Gaming
Esports
No more Noobz: MAXD makes it to the Campus Clutch World Finals
Pakistan team - MAXD Esports shocked the system with massive victories over India and Sri Lanka in the South Asian regional finals to reach the Red Bull Campus Clutch World Finals to be held in Spain.
Valorant team MAXD Esports defeated the odds-on favorite Portal Esports to win the Pakistan national finals of Red Bull Campus Clutch, the world’s largest university Valorant competition. After pulling a shocker a few months ago, the team has shown up once again on a grander stage as they defeated India’s Team Villainous to win the South Asian regional finals to make it to the World Finals.
MAXD defeats Villainous at the final match
© Red Bull Campus Clutch
The Red Bull Campus Clutch World Finals will be held next month (July) in Madrid, Spain where the best of the best Valorant teams from each region will compete to crown the grand winner.
MAXD Esports - champions of Red Bull Campus Clutch Pakistan 2021
© Saad Saeed
MAXD Esports, formerly known as VRNoobz, consists of Abdur Rehman (AbduR), Muhammad Anas Ayub (traNz), Owaisuddin Khattak (KriminaL), Musab Taufeeq (MUSABB) and Abdul Haseeb Khan (HSB).
All of them belong to different universities across Pakistan, from Iqra University, University of Karachi, University of Sindh and SZABIST.
MAXD Esports' consecutive wins at the regional finals made them new fav
© Saad Saeed
Rehman, Ayub, Khattak and Toufique were the founding fathers of VRNoobz whereas Khan joined them only three weeks before the Red Bull tournament was announced.
MaxD is a team that’s very well-drilled with their strategy - Horton
© Red Bull Campus Clutch
Their consecutive wins, at first against local teams and then 2-0 each against Sri Lanka and India in the South Asia regional finals have led the former-noobz-turned-big-time-pros MAXD Esports to reach the World Finals of Red Bull Campus Clutch.
Chambers was impressed with MaxD, calling them “a well-oiled machine”
© Saad Saeed
The Pakistan team dominated the charts against India with 13-6 and 13-8 scores in each round.
Even though one of the esports analysts Ryan Horton predicted the Indian team Villainous to be the favorites, MAXD Esports shocked the system with their victory.
MAXD is a solid squad who knows how to play - Horton
© Red Bull Campus Clutch
Presenter Ian Chambers’ call during the final moments recap sums it up: “And it is done and dusted. The South Asia final goes to MAXD (Esports) in a pretty convincing fashion. 2-0. In and out. They were so damn good in this series.”
Horton also complemented their strategies and team coordination and coherence, saying, “MAXD clearly knows what they are doing. This is a team that’s very well-drilled with their strategy. It’s not just a group of friends, but a solid squad who knows how to play.”
MAXD clearly knows what they are doing - Horton
© Saad Saeed
Chambers was also impressed with MaxD, calling them “a well-oiled machine.”
All the analysts were impressed by MaxD Esports’ strategies, especially Moxxi who pointed out how the team cut off one of the biggest points to have control of, cutting off the opponents’ rotation and defense routes.
Anas (traNs) - MVP of the match at knock out round of Campus Clutch
© Saad Saeed
Anas (traNz) was declared the MVP of the match.
The incredible performance by traNz even made Horton a believer in the end. “Not many players go from having a super strong series on the Sova and go play Killjoy in a different map and still perform as well,” said the analyst.
Not many players play Killjoy in a different map & still perform well -Host
© Red Bull Campus Clutch
“The fact that these guys are still changing over their strategies, compositions and agent pool, to have a performance with nearly 300 average combat score is super impressive. Pakistan isn’t a region I was keeping too much eyes on but considering how their impressive showing especially against a massive opponent in India, it was a really good strategy.”
MaxD members used to play CS:GO before switching to Valorant
© Saad Saeed
Commenting on his MVP win and the team’s victory, traNz said, “I’m very happy that my team played well and I got the MVP. The results were good; we won 2-0. I’m quite happy right now with the results. Each player played his role perfectly. I’m proud of my team.”
We watched our opponents’ prior matches to understand their gameplay -traNz
© Red Bull Campus Clutch
He also noted the Sri Lankan and Indian teams were tough but they were confident that they’d win. “We played numerous matches locally to reach the national finals. But our gameplay was quite basic here. When we reached the regional finals, we upped our game,” he shared.
We employed different strategies and played double initiative to dominate. We watched our opponents’ prior matches to learn and understand their gameplay
The MaxD Esports members have been friends for a long time and used to play CS:GO before switching to Valorant, therefore, “any composition and combo of our members works.”
MaxD is planning to setup a bootcamp before the offline LAN Finals
© Saad Saeed
Anas admitted that, for the regional finals, they didn’t have much time to practice as a team. “We used to play individually but due to some reasons, we couldn’t gather the team. It was only in the last three days before the regional finals that we came together to practice.”
And yet, the team has been confident and dominant all the way through the tournament. Anas said that they “did expect to reach the World Finals when we started out” despite more favorite and experienced teams playing in the tournament.
Red Bull Campus Clutch World Finals are scheduled to be held in Spain
© Red Bull Campus Clutch
As far as how it feels to be in the World Finals, Anas said, “All I can think of is that I want to win it for Pakistan. We want to win an international title. I am done with losing.”
MAXD Esports is planning to setup a bootcamp before the offline LAN Finals next month in order to be ready to figuratively kick the ball out of the park in Spain.
With the Pakistan team reaching a mega global platform, it only serves to show how players are passionate about Valorant and that the future of the game, and the gamers, is nothing but bright in the country.
When we reached the regional finals, we upped our game - Anas (traNz)
© Red Bull Campus Clutch
As analyst Horton said before the Pak vs India Valorant match, “You might not recognize these names because they haven’t played in Europe yet but they are the future of this region and this region really likes Valorant.”
The Red Bull Campus Clutch World Finals are scheduled to be held in July in Spain where 12 of the finest Valorant teams from across the world are set to compete for the right to be declared the world champions.
Valorant enthusiasts and professional gamers can watch the stream where MAXD Esports unleash fury on their opponents like Jason Statham in Wrath of Man.
