This week, I got the chance to talk with Nat Bastone. One of the kindest people I’ve ever met, and the owner of Nat’s Pizzeria, the best spot in Vancouver for a slice. Check it out!
Foodopedia Podcast – Tao Jorgensen & Nat Bastone
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Author Archives: Tao Jorgensen
My Favorite Interview – Talking Esports with Tao Jorgensen & Vic Ly
In this part 2-esque episode, I got a great opportunity to talk with my pal, Vic Ly, the co-founder and president of the Alberta Esports Association. In this one, we talk about what it really takes to properly uphold and expand a proper esports organization, a deeper look into what it takes to be a part of it, and the future of what it can be. Check it out yo!
Music: https://www.bensound.com
My Favorite Interview – Talking Esports with Tao Jorgensen & Spiro Khouri
In today’s episode, I got the chance to chill with The Gaming Stadium’s CEO, Spiro Khouri, to discuss the future of esports in Canada, within schools, and the opportunities within it. It’s not all fun and games y’know!
Music: https://www.bensound.com
BC Gone Wild: Wildlife Stories
As most of us have been cozied up at home, avoiding going out too much, animals around the area have been getting increasingly explorative, if not aggressive. Quite a few people have been harmed, and quite a few animals have been assuming that less humans equals more roaming, which has gotten some into trouble. In Vancouver, we aren’t unfamiliar with wildlife strolling into town, but the amount of stories coming out of our interactions with them has been astonishing. If you’re often out exercising on your daily jog, a scenic hike, or just a stroll through Stanley Park, you might want to reconsider the amount of protective equipment you have on you, or just leave the outdoors activity to the hardcore enthusiasts. Coyotes, bears, cougars and moose are the topic of discussion today, along with a couple extras. Lets take a look into the stories of BC’s wild side shall we?
Starting in Stanley Park, Coyote attacks have been rampant for cyclists, joggers, and casual strollers alike. Around a couple dozen people have been attacked by this point, and almost daily reports of them have come in from visitors of the area. These events have prompted closure before, so it would be best to stay on your toes and keep updated through the Vancouver Parks Board’s twitter page. Many people have been bitten, and others scared out of their wits, such as Bernie Steininger, who had to use the “get big and loud” strategy to scare it off. Along with an unfortunate jogger, Azi Ramezani, has been hurt so badly she is now in a six month recovery period, as she was severely bitten on her calf, and detached her hamstring from her sit bone as she fell. There are many stories of visitors being attacked, but it’s scary to see just how bad it can get. If no help came along to assist her, or the coyote hadn’t run off after it’s initial attack, it could have been much worse. A sad amount of pet dogs have also been lost to coyotes and cougars, as a couple of each predator have been put down for the safety of the communities around them. It’s sad to hear about wild animals being put down, but many believe the problem stems from those who may be feeding them, directly or indirectly, so it is our responsibility to ensure we don’t increase their dependency on us. For the well-being of those who wish to visit the park, and the animals’ habitat. You can report feeding of animals to 1-877-952-7277, or file a report online here.
Moving onto bears, an ex-conservation officer who refused to kill two bear cubs in 2015 attempted to appeal to get his job back, to little success. The mother of the cubs was put down due to her invading residences, but the cubs showed little evidence of doing the same, so he believed he was in the right in having the choice to spare them. However, Bryce Casavant was still decommissioned, and is in a legal battle for over 5 and a half years just to get his job back. And recently in march, he has filed a lawsuit against his unlawful decommission. While there is no direct need for officers to euthanize wildlife, and as an officer, he has a right to choose whether to kill or not, making this layoff seemingly unjust. The cubs named Athena and Jordan, were re-released and are hopefully still kicking, but we have yet to see if Casavant will be back at work soon. Hopefully, this ethical decision will fall in his favor sooner rather than later. Bears have been more rampant overall around the area, as a family friend of mine has just spotted one by her home yesterday. Looking at the numbers, there have been over 21 thousand black bear attractions to garbage between just 2014 and 2018. I’d be worried about what those numbers could look like just for this year. So lets ensure we keep our outdoor refrigerators locked tight, garbage bins sealed, and on a sharp lookout for any lost cubs that may be in need of a friendly conservation officer.
