Disappointing ranked experience is pushing Valorant pros to ask Riot for 10-man lobbies

It seems ranked matchmaking in Valorant is already turning into a wellspring of disappointment for the top skilled players.

Just after Tyson “TenZ” Ngo’s tweet, a screenshot of Valorant’s custom game lobby was posted on r/ValorantCompetitive by u/datboyuknow on Reddit.

The lobby included Tenz himself, along with other professional players like Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik, Roy “StrongLegs” Ahad, Ethan “Crunchy” Laker, and Ali “Myth” Kabbani.

The image portrayed the players talking about Riot Games’ approval of the “10man discord.” Later, RNG Roy confirmed the news on Twitter and revealed the ‘T1/2 system’ they are trying to establish.

**PSA TO ALL VAL PROS**Our 10man discord got approved by Riot. We are establishing a T1/2 system so T1 players can have exclusive Qs while also having options of Qing into T2 lobbiesIf you aren’t in here, DM me or other councils

— RNG ROY (@RealStrongLegs) April 15, 2021

The 100T player, Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella, also a former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) player, also commented about ‘10 man’ on Twitter.

Time to revive 10 mans is what I’m hearing 👂🏻

— 100T nitr0 (@nitr0) April 14, 2021

In fact, Andrej “babybay” Francisty and TSM Myth were seen streaming TenZ ‘10 man’ lobby on Twitch, as u/FlimsyCopy pointed out in the subreddit.

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What is a ‘10 man’ lobby?

Two captains from two teams are selected, and they are allowed to choose players from the remaining eight. They then come into the custom game mode, and the players can queue from Discord as well.

Valorant is not the first game where the ‘10 man’ lobby is happening. Games like Overwatch also had ‘10 man,’ but it was later banned. Even the former Overwatch professional player, Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty, replied to nitr0’s tweet about it.

never done them since OWL banned them :^) sounds fun

— FaZe Rawkus (@Rawkus) April 14, 2021

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Valorant community’s views on ‘10 man’ lobby

Really think adding some form of FPL or Pro 10 man hub would be super beneficial to the top players who don’t want to touch ranked. I know for a fact that the Pro players that do play ranked only play it because of their streams. Reasons why it would be so good to have 1/?

— TenZ / Tyson (SEN) (@TenZOfficial) April 14, 2021

As TenZ pointed out in his tweet, an in-house league like FaceIt Pro League (FPL) or ‘Pro 10 man’ becomes the solution to the issues faced by the professional players while only streaming competitive content.

The professional players play mostly for ‘fun’ and streams, and not for competition. But, few fans have shown their concern over Reddit, as the ‘10 man’ lobby system may make the ranked system less effective.

Many questioned the reason behind asking Riot’s approval for the ‘10 man discord’ formed by the top Valorant players over the subreddit section. Some fans believe that it devalues the ranked experience in the competitive environment, which might bother the developer, especially in the early stage of Valorant’s life cycle.

It also seems like a ‘Pro 10 man’ has already been created, as a recent post on r/ValorantCompetitive by u/asuka_blyat suggests.