was available and we decided to sign them both up and round out the roster. It worked very well in our favor.”
Antidote said he was a free agent when GodLike disbanded and that he was looking for options and decided to stay together with Rexy. He added that he was also wanting to play with Rawfiul and RvK because they were young players brimming with potential. “When Hikka told me about the lineup, RvK wasn’t a part of it initially and we were looking for a fifth. I had one meeting with the owner who also shared similar thoughts and then I decided to join Enigma as its IGL. Then my priority was getting RvK as the fifth. With these five I knew we could be one of the best teams in the country.”
RvK, who was then roped in as the fifth man, was initially skeptical about joining Enigma. However he was eventually convinced after the ideas of the organization matched his own. “I took the offer in September and since then we’ve been doing well.”
Following Antidote and Rexy’s acquisition, Enigma Gaming wanted to round off its lineup by finding a top-tier coach. It is quite natural to turn to familiar faces when things go awry. Such was the case with Antidote finding Enigma Gaming’s coach in yb. After a decade-long successful career in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) and after having worked closely with Antidote during their times with OpTic India and Signify CS:GO rosters, yb ventured into Valorant esports.
Rexy said that the decision was a no-brainer for the team.“As soon as Anti found out that he was no longer coaching, he wanted yb to join us because of his work ethics and his vision. There was not much to think and we all wanted him because we didn’t have a direction. Both yb and Anti were in OpTic and after that Signify which were the top teams. They did not have the best players but they always won. They had that X-Factor in terms of how they worked and played,” he said.
Since yb was looking for something new and also the fact that he had fun interacting with Antidote previously, he welcomed the opportunity with open arms. “It was a fast decision. I also talked to Aryaman, the owner of Enigma Gaming and I liked his vision. It was not a difficult decision at all for me.”
Taking a unique approach with a six-man roster
Enigma Gaming is one of the very few Valorant teams that boasts a six-man roster and it sets them apart from the rest. It gives them more room to bounce off ideas and also constantly perform better because of the fact that they have solid support. Enigma announced the arrival of marquee fragger excali as its sixth member. Interestingly, he was signed just weeks before the VCC event.
Antidote explained that having a sixth player in the team was a necessity in Indian Valorant. According to him, with the current iteration of Valorant, there are so many tournaments that they play a total of 15-20 matches by participating in at least three tournaments a month. He drew comparisons between Indian Counter-Strike and Valorant esports, pointing out that the latter was becoming a tad bit hectic and was similar to traditional sports where you need a pair of fresh legs to come and play a couple of matches and bring energy. “It’s like football - you need bench strength as well. My vision was to get an extra player as a sixth who can instantly chip in if someone is not feeling well or fatigued. Secondly, if there’s a player who is the sixth member, then the five others on the active roster are always on their toes and they would think that they would get replaced if they don’t perform well. So there’s extra pressure for all of us.”
He said he was thrilled to hear excali was free after his time with XO and that upon telling him about Enigma’s project and vision excali was just as convinced.
Excali said, “I loved the idea that Anti told me. If one of the playing 5 is not performing well, they are under pressure of getting replaced and we have to improve on a daily basis. I had a long talk with Anti about the project and discussed what we’d be doing if I joined in. I was pretty convinced with the project he briefed me on.”
Naturally, every coin has two sides. If a six-man roster sets a competitive scene for the team internally, it is also challenging especially considering the change in team dynamics. Elucidating the challenges faced by a six-man roster, yb said, “Firstly, it is more work. It adds an additional complexity to the whole practice. You need to make judgments and decide on who would play and how you manage the whole structure. So you need to plan ahead. Do you make it map-based or performance-based? Then also every player has their role so you cannot just replace anyone. Even if someone isn't playing, it is still difficult to replace him. Right now, we’re still experimenting and seeing what we can do and how we can do it.”
How does Enigma Gaming rank against its competitors?
Enigma Gaming, Global Esports, and Velocity Gaming have been ruling the roost in the VCC, and are the top teams from India at the moment. In the tournament held in August 2021, these three teams were in the top four spots. Global Esports emerged victorious and made it to the APAC Last Chance Qualifier and Velocity Gaming came in a close second. Enigma Gaming placed fourth in the playoffs. In VCC 2022, the three teams came out on top, but their positions were shuffled this time around. Velocity Gaming won the event, Global Esports came in second, and Enigma Gaming placed third.
According to RvK, the fact that every player on the roster is skilled enough to make their own decisions in trying times sets them apart from the rest of the squads in the APAC circuit and in India and South Asia. He said, “As a roster with six players who are so committed to working hard and trying to give it our best shot, one thing that we have is good firepower individually. I also think the way we approach the game is something that sets us apart from other teams.”