Moving onto our more domestic creatures here in Vancouver, Vancouver Aquarium has just been sold off to Herschend Enterprises, a theme park in the US in order to save the animals and employees working there. With a lack of tourism, and the pandemic increasingly choking out possible revenue for the aquarium, Lasse Gustavsson, the CEO of the Ocean Wise Conservation Association, was left with either selling it off, or closing it down. And thankfully, they were able to keep it afloat for awhile longer. There are some concerns about selling the aquarium to a for-profit organization, but we shall see how it plays out when they open their doors back up as soon as possible. For all you fans of aquatic life, it’s good news that you will be able to return to seeing the wonders of underwater creatures once again.
Over in Prince George however, a wild moose has been spotted grazing on trees outside the airport, for several weeks at that. Quite the buffet for the creature, as it happily ate away. It took many people to try and coax the moose back out into the wild, and it while it was happily eating away, it too wanted to find it’s way back home from the fenced airport property. Moose populations have been declining as well, so ensuring the safety of it was a top priority. Thankfully, nobody and no moose were harmed during this event. Ending our stories with a home invasion in Kamloops however, a deer was just itching to get in on a poor families home as it somehow squeezed through a small dog door to sneak inside. It caused a fair amount of damage, jumping at windows, and damaging a TV with a few other items caught in the chaos. The deer thankfully was removed unharmed besides a small cut to it’s mouth, as it was slid on a rug right back outside. Hopefully, these stories have opened a few of your eyes to the potential dangers and value of the wildlife we are fortunate to have here in Vancouver. Once again, stay safe, keep alert, don’t litter, and if you’re going to try and enjoy your weekend outside, keep updated on sightings of wild animals in your area. Thanks for reading, and lets help protect what makes BC so great!
Vancouver’s Businesses, Who Will Survive?
I’m sure many people have been finding enjoyment in supporting their favorite restaurants, and shops, but with the severity of covid and the province locking down plenty, many businesses have been hit by a lack of financial support, customers, and covid cases shutting them down entirely. So while many of us are cozying up at home, sipping our favorite drink while we put on a show and kill time until we get back to work, it’s important to check in on just how Vancouver’s best spots to spend your hard-earned cash have been holding up. Let me know just where your go-to spots have been during this pandemic in the comments below!
We’ll start with a big one: Starbucks. Starbucks announced earlier this year that they would shut down over 300 locations in Canada, and over the course of just over a year since the beginning of 2020, over 30% in the lower mainland have been closed down. From Capilano Mall to Whiterock, stores have been closing left and right. Thankfully, employees are being transferred and not just laid off, along with the company having a plan to add new stores in the future. It’s not like the brand is doing too poorly, and i’m sure they aren’t too hurt by the pandemic, but it’s employees are certainly suffering having little notice of these closures, and possibly having to work at a location they would not prefer. Your go-to pick-me-up from Starbucks isn’t going anywhere, but you may have to find a new spot to grab it from. Ensure you keep an eye on your nearest location!
For all of you who also enjoy wearing eyeglasses, I have some bad news. SEE Eyewear has shut down in Canada, originally opening in November of 2017 with plans to expand, it is now only available in the US. Fortunately, there are many other eyewear businesses open still, such as FYI doctors, but if you ever want some of the limited selection SEE Eyewear could have had, you’ll have to cross the border once it is back open. They have a location in Seattle, so it may be worth the trip to some of you out there! However, for those into high-quality clothing shopping downtown, the Versace location on Thurlow St. has closed down for good. It’s been around for awhile with a 34 year history here in Vancouver, but unless your looking for Versace furniture, which is still open, these threads are online-only from now on. To top it off, Freywille, with their only location in North America right here in downtown, has also permanently closed down. Selling high-end accessories and jewelry is a thing of the past from this storefront, so all you big spenders will likely need to shop online, or find somewhere new that catches your eye!
And for many of you chocolate lovers, even worse news. While we have plenty of fantastic stores such as Purdys, Godiva has shut its doors across North America, robbing us of our chocolatey indulgences. They too had plans to expand even further, having only 11 stores here in Canada, but alas, with their company model focusing on in-store purchasing, and the pandemic making that kind of shopping difficult, they decided to close down their delightful sweets stores as a wise decision. On the topic of sweets, Funnel Cake Express has also permanently closed their doors. Again, with the problems of in-person shopping, food retailers have little wiggle room to make it work. They have some insane dishes, such as deep fried mars bars, twinkies, funnel cakes with icing sugar and chocolate drizzle aplenty, but what caught me off guard the most was the deep fried butter. This place is nuts. So while you can no longer enter their doors, they still have their food truck going around town, along with purchasable funnel cake kits that you can make on your own! Be sure not to miss out when they stop their truck in your area!
