How a Braindead Boomer Became Valorant's Most Confusing Genius

IGLs are known for their big brains and, what they often lack in firepower, they make up for with their swift decision making.
But in Valorant’s young history, a certain in-game leader has thrown this idea out the window. What sets ANGE1 apart isn’t just his age, it’s the fact that he is the rare IGL who isn’t afraid to take risks, get his hands dirty, and sometimes make some pretty goofy mistakes.
So, where did ANGE1 come from? How did he refine Valorant’s most frustrating playstyle? And is his refusal to adapt to Valorant’s ever-changing meta actually hurting his team?
Written by: Niall McCrossan (@niallmccrossan)
Hosted by: Dimitri Pascaluta (@DPascaluta)
Edited by: Sebastien Martin-Schultz (@sebdot)
Produced by: Alina Sotula (@ASotula), Jason Durante (@JayJay_Durante), and Danielle Rosen (@_DanielleRosen)
Thumbnail by: Emmanuel Adarkwah
Footage courtesy of: pastebin.com/j...
Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).
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[@Schue7ze]

Just for reference, ANGE1 started his career in 2005, thats exactly the same year as Zekken was born, who just won Masters the other day.

[@lovemehardandgood]

The Tarik "ANGEEEEEL" lives rentfree in my Head 😂😂😂

[@poosch]

Haha me too

[@kuma8581]

nah the som vs cgrs clip again 💀

[@tuanbuianh1884]

I rmb Som’s chat every time something related to the “cove” ppl jusr spam some braindead shit I feel sad for him man

[@divypatel5451]

​@tuanbuianh1884 Nah its just a joke between him and chat

[@arjungnanavel509]

@@tuanbuianh1884he literally made the cove emote in this chat lol he’s fine with it

[@Zhiham_]

@@tuanbuianh1884crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a cove. A harbor cove. A harbor cove with shorty and shorties make me crazy

[@nou1534]

​@@Zhiham_💀💀

[@sositeado]

Dimitri: "the dude is ancient, he's 34 yrs old..." I felt old AF (I'm turning 33 in a week)

[@gagagmzmsmzk5864]

You’re not 33 years old, you’re eternal

[@floaterhill1848]

By video game pro standard it is ancient sadly

[@jmariepilapil2481]

i just turned 30 😂 & i am a woman who still loves to play fps

[@mezuki]

Happy advance birthday

[@mehdiel2959]

m 27 and I already feeling ancient

[@avoidthevo1d]

Ange1 is by far the most entertaining IGL to watch, bro is too funny

[@chaosXgum]

Cap

[@Adrian-tz8kz]

the way fns comfort som damn , hes a real friend man . that y som always duo with him even some people keep saying that fns is a burden in his rank game

[@saubhadrsamod1040]

except for the aim duel it wasnt soms fault its explained in yt people just dont understand

[@AkelaYu]

Can someone explain why som did not run away? He could have won the game if he run right? He knew where CGRS is.

[@saubhadrsamod1040]

@@AkelaYu at the time when som harbour ults another creator did a simulation and he found out that if som ran away cgrs could have planted the bomb

[@saubhadrsamod1040]

@@AkelaYu he had to delay him and once he finished the mag of his vandal cgrs was too close and that part of map is very weird takes a lot of time to get out of sight

[@saubhadrsamod1040]

there is a 2-3 sec interval in which if he would have ran he might ve been safe but thats too big of a risk

[@Mohammed_Aariz]

It seems like the new agent Clove is made only for Ange1

[@eq_prod]

1 word: tenz

[@hellothere8381]

@@eq_prodyou dont get the joke

[@eq_prod]

oh i thought he was serious lmao mb

[@hellothere8381]

@@eq_prod all good, the joke is that ange1 dies first so much and it “helps him igl”

[@eq_prod]

@@hellothere8381 ok lmao ty for the clarification

[@bananananananananahanah]

What a timing for this video because Navi just won the CS2 Major.

[@blank9793]

Holy shit, ANGE1YL vid? Love that guy. Man is an actual OG. I still remember DTSGaming, PiNG, OG VP, OG Hellaisers, and damn... Those days seeing the newer HellRaisers rosters just going head to head against the different rosters of some of my favorite orgs. I remember those years fondly. Then in 2020 they disbanded and w0nderful went to Team Spirit... Kinda ironic now that he just won the Major with NaVi... and "ANGE1" now plays for NaVi's Valorant squad... Fuck I'm old...

[@MultiSmokinTrees]

That suygetsu 4k to win masters is one of the nastiest clutch of all time.