Ranking Enigma Gaming against the rest of the Indian Valorant scene was a lot more complicated. Yb said,“We are certainly a top three in the Indian Valorant scene but I cannot say who’s the first, second, or third best teams. Up there is Velocity and Global for sure and I also believe we are up there somewhere. It is all about consistency. Every team has a high peak and can play badly on some days. So it is pretty hard to make a judgment.”
He added that Enigma Gaming would perform well against the rest of the squads in the APAC circuit. He pointed out that there are so many good teams that it gets complex. “Now, you have 20 teams on that [good] level. So if you want to beat all those teams, you need to be really very consistent and strong. I think we can beat any team. I would say that much. But would we beat these teams consistently on that level? I don't think we’re there yet, that's for sure.”
Enigma Gaming had a perfect run in the VCC 2022 Qualifier 1 and made it to the Upper Bracket of the VCC Main Event. The only team that handed Enigma its defeats was Global Esports. Enigma lost 0-2 to Global Esports in the Upper Bracket Round and was pushed to the Lower Bracket where it beat Team Exploit. Enigma played Global Esports again in the Lower Bracket final where it lost 0-2.
Yb also explained why he thinks Global Esports and Velocity Gaming had the edge over Enigma in the VCC qualifier. He believed that the teams prepared really well and efficiently. “Also, the experience of the players, I’d have to say. We were not able to stay cool and I think it is just the experience we have. When compared to Global, we are less experienced and I think that also gave that edge to them. We did not play our best in the last playoffs,” added yb.
Yb however thought that Velocity Gaming and Global Esports would fare decently in the VCT 2022: APAC Challengers tournament. He said it could go either way for the teams and added, “It is very hard to say. I think they’ll go through the group stage and into the playoffs. They have the potential to do anything. They can do really well but they can also fall under pressure.”
Reflecting on performances and the future of Enigma Gaming moving forward
Addressing their previous performances in the VCC, the members said it was all about the mentality and how they would approach the situation. Excali said the roster felt the added pressure of having to perform well and win the tournament after their successful run in Qualifiers 1. Concurring, hikkA said he wouldn't change anything about the way the team played. He said, “I had been watching their games from Sri Lanka on Discord. yb used to stream them for me. I also got an insight into what the guys were doing and what calls they were making. No one can change the outcome of the tournament. Unfortunate that we lost, but nothing to take away from the boys. If I was there I wouldn't change anything either way.”
Excali said that the team worked really hard for the VCC tournament and that they only had a couple of weeks to practice with him. “As soon as I joined Enigma, I knew VCC was just about to start in two weeks. We utilized these two weeks like there was no tomorrow. We practiced our asses off. The goal was to win qualifiers and then go to the playoffs and win it. We achieved stage 1 but unfortunately, we couldn’t make it out of the playoffs and win the whole thing.” He added that VCC was a good learning experience for the team. He said they had a set of two or three scrims every day and that they would play, on average, six maps on a daily basis. “Then we would evaluate where and what things are going wrong and right. After scrims, every player had an individual session with yb.”
While detailing the goals and future of the team, Enigma Gaming’s IGL proclaimed that the goal was to improve every day and focus on the next couple of events that are lined up for the roster. “It is a small goal but if you ask about the vision and our long-term goal, it is to be the best, if not at least the top three in Asia.”
What started out as spontaneous support has now grown into an organic and passionate fan base for Enigma Gaming who sincerely appreciates the continued support of their fans, and thanked them for sticking with them through the tough times. Antidote said, “Previously when we played against VLT, the Global Esports fans supported us because they wanted us to beat VLT. Then when we played GE, VLT fans supported us. Now, we have a different fan base.”
However the whole team collectively agreed that spewing hate toward rivals was unnecessary and unhealthy in the esports scene. Yb said, “It is a sad thing to see fans fighting while the teams themselves actually get along quite well. On the server we are enemies, but outside of it we are very good friends.” Rexy and RvK mirrored the same thoughts and said the hate should stop and that the community needs to understand that.
According to vlr.gg, Enigma Gaming is currently ranked in 12th place in the Asia Pacific Valorant scene. At the time of writing, Enigma Gaming had a scoreline of 46 wins and 23 losses and boasted a win rate of 66.6%. It also has a vlr.gg rating of 1726 in the APAC region. Also, Rawfiul being on top of the leaderboard for his stellar in-game statistics is a cherry on top for the team. With an average combat score of 277.6 and a Kill/Death ratio of 1.36, Rawfiul has ousted stars like Ganesh “SkRossi” Gangadhar and Debanjan “DEATHMAKER” Das.
Enigma Gaming is becoming a force to be reckoned with and will certainly enter any South Asian Valorant tournament as a team to be feared. We will see the roster in action in multiple events lined up for this year including the Skyesports Grand Slam and the TEC Gauntlet playoffs. Can they surpass expectations and take that next step in becoming the best in the country?