To work off all those calories, you may be saddened from the recent permanent closure from Sports National across Canada. It is a storefront owned by Canadian Tire, and while it’s not in any danger of financial losses, they decided to pull away from the competition coming in from rival businesses, such as Mark’s and Sport Chek. Anyone may be able to easily swap to a new storefront for their sporting gear, but it’s surprising to see the entire family of Sports National stores getting taken down. And this leads into the many athletic centers getting closed down recently, such as Eastside Boxing Gym, an extremely popular gym that has received a lot of support from its customers. They plan to re-open as soon as possible, which should be on the 29th. Another gym, Club Phoenix Fitness, has also closed down until the 29th, where multiple cases were found. While they too will re-open soon, hence why it’s incredibly important to stay safe, mask up, wash those hands, and do everything in your power to prevent the spread of covid. Many people such as my friends need to be able to exercise, and being able to feel safe and comfortable at their favorite gym is important for every fitness enthusiast.
I’ve personally lost quite a few of my favorite businesses as well, such as the Bubble Queen that was on Oak and 16th, selling the Toblerone slush, oreo bubble waffles, with a lovely patio and friendly staff. Or the Dear and Fro shaved ice dessert spot on 41st. They had a killer strawberry dish that just melted in your mouth. Even GameStop is gone now! Of course, with gaming being mostly online it only makes sense, but I’ll miss that child-like excitement of perusing through a game store to find a deal or reserve a copy of a popular new release. A couple of these small businesses may have gone completely unnoticed by many of you readers, but each and every one of us has a place we visit often that we would call “our spot”. I can’t remember the last time I went to Pepper Lunch, a Japanese sizzling platter restaurant that I simply couldn’t get enough of. Each part of your meal comes on a piping hot pan, and you cook it as you eat. Rice, curry sauce, pork, chicken, or veggies are all a part of what makes this place special to me. So everyone, as much as you can’t wait to head back to your favorite restaurant, lets all do our part to support these businesses as much as we can by buying online, heading in even for some safe small purchases, or letting your friends know about the spots you care about the most. Soon, through our efforts of preventing the spread of covid, we will all hopefully be able to head back out to our go-to “treat yourself” spots.
Online Games and Their Response to Covid-19
The times of heading over to your friends place to play some games such as Mario Party, Wii Sports, or NBA Jam are over. Online gaming is the new standard, and it’s all that’s accessible while we need to socially distance from each other. I’m the kind of person that loves hanging out while gaming, but how has that changed for all of us who are similar when we can no longer meet in person? Thanks to advancements in gaming over the years, online play is standard, and is supported in most games. However, that is only most games. In a time where everyone has to come together online instead of meet up in-person, games have been stepping up to meet with the need for proper online support. And that is our focus for today; recent games that have made changes or focused on designing their game for online play during these times.
To start with, one of the biggest games on the Gamecube, with a gigantic community and fans across the globe, Super Smash Bros Melee is a game that is played to this day competitively, but with no local meetups for a game that is nearing to be 20 years old, how are players supposed to keep up with each other? Project Slippi, created by Jas aka “Fizzi”, has an answer. Originally starting out at a replay software for players to review their games, on June 22nd 2020, they added online matchmaking with the best online programming or “netcode” for short, available. They added rollback style netcode, and to keep it short, rollback is a type of online programming that allows for immediate inputs, and smooth connections between players. Sometimes, with delay-based netcode, the delay can get to a point where the game freezes, slows down, or the time it takes for your button to be registered on the server takes over a full second, due to the online programming being based on the delay between players. This can be extremely unpleasant for players, so rollback netcode is becoming a demanded standard among online gamers. Rollback isn’t compatible with all games, but when a game is designed for it to be implemented, it is the best online experience possible. A handful of people may not notice delay-based problems too often, but rollback makes a large difference in the overall playerbase to allow players from around the world to play together smoothly, especially when it’s all we have. Project Slippi has allowed the hundreds of thousands of melee players to enjoy online for a game that never even had it to begin with. And that is an incredible feat.