[@JMlolVal]

Ange1 read prx like a book in copenhagen

[@acegikm2274]

tbf it isnt an insane feat to read the team who's strategy is literally their slogan

[@hellothere8381]

@@acegikm2274their slogan is W gaming but how they press W isnt as readable as you think

[@leosimvuiseng2926]

Tbh cis region also similar to apac play aggressive

[@tehpanasmanis5662]

Well bunch of prx player comes from 1.6 too, and forsaken did alot play like that at 1.6 server lmao

[@x.kitsune]

Ange1 is 1 of my favourite players ever! He's just hilarious, and yea sometimes he has these head scratching plays where he gets caught out when a smoke disappears or with util in hand.. but maybe like 1 out of every 5 maps he goes absolutely bananas and just takes over and kills everyone while IGLing like he's reading his opponent's mind's! As a fan since the old FPX vs G2 days up to the current Navi roster, there are times I just think he's literally throwing with some dumbass play. But then the next map, he just has an outrageous performance and taps heads like an entry duelist God but without having the benefit of actually playing a duelist with the kit meant for entrying lmao I hope he NEVER retires! Also thank you for the Jett 13-0 vs FNC shoutout.. annoyed the shit out of me that all during the Coppenhagen run when they played FNC twice they kept saying that FPX couldn't ever beat FNC and that they'd lost to them 5 times in a row when they literally just beat them at the last qualifier for the last major with that 13-0 with Ange1 on Jett and a sub!

[@EmannHomeless]

I heckin love ANGE1. Despite NAVI with og FPX roster not performing well (yet), the success and performance is not the sole reason i love watching them. I just love watching Grandpa ANGE1 in EMEA and Grandpa JessieVash in APAC

[@emilianorosario5935]

the som cgrs cove clip better appear in every valorant video like coldzera's jumping 4k.

[@Pendrivefr]

Nooooooo not that suygetsu clip

[@Patinu]

You guys forgot to tell the most amazing thing! FPX and Na'Vi have the most winrate when ange1 is dead (more than when he is alive xD)

[@user-lb9id2fo1d]

yall should do second video about navi and aleksib after that major win

[@Diminezchan]

12:51 ayoooooooooooooo.........man leaking secrets................

[@Popmycherryyo]

tbf, the whole "mechanics get worse with age" are USUALLY meant as reaction etcetc.. And it has been proven wrong a few times already. Of COURSE it deteriates IF you don't play the game, but if you continue playing the game or just practicing reactions, IF it goes down/gets slower, it's not even a amount that is worth mentioning (I think the average FPS' reaction time is somewhere around 0.250 seconds, or was that the average persons...can't remember the details) I think the biggest detriment with older players is time, time to practice, time commitment and just...burn out. You seldom START playing at 30+ or at old age, you start as most zoomers nowadays, at around 10 years plus minus a few years. And if you're 34, well, that's 24 years of gaming :P Hard to keep the same interest and enthusiasm going for that long. Which is prolly also why he found it so much fun to start Valorant over cs, which I can testify for myself as well. Used to play 1.x like an idiot back in the day, like I'd say 6+ hours a day on non-school days and MORE in the weekends, and I wasn't even a pro. After like 10ish years with that and the release of csgo, I was just so fed up with the game. I blamed "csgo being bad" but it was honestly just burnout. Anyways, cool to see a older person having the drive, even if it is in a e-sport title I don't follow (I swear I've seen his name back in the cs 1.6 days tho..like in tournaments :P) I just wish more e-sport teams would dare to gamble on "old" players...aka people over 24+..instead of just dumping them immediately. I can imagine there are some pros, like maturity in a team enviroment.

[@Dinkin_Flicka]

"I'm having a lot of fun right now". I feel like a lot of current CS and VALO players don't have this mindset. You play games for a living, there's gotta be something fun about that, right?!

[@serious3653]

0:37 fns is a real one

[@exilliantm]

I had the occasion to see ANGE1 on stage and the guy is really such a vibin guy, amazing.

[@hamsterpique1204]

thescore surprises me everytime with the most disrespectful disgusting titles lol

[@Filacki]

+1

[@thinhhoang3338]

Right? Like I get what they mean by braindead, but damn... Sounds like it can be taken out of context very easily

[@Naevak.]

@@thinhhoang3338 how are you going to take braindead out of context

[@thinhhoang3338]

@@Naevak. It can be insulting, which in this case, isn't

[@Naevak.]

@@thinhhoang3338 No it is definitely meant to be "insulting"

[@neptuuna9107]

some people call him first death ange1 before lol

[@GGTyr0nn]

we get a vid about the guy who made the lower bracket run possible aswell?

[@sunnyside832]

I don’t think “braindead” is an appropriate terminology for this.

[@ewan1462]

angel is about to become vct god with the introduction of clove

[@DeadEyeScope-LTD]

Legend has it, Ange1 witnessed the moment when Pangaea broke.

[@jerms99]

you guys gotta work on your titles.

[@maxxlanglois]

The thing is, you can still have very sharp reflexes in your 30s if you never stopped. Even if you start training today, you can still achieve some amazing feats. We now know that you are only really an adult at 45 years old thanks to advances in neuropsychology and such. Is it time to shatter these myths about age in eSports? I think so. Especially because it is way less taxing on the body than sports like hockey. And btw, if you're curious, go look at Jaromir Jagr's career. That'll tell you everything you know about age and sports and how it is not an universal law at all.

