We’re well underway in the 2022 NA VALORANT Challengers Tour. Whether it be surprising roster moves in the middle of the event, big name teams missing out on the first circuit or surprising performances from newcomers like The Guard, Stage 1 has been chock-full of surprises and good storylines to keep us engaged.

Today, we took the time to talk to one of NA’s finest casters, Tanner Metro of the VALORANT Challengers Tour, about what’s been going on in the scene, his experience casting, and the future of VALORANT in the collegiate scene!

You’re a caster for the North American VALORANT scene, and quite a good one at that, but you didn’t always cast VALORANT as you used to cast a few Apex Legends tournaments back in 2020. Can you tell us about your casting journey?

Tanner: I appreciate the compliment, thank you for that! As far as my journey goes, it started back in 2019 with a little game called Battlerite. I'd mess around, cast some of my friends after I died in the game, and it eventually led to me hosting 1v1 tournaments and funding my own prize pool with some of the pros in the scene coming to play.

From there, my journey had a handful of ups and downs as I worked my way through the amateur League of Legends scene. I had my friends reaching out pretending to be my manager, which landed me an Overwatch gig for UCLA which was a big start to my connections. After that, I was driving back and forth from Arizona (where I live now) to California to cast any events I could get my hands on. All of this eventually led to me taking the shot in the dark that was the VALORANT First Strike Community Broadcaster gig. Once I landed that, I felt it was my way of squeezing myself into the scene and here we are today!

Going off of the last question, outside of general game knowledge, did you find yourself having to adjust your casting approach when you started casting events VALORANT? Do you still keep up to date with the Apex Legends scene?

Tanner: Every game has their own "way" to be casted for sure. It's not so much the style of the cast as it is the pacing of the games and how you carry your rhythm and cadence. Apex has a lot of dead air to fill so it pays to be knowledgeable on the teams at hand as well as the game so you can fill those moments until it's time for some action. VALORANT the action happens more often; it's usually a bit faster, but sometimes has very small breaks in between the action so you're adjusting to that accordingly. I do still keep in touch with the Apex scene; maybe one day I'll be broadcasting from the drop ship for the ALGS.

It has now been three weeks since the start of the NA Main Stage event. Based off of where the teams stand at this moment, what are some of your thoughts on what we’ve seen so far?

Tanner: Ahh, my thoughts on what we've seen so far. Astra/Viper is still going strong, but I would imagine we see some changes maybe to the other controllers or nerfs to these two to keep the game from stagnating too much in pro play. I love that we're getting teams playing the KAY/O over Skye and sprinkling in some Chamber. From 2021, we learned that the teams that fall off are the teams that stagnate so whoever is staying on the meta, and even looking ahead, is who is going to shine. That goes for every region.

As for the teams right now, I think we saw some disappointing moments in the main event so far. We've also seen some of the rust the top dogs are working through. We've got stand out performances from teams like C9 and Version 1, and now we're getting these newcomers in The Guard who are really shaking up the whole operation. Nobody is safe this time around; Masters 1 is up for the taking from any of the teams in Challengers right now.

One of the biggest news drops this past week, at least in NA VAL, was 100T dismantling their roster and bringing in Bang and jcStani to fill in leaving plenty of fans/spectators speechless. Now, they have been participating in the Knights Gauntlet giving 100T fans all the “hopium” they need during these tough times. Looking at this roster and the role changes, in the long run, do you think these changes will be the ones that get them over their slow start to this VCT season?

Tanner: 100 THIEVES are in a really tough spot; when looking at the changes, I think the short amount of time the players were given is the thing people are really caught up on and for good reason. But some players just don't "work" on a team. We've seen it all throughout the NA scene already, and one of the players in Bang is a direct example having been let go from TSM after not fitting well with the team. He's been flourishing everywhere else he goes; sometimes it just doesn't work.

I'm not sure if this is the answer to get them out of groups and into the playoff bracket, but what I do know is bringing in an IGL from EMEA, although the game is played similarly between some of the teams in NA and EMEA, just felt off. Now they've got 5 NA players playing NA VALORANT.

After the open qualifiers, a lot of big names didn’t make the cut for the Main Event such as TSM, FaZe, and T1. Using TSM for example, after they were sent packing, they decided to make some changes and start participating in “Mickey Mouse” (aka smaller) tournaments in order to build chemistry and experience as a roster. How much confidence do you put into these teams taking and applying what they’ve used in these events?

Tanner: I think it's literally impossible for them not to grow from these tournaments. There is SO much to benefit from in these smaller tournaments. These teams that have the organizational support and backing could spend all of the time in the world working on plays and executes for their matches. When they join these small tournaments, they can still hang on to these and work on literally everything else in an official setting. They could lose the tournament in the round of 16 in playoffs, but the group stages leading up to that and the games played in the Ro16 could all be on-the-fly calling and mid-rounding. No set plays or setups, just getting official matches under their belt together. The orgs know that… we as fans of the teams and the game know that. I'm glad we're seeing it put to action.

Looking to the future, the next act we won’t get a new agent or map which will allow Riot to focus on balancing and addressing different areas of the game. As far as expanding the agent pool, if you were given the chance to create the next agent, what type of agent are you making?

Tanner: I've been cooking this one up for a while, but I'm not sure how doable it would be. I myself am a controller player, and I've been fumbling through an idea of a controller who's smokes are reflective or something of the sort. I'm not sure how this would work or if it would work, but I think it'd be hilarious when someone is swinging angles and sees a reflection of themselves on the smoke and shoots to give up their position.

Outside of the pro scene, Riot has announced that they will contribute to building up a collegiate VALORANT ecosystem. Seeing as how you actively cast “10 mans” on your stream helping give some sort of exposure to hidden talent, what are your expectations from this initiative that is expected to launch in the Fall 2022? 

Tanner: This initiative is incredible. The collegiate scene has already received some love from Riot in all the right ways. Last year, we got to see an international event for the RedBull Campus Clutch which tells me with even more backing from Riot we could start to see more colleges starting to get involved in esports. Scholarships will now be more desirable and achievable because schools can start to see the career path as a very REAL path for the students as well as the return on the investment when you're working toward having the best players for the best College/University in the world.

Two-part question; as far as for the rest of the year, what are some goals you hope to achieve, and what advice would you give aspiring professionals?

Tanner: My goals for the rest of the year are to just stay active. I want to keep up with the VALORANT community as well as my own community that I'm building. This is my second year of "professionally" casting, and it's a very scary profession to say the least. With that, there is a possibility I branch out a bit to try and get my name on some other titles to make sure there is food on the table and hype being brought.

To anybody who is looking to get into esports or anything really the advice I would give is, stay hungry. You always have to want more; you can't settle because when you do there are going to be other hungry people working for that same food. Be nice to everyone you meet, be there for the people that are close to you and embrace the grind. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Anything you’d like to conclude the interview with?

Tanner: I just appreciate the love. Thank you for the interview, and if you ever need anything from me for business or pleasure, feel free to reach out. My DMs are always open!

We want to thank Tanner for taking the time to participate in this interview. Be sure to follow him in his casting career, and we wish him the best as he tackles the rest of the year