Another couple games that have stepped up to the plate, in terms of upgrading their online experience, are Tekken 7 and Super Mario Party on the Nintendo Switch. Starting with Tekken, after complaints about their current netcode, Katsuhiro Harada, the game director, decided to make some tweaks to their current design for Tekken’s online. By adding in a custom-built version of rollback, they put in the effort to smooth out connections, and ensure players weren’t forced to play in unsatisfactory conditions. People within the same province would have trouble connecting smoothly to each other before, but there have been reports of players playing together from distances such as Stockholm, Sweden, to Iowa. That’s over 7000 kilometers of distance, playing smooth as butter. Players were incredibly delighted to be playing online comfortably, and I feel Harada himself is just as happy with the result. On the flip side, Nintendo’s Super Mario Party just added online modes to their game yesterday. With the game being released in 2018, it’s surprising that they did not have online by default. But with the obvious demand to play with your friends online instead of on your couch, Nintendo made sure to support the needs of it’s players. From fighting games to party games, online is important for the experience of each player, and it’s great to see that game companies are realizing the need for it.
Moving onto games that have been designed for a strong online experience from the get-go, here are a couple that have been fantastic at doing so. To start with, Spelunky 2 has recently come out in September last year. While many fans were excited to get their hands back into the intense underground-exploring adventure, developers introduced a new multiplayer format that is supported by rollback netcode, perfect for playing with friends around the world cooperatively, or competitively. With a release time that dropped during the pandemic, this was an incredible feature that not many other games were able to compete with. With extremely quick load times, restart functionality that made you question just how long you’ve been playing with friends, and fun design throughout the game, Spelunky 2 is a frontrunner for supporting online gaming with friends during these times of online-only interaction.
And finally, a giant shoutout to one of my favorite games that I have discovered during these last couple years, Them’s Fightin’ Herds. A fighting game starring unicorns, dragons, cows, sheep and goats, with fast action and some of the best online support I have ever seen in a game. The lobbies are open and free to roam around in to meet people, or you can make your own private lobbies to keep it to just your friends. There is in-game voice and text chat, easy interaction menus with players, and a highly educational tutorial, story mode, and fun multiplayer salt-mines mode that provides players in-game currency to purchase cosmetics. Above all else however, the rollback netcode and smooth design of the online environment for players is far and above the triple-A industry standard. I’ve met friends, rivals, and had laugh-out-loud times while playing matches in this game that I wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else. The closest one would get would be playing online shooters with voice chat, but those environments don’t normally provide the most kind interactions while you stomp or get stomped by the enemy team. Them’s Fightin’ Herds produced by the Mane6 dev team is a role-model for how online games can be designed for player enjoyment, and I can’t wait to see more games over time learn to be able to support and encourage fun online play. So until we are all able to hang out in-person once again, and enjoy a drink while somebody tosses their controller over a hard loss in a game, I’m glad to be able to enjoy online games such as these, and hey, maybe you’ll get into one of these too! Have fun, and enjoy some online gaming if you’re into it, or got some time to kill. We all need to keep busy somehow while we’re at home!
Policing in Schools: Their Final Call?
Just yesterday, the Vancouver School Board made the decision to discontinue the School Liaison Officer program by the end of the school year. This topic has been talked about for quite some time starting a year ago, but the final vote is now in place. Changes have been set in stone, ranging from implementing better communication between schools and officers, hiring counsellors to better support mental health among students, training officers to better handle BIPOC and trauma-afflicted students, and bringing officers in to have information sessions. With over 30 speakers consisting of students, parents, officers and the school board sharing their thoughts on the topic, the consensus around the impact that the SLO program has is mixed on being both somewhat positive for a majority, but heavily negative for black and indigenous groups. Especially with the BLM movements in response to deaths in the US, and previous incidents at local schools, a majority of BIPOC students feel that the presence of officers in schools is unnecessary and even scary.
