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          Everybody is talking about VALORANT

          play
          Who are the Agents in VALORANT, and what do they do? (0:57)

          There is a total of nine playable agents in VALORANT, and each has its own skill set to help the team. (0:57)

          • ESPN Esports Staff
          Apr 7, 2020, 06:35 PM ET

          The hype around VALORANT reached a fever pitch Tuesday as the closed beta for Riot Games' new FPS began. It was a No. 1 Google trending topic and was the talk of Twitter.

          Although a lucky few streamers and members of the media got a sneak peak at the game a couple of weeks ago during Riot's VALORANT bootcamp, thousands of players from the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia and Turkey finally had a chance to play Riot's highly anticipated game on Tuesday.

          As with any game launch, server issues had many players agonizing over not being able to immediately jump in at 8 a.m. ET. Those issues aside, it wasn't long until some of the best streamers and esports pros around the world began posting clips of amazing plays they had made. Here's a look at some of the chatter and some of the best clips from the first day of Valorant's closed beta from streamers, esports pros and teams, Twitter users and our own staff.

          Read more: VALORANT hub | Is VALORANT ready for its closed beta moment | VALORANT makes a strong first impression

          Streamers

          Warning: Some profanity in the Twitter clips below

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          Esports teams and pros

          Elsewhere on Twitter

          ESPN Esports staff

          Sean Morrison: If you had to ax one agent, who would it be? I'd say Sage

          Jacob Wolf: Get the Sage hate out of here.

          Morrison: Sage should pack up and go back to the agency.

          Tyler Erzberger: Can I say none of them? I think Riot's done a great job creating 10 unique characters that all have a purpose. I think each one brings a different personality which with the right player can be incredibly strong.

          Morrison: I'm sorry I don't like having Mei and Mercy in the same character while it carries a Widowmaker one-shot weapon.

          Wolf: Is bad: Omen. Hate to play against: Raze.

          Emily Rand: I would agree with Raze as hate to play against. I love Sage.

          Erzberger: Sage is the most annoying to play against, easily.

          Darin Kwilinski: Sage is amazing. What the heck. If you don't have a Sage on your team you're gonna have a bad time.

          Elizabeth Baugh: I'm axing Brimstone.

          Morrison: Which VALORANT agent would you sit down for a drink with?

          Baugh: PHOENIX

          Erzberger: Phoenix is overly into himself.

          Morrison: I'd say Phoenix, but I feel like he'd get way too sloppy and I'd have to buy him an Uber home.

          Erzberger: Probably Viper or Breach. Omen would just murder you. Cypher probably doesn't talk.

          Morrison: Sova would talk about how much better this other bar he went to was the entire time.

          Rand: Phoenix or Sage. Because they're hot.

          Erzberger: Phoenix is very hot. But he's too into himself.

          Morrison: Sigh -- aren't they all?

          Baugh: Back to this one: If you had to play as one agent for the rest of the game's lifetime, who would you pick? Still Phoenix. I think all I care about is Phoenix.

          Erzberger: Phoenix. He's reliable, has what I need (flashbang/moltov) and can make flashy plays.

          Baugh: And he looks good while doing it.

          Erzberger: Jett's skilling ceiling might be higher, but I think Phoenix is safer to master.

          Baugh: And he doesn't say dumb things like Brimstone -- a frat guy who got old.