VALORANT player earns Gigachad name with Masters showmanship
With an outstanding performance and showmanship from an unlikely VALORANT region, Kangkang has taken the hearts of fans around the globe.
14th Jun 2023 17:20
Riot Games
VALORANT player earns Gigachad name with Masters showmanship
With an outstanding performance and showmanship from an unlikely VALORANT region, Kangkang has taken the hearts of fans around the globe.
14th Jun 2023 17:20
Riot Games
It's just the opening week of VALORANT Masters Tokyo 2023, and it has already found its main character.
Chinese player Zheng "ZmjjKK" Yongkang (also called Kangkang) has taken the heart of fans all over the globe by storm - both due to his outstanding play and his showmanship.
Now his team, EDward Gaming (EDG), is in the playoffs of one of the most prestigious international tournaments of the year.
All Kangkang everything
Only in December 2022 did Tencent receive approval for VALORANT in China, yet it's already caught up to the world's best teams.
In what some call one of the biggest upsets in VALORANT history, EDG beat the heavy favourites and European powerhouse Na’Vi in the group stage, shocking the world.
One of the main engines for this unexpected outcome? You guessed it, ZmjjKK. Putting 48 Kills and 10 opening kills on the board.
Even in their first match against the South Korean team T1 which EDG narrowly lost, ZmjjKK put on a clinic and dropped a cool 71 kills and a +23 kill/death differential, almost single-handedly running away with the series.
In the last match of the qualifying stage, EDG met T1 for a rematch, and ZmjjiKK took over the game - once again earning top-fragged most kills using his excellent Operator.
According to VALORANT community website vlr.gg, he is currently tied for the best statistical performance during the event heading into knockouts with Evil Geniuses' Ethan "Ethan" Arnold as both are sitting at a rating of 1.22.
Getting deep into T1's heads, ZmjjKK dropped one of the coldest acts of showmanship in esports in recent memory. Standing up and pointing at his opponents after a won round, he took aim and pretended to go through the shooting animation for the Operator. This move catapulted him to main character status on socials.
Everyone loves ZmjjKK
The clip of ZmjjKK going through the motions of his real-life emote went viral, with several clips of co-streamers going wild over the cocky move. "Bro, I'm telling you he is a showman," streamer Connor "Sliggy" Blomfield laughed during his co-stream of the moment. "He is made for this," he continued.
Esports veteran and game observer David "prius" Kuntz shared the excitement, tweeting, "What a baller thing to do on stage."
The clip also hit the frontpage of r/valorantcompetitive, with fans going wild over the move and expressing their admiration for his showmanship.
EDG is set to play Team Liquid in the upper bracket quarterfinals on June 16th at 7 am BST. While EDG is once more seen as the underdog against the European top seed, perhaps Kangkang's Operator is good for another surprise.
About The Author
Sascha Heinisch
Sascha "Yiska" Heinisch is a Senior Esports Journalist at GGRecon. He's been creating content in esports for over 10 years, starting with Warcraft 3.
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