At Lord Byng Secondary, a young black girl was traumatized and neglected by both the school board, and the officers her family tried to report the incident to. The incident in question, a public video posted by a young boy detailing how he wanted to kill black people was a disgusting video that should never have been made public, or even said off-camera. This video, after being seen by many of the students at this school, was reported to the principal. However, their reaction was less than helpful, the principal at the time, Mike Vulgaris, took minimal action against the video. They put out letters to parents mentioning the incident with few details to preserve “student privacy”, and that was it. The school claimed to understand the need for schools to feel “safe and welcoming and caring”, but their inaction stated otherwise, as this young girl’s family had to go to the police instead. And that too, yielded no results, as they told her there is nothing they can do. For months, this young black girl had to avoid school due to bullying and further racism, and even had to transfer out of Lord Byng, abandoning her arts program. While teachers and staff at Lord Byng and the police both failed to provide any sense of safety and justice to this girl’s family, the current vote aims to change that, at least through the removal of the SLO program and implementing changes to better handle such incidents.
The School Liaison Officer program first was implemented in 1972, with an officer in each of the 17 secondary schools in the district. In the beginning it aimed to do many things for students, one of these goals being counselling, but how could officers who are untrained to properly deal with mental health and BIPOC communities possibly assist in an effective way? And based on student reports, a majority of indigenous and black students feel unsafe with an officer on school grounds. And this is only fair, considering that they are often targeted groups by police, and families that are immigrating may be scared of revealing information to the police. Families and students that may be scared of police and immigration officers knowing who they are feel unsafe contacting SLOs, and there have even been cases in which they have been detained for being immigrants on school grounds, or having officers show up at their home. For families like these, school is a risk, and a possibly traumatizing and terrifying experience each day they attend classes. The fear of communicating with others, stops potential relationships students could build, talking about their family or where they’re from, or most importantly, asking for help from an officer that could potentially take their family away, is a fear that shouldn’t need to be existent. These fears regarding family information needing to be kept secret just for attending school contradicts what the VSB aims to do for its students. This keeps many families from even registering for school, or if they do, it is nowhere near a purely positive learning experience for them. And by removing SLOs, the board aims to aid students who may be plagued by this fear.
Fiona Wilson, a representative for the VPD, talked about the consequences of removing SLOs from schools during an online meeting that happened April 12th, mentioning that the majority of those in a survey wanted to keep the SLO program. While the numbers don’t lie, they also do not represent the target group that the SLO program is not providing for. 57% were people of color, and only 4% identified as black or indigenous. Yes, not everyone genuinely wants to terminate the SLO program, but the reason it is being terminated is not for those who feel safe. It is to provide safety for those who do NOT feel safe, such as that 4%. There are positives to having the SLO program for quite possibly a large amount of students, but the negatives and history behind how police are perceived by BIPOC communities, and the numerous cases that have been responded to inadequately or neglected can outweigh those positives.
On April 8th, students gathered outside the VSB office in order to re-iterate just how much officers have an impact on students in schools. And primarily, for black and indigenous students, they feel fear or discomfort with officers on school grounds. To have to go to these lengths in order to send a message on how students feel, schools are finally getting the message on how uniformed officers presence impacts students. When I was at Lord Byng, our officer was rarely to be seen, but I know for a fact that I worried each time I did see them as a black student.
Of course, not every officer is going to handle situations the same way, and there are many officers that have helped a lot around school communities, such as assisting with food drives, and even celebrating Christmas with the pan pacific Christmas wish event. But the VSB is moving to remove SLOs in order to reform how schools interact with officers, providing new plans to allow officers to provide more support and resources to students instead of stress from uniform presence, and truly push towards a real feeling of safety and inclusion for students. The current effect from SLOs being in schools is a “step backwards” says Alejandra Lopez Bravo at the online meeting, and until every student can feel safe in schools, hopefully the VSB will continue pushing for changes to support them.
Esports: Valorant’s Canadian Kings
While many people have been keeping an eye on traditional sports, with teams putting out their all during these harder times, esports teams have not been slacking off whatsoever. We’re gonna take a look into a few of our local players from Canada, in the currently growing first person shooter by Riot Games, Valorant. 5v5 teams and superpowered “agents” fighting for control over a bomb or bomb-planting area is what the game boils down to, with strategies, game knowledge, fast reactions, and accurate shots being the requirement for being a big-name player in this competitive tactical shooter. Riot Games is hosting the Valorant Champions Tour, in which they have teams from countries across the world, including North/South America, Europe, and Asia. It is a year-long global circuit with three levels of competition spanning over a year. There are regional challengers events, that then qualify them for international masters events. And as we’re not even halfway through the year yet, with the second round of challengers only just beginning. These events are held almost entirely online, with the exception of countries with available venues such as Korea holding matches in-person. Casters are remotely bringing the hype as teams clash in intense competition. However, it’s important to keep a close eye on not just the match-ups and hype moments, but the Canadian players that have truly helped represent our country. And that’s what we’re here to focus on today. Valorant is a game played across the globe, but our players have proven that Canada is a force to be reckoned with. Players such as Mike “Shroud” Grzesiek, Matthew “Wardell” Bowman Yu, Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik, and pictured below, Tyson “TenZ” Ngo have been redefining Canada’s esports presence.