[@Sebbos]

Didnt know the old CS legend was still going strong in valorant. Nice

[@carlj7491]

nah Ange1 Jett destroying old Fnatic is crazy 😂

[@yuchenhan207]

ANGEL WITH CLOVE WILL WIN VCT

[@dzaesonp8599]

literally built for him

[@nah0725]

Yep it's his agent

[@DerrickWasCracked]

Maybe Ange1 is why they put TenZ on Omen

[@patezilla5026]

We need an Aleksib asap! He just went god mode and won cs2’s first major.

[@therealcancerofyoutube8174]

Washed CS pro become world class in Valorant, classic

[@jowern0224]

video about jinggg plz

[@MyViibez]

i tired to skip this video since last night but it keeps showing up on my home screen. so here i am.

[@ReidanTan]

14:10 HAHAHHAHA

[@andylawlzz]

clove was practically designed for angel to play

[@Truck_Berserk]

Next VCT boutta get crazy with clove being the new meta ⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️

[@chaniellechanel7458]

Ardis being an EMEA spy makes sense

[@catboyfloofy5604]

“ANGE111111111111111111111111” - Tarik

[@lingguoxu1909]

Bro gonna abuse Clove for sure

[@yowiewowie8388]

Summary of this video: Ange1 old, he don't care

[@will8157]

I get the whole “let’s call anyone older than me a boomer” culture but just to be clear: 34 is a millennial.

[@impuls3548]

okay joking but I think that people, gamers, just have to learn a lot about this man and his Ego control

[@HalfbowTV]

excited for NaVi CS video

[@protroltrolol6695]

"teams need a leader" paper rex be like NO

[@kuruzicaradawd3820]

Is this guy the Zeus of Valorant ?

[@Skippydogo]

The Hooxi of valorant

[@nah0725]

Clove and angel a match made in heaven 😂😂

[@NamhadiNdemufayo]

Me watching this at 37:😂

[@ahmadpochinki1244]

4:58 bro let ange1 enjoy his life let him having fun in valorant he great igl, he rised so many young talented

[@_Alpha_Skull]

Man the old Breeze brings back so much trauma 😭😭

[@troua2001]

Props to fns 0:37

[@WreKMann]

Thats quite the title

[@user-yq1eb8gi6b]

kinda sad to see that dosia and simple won majors meanwhile ppl meme'd him in val 💔

[@LegalGas1]

People sayin clove is for tenz nah clove is for angel

[@KirbosCorner]

clove must make ange1 broken

[@misterme1134]

Its ok guys he can now int with Clove and still smoke!!!!

[@ohlookitsadumbperson1169]

Ardiis the special agent to throw

[@162manoj]

So you are saying he's a clove main? gotcha

[@shivansh9813]

the title is wild

[@chris-lh6ol]

Watching ange1 against heretics on breeze was..... interesting......

[@Ravensgale]

I love how we're considering someone in their 30's to be a boomer now. 😂

[@yo-yoma3406]

I love this roster man

[@freakunicorn]

I'm 39 y.o. and still playing Valorant

[@vvGoose]

Ange1 and Demon1 need to duo

[@Tom-vk2rv]

Was always a fan of angel happy to hear he is doing good

[@dilon1911]

Bruh the title is crazy fr

[@riskyy2493]

throwing? I was throwing once

[@PretzMaximoff]

Both Ange1 and Jessivash are 34 yrs old

[@DDDDDD-li6wi]

that title maan

[@mysticlunala8020]

NA catching strays.

[@kukacegy4592]

Calling him braindead is crazy

[@NoisyyCricket]

So he plays like a Bronze player but can actually aim. Entire video summed up.

[@PHNSPR]

you can skip to 4:53

[@wedubus]

i keep thinking theyre talking about me cus thats my name

[@lunarivanguard]

Ange1 gonna main clove

[@rennytheevilest-8333]

Ardis sleeper agent

[@themessychef._.]

Fns malding XD

[@poohfps]

My favourite pro player

[@LIF3nOOb]

Wohey dimitri the man!

[@Dalauan_Sparrow]

thats crazy

[@ljb1432]

Zeus of Valorant ☕☕☕☕

[@toshiodocs]

"braindead boomer" is too much

[@oldman7408]

bro is older than Hiko 👴🏻

[@t0eknee_tv824]

HE PLAYED ALONG SIDE SEX GOD?!?!?!?! yeah this guy is goated still kicking ass idc

[@dinotheooooooo]

We

[@ethanblack5642]

I comment to help statistics

[@justinragasa]

I am 36…

[@superearth5256]

Angel1 >> demon1🥴

[@protroltrolol6695]

cover ardiis again

[@myxhere4391]

som caught a stray

[@snaouiyounes6915]

GOAT

[@radessthegoat]

Наш козак

[@jcsalas9346]

How about making Dota content not just for shorts? lmfao

[@CharaAmine-f9l]

23 views in 1 min feelsbadman

[@seba121]

Another cs bot that succeeds in valorant