Valorant casting duo Mitch ‘MitchMan’ McBride and Tom ‘Tombizz’ Bissmire revealed on Twitter that they were not invited to VCT Masters Tokyo as broadcast talent, to the disappointment of several community members.
VCT Masters Tokyo is two months away and the on-air talent for the international tournament has apparently been decided. Tombizz announced on April 12 that he and his casting partner, MitchMan, will not attend the event in Japan.
The two have been on the broadcast of every major international LAN tournament in VCT history. The pair began their Valorant casting careers in 2020 after transitioning from the CS:GO scene.
In response to the news, many in the Valorant community have expressed their sadness at seeing the popular duo left out of the broadcast team for the event.
“Top three broadcasting duos in the game and they’re not working Masters Japan. I understand the need for variety and opportunities circling around for everyone, and I am by — all means biased here — but I’m not sure I like the potential direction the broadcast might be taking,” one Valorant fan wrote on Twitter.
“What a joke, Riot,” said another fan.
VCT Masters Tokyo first without Tombizz and MitchMan
MitchMan also said that he and Tombizz are spending $10,000 each for their visas for Valorant Champions 2023, so they probably won’t attend Masters to watch the matches as fans.
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Valorant Champions 2023 will take place between August 6 and 26 in Los Angeles. It will be the first international Valorant event held in the United States.
The two casters said that they are open to offers from prospective partners about doing on-site coverage of Masters Tokyo.
It's going to be strange watching this one from home but you can't win em all!We thought about going to Japan on our own but after paying $10k for our US visas for Champs later this year the bill isn't manageable alone.If you were thinking about on site coverage reach out! https://t.co/ad8IYGaeJY
— MitchMan 🇮🇪 (@MitchMan) April 12, 2023
Riot Games has yet to announce its full slate of talent for the almost-three week-long tournament. Riot has multiple international leagues to pull talent from and could bring in casters from the VCT Pacific league, based in South Korea.
I'm sad, they keep removing the duos I like listening to the most. I want more nerds and less storylines plz rito.
— Mac (Your mate) 🔫 (@MacMate_) April 12, 2023
The international tournament will be the first major Valorant event in Japan. The country is not usually an esports powerhouse but has taken to the Riot Games title as viewership for the region’s Challengers league, as well as for international Valorant events, continue to soar.
VCT Masters Tokyo will take place from June 11-25 and feature teams from EMEA, Asia-Pacific, the Americas and China. Tickets for the event are already on sale.