Starting with Tyson, he is 19 years old, born right on Vancouver Island, and already has been sponsored by Cloud9, one of the largest esports organizations in the world. And for good reason, being the first person known from North America to reach the highest rank in Valorant’s competitive beta. He competed for Cloud9 for quite some time until early this year, where he was temporarily signed onto Sentinels to replace Jay “Sinatraa” Won. Now ranked 12th in the world, Tyson has become one of the best players in Valorant. How? By winning the Valoant Champions Tour Masters stage 1 and 2. Just this last weekend in stage 2, after a crushing defeat by team Andbox in quarterfinals, Tyson along with the rest of team Sentinels ran it back through the lower bracket, defeating teams such as T1 and Immortals, while getting revenge against Andbox in a close 2-1 set, and crushing NRG 2-0 to make it back into grand finals. Sentinels put up an incredible fight getting this far, and TenZ was no “extra” player on the team, making incredible plays, and even carrying the team at times. Team Sentinels, consisting of Shahzeb “ShahZam” Khan, Hunter “SicK” Mims, Jared “zombs” Gitlin, and Michael “dapr” Gulino had a mission, and they weren’t going to let one loss in the beginning stop them. Making it into finals was just the first step, but they leapt past everyone’s expectations when they defeated Cloud9 Blue 3 to zip, earning $20000 for the team, and $4000 for himself in prizing. In Tyson’s own words, “Man does it feel f****** good to win!!!” . It was an incredible comeback that I doubt many spectators will forget for quite some time. TenZ and the rest of team Sentinels will undoubtedly be names to look out for within esports from now on.
Moving onto another big team, Team Solo Mid has been an incredible esports organization founded in 2009, and is recently getting into competing with their team in Valorant. Matt “Wardell” Yu, pictured above, is one of the Canadian players on this team consisting of him, Taylor “Drone” Johnson, Steve “reltuC” Cutler, james “hazed” Cobb, and Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik, another Canadian player. Team Solo Mid also competed in the same bracket as the previously mentioned Sentinels, and were ultimately taken out of the bracket by their rivals, Andbox. While finishing tied for 5th, TSM performed incredibly well. Especially thanks to these two Canadian players, who fought their absolute hardest and performed incredibly well overall, even leading their team as the top 2 match MVP’s in the match against Andbox. Canada has never been the biggest country for competing well in global esports, but these players are changing that history very quickly within Valorant’s online series.
Moving away from the heat of competiton, one of Valorant’s leading content creators, Mike “shroud” Grzesiek, has been doing very well for himself, having a community of over 6.7 million subscribers on youtube, and is ranked third in having the most followers on Twitch with over 9 million. Born in Missisauga, Ontario, Shroud has competed in Valorant in the past, and was even titled as one of the best “aimers”, referring to his accuracy in shooters. but focuses on providing entertaining videos and streams as a main priority ever since 2017. He has participated in multiple tournaments for a variety of games such as Escape From Tarkov, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Apex Legends. His efforts certainly paid off as well, making a stable living through content creation and even winning “Content Creator of the Year” at The Game Awards 2019. Shroud is an inspiration for many young Canadian gamers, and it’s incredible to see such success from a Canadian that’s so dedicated to supporting and participating in esports.
Esports has been on the rise with the increase of online activity due to the pandemic, and over the years with many events gaining popularity, but it’s never been a better time to get into catching a couple matches. The history, players, and future of esports is full of content, and spans over decades. Within Valorant, we have yet to see the remainder of the Champions Tour, but something tells me that it won’t be something to sleep in on. Cheering for Canadian players has been incredible over these previous weeks of competition, and I am truly proud to see them shine along with their teams. Want to see how it all goes down? You can see the schedule and learn more at their schedule page, and watch back most of the matches at the main stream for Valorant. Let’s go TSM and Sentinels!