The Guard’s Trent receives praises from Klaus, mCe
A few months ago, The Guard was relatively lacking recognition from the esports world. However, after young players joined in, the group set its foot as one of the prominent contenders in VALORANT Champions Tour North America. The Guard claimed a 3-0 victory from Cloud9 and a 3-2 triumph over OpTic Gaming in the upper bracket grand final rematch of the VCT.
One underrated talent from The Guard is Trent “trent” Cairns, who earned praises from people such as KRÜ Esports’ Nicolas “Klaus” Ferrari ahead of the group stage of VCT Stage 1 Masters Reykjavik 2022, scheduled to run from April 10-18, with playoffs from April 22 to 24.
“I believe that Trent is the most underrated player in this tournament,” Klaus said. “I think he has a lot of room to grow and hasn’t shown his full potential yet.”
‘The future of VALORANT’
On January 17, the team welcomed Trent as a new member of its roster at the expense of moving Harrison “psalm” Chang to the bench.
Benching psalm in favor of Trent might appear to be a random move. At the time, The Guard was centered around psalm but head coach Matthew “mCe” Elmore insisted on installing a new player due to a lineup problem.
“The Psalm move didn’t work out because I felt his utility usage struggled for an experienced player,” mCe said. “I did not think it was worth going into VCT with this lineup, so I decided to make a move pretty much out of nowhere on it.”
With a little time to prepare, The Guard spent weeks looking and auditioning for a Sova main. That is until mCe received a recommendation in the form of Trent. Long story short, Trent was then chosen as the team’s fifth player.
“He played one game and immediately I knew that he is the future of VALORANT,” mCe shared. “Just the way he thought about the game at such a young age and with little experience gave me so much hope in this team.”
The Guard this year
The Guard now comprises Jacob “valyn” Batio, Michael “neT” Bernet, Jonah “JonahP” Pulice, Ha “Sayaplayer” Jung-woo, and Trent, who is currently one of the best and most efficient Sova users in VALORANT. It
“All five of us in this team are really good,” Trent said about his working relationship with the team. “We all share the same goal of wanting to be the best in VALORANT.”
The Guard is a force to be reckoned with this year. They managed to proceed directly to the playoffs of Stage 1 Masters Reykjavik this year alongside top-performing contenders G2 Esports, Paper Rex, and Loud.
