TenZ explains why CS2 is “more fun” than Valorant

Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo has competed at the highest level in both Counter-Strike and Valorant esports, and he revealed in a live stream that he finds the Valve game more fun.

Sentinels’ Valorant star TenZ dipped his toes in the Counter-Strike vs. Valorant debate after he answered a Twitch chat question about his preferences between CS2 and the Riot Games title.

The two communities were at odds even before Valve released its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive sequel. The two FPS titles share many similarities and multiple pros have shuffled back and forth between their esports circuits.

“I think CS2 is more fun for me personally. I like the mechanical aspect in CS and it felt like every single day you could get better at something mechanically. And that was a really appealing aspect of the game,” TenZ said in a May 8 live stream.

The popular streamer added that “basically everything from a mechanical standpoint” is better in Counter-Strike when compared to Valorant.

“You get less random kills [in Counter-Strike]. In my entire time playing CS, grinding up to become a pro player, becoming a pro player, I’ve probably gotten running or jumping headshot less times than a singular game of Valorant in my life,” TenZ explained.

The VCT Masters Madrid winner also gave Valorant some points for allowing players to “unleash” their creativity in Valorant with certain agents and agent compositions, while in Counter-Strike creativity is tied to smoke lineups.

TenZ started his esports career in CS:GO in 2017 and signed with Cloud9 as an up-and-coming star rifler in 2019, before retiring to become one of the first professional Valorant players in 2020. In the Riot esport, TenZ has claimed two VCT Masters titles and is competing for one of the most popular organizations, Sentinels.

The clip has been posted to the Counter-Strike and Valorant Reddit forums, with both communities agreeing with TenZ’s sentiments about the differences between the two FPS games.

Over on the CS2 sub, one player cited the agent system as a downside vs CS.

“My main reason for preferring CS over Valorant is the agent system,” the player said. “It feeds into toxicity and there’s nothing more frustrating than people taking certain agents and not even performing their roles with them.

“At least with CS everyone is able to buy all the utility and swap roles/positions without issue.”

And some Valorant players agreed, with one saying, “This is facts since day one. While I love Valorant, CS movement & gun play is unmatched.”

However, they did add: “Still lame a** anti-cheat unfortunately.” Valorant’s kernel-level anti-cheat has helped protect it from the same abundance of cheaters that plague CS2, although it’s not 100% cheater-proof.