Ninja asks Valorant community to "show respect" to Time In teammates after shock victory against FaZe Clan

The ongoing Valorant JBL Quantum Cup features some of the best Valorant teams in the world competing for a share of $50,000.

Amongst the very best professional Valorant teams, ESL also invited a team called Time In, a motley crew of streamers and ex-pro players from a variety of games.

The team features Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, Kurtis "Kurt" Gallo, Austin "Morgausse" Etue, Gregory "Grego" McAllen, and Dani.

Morgausse is an ex-Fortnite pro, Grego played Overwatch and Apex Legends for Cloud 9, and Kurt played Apex Legends competitively for T1.

(Picture: Ninja)

But by far the biggest star of the team is Ninja, one of the biggest streamers in the world.

And while Time In didn't manage to advance to playoffs, they started the tournament with an epic OT win against the heavily favoured FaZe Clan.

In the final moments of the match, Grego showed his impressive skills with 4 decisive kills to secure the win for Time In.

WHAT IN THE WORLD @GregoFPS

📺https://t.co/svbNJ6Ti5e#JBLQuantumCuppic.twitter.com/hebimcFfes

— JBL Quantum (@JBLQuantum) December 12, 2020

After the tournament, Ninja posted a video on Twitter to share his thoughts on the games and performance of Time In, but also to send an important message to the Valorant community.

• Read more: Ninja and Myth made exclusive Valorant First Strike co-streamers, fans unhappy

Being undoubtedly the biggest star of his team, casters were often focused on Ninja, and he thinks that it is disrespectful when people are directing attention only to him and ignore his teammates.

Overview of the Valorant tournament today and my team. Please watch <3 GGS to everyone we played today. pic.twitter.com/wILKHoIoCd

— Ninja (@Ninja) December 13, 2020

“To all the pro players out there or everyone who is even spectating, I would like everyone to refer to our team name as Time In,” Ninja says. “Not ‘Ninja and Friends’ or ‘Ninja’s and Crew’ or ‘Ninja’s Team’."

He further adds that all his teammates are already established players with previous experience in competing in other games, and not some unknowns, and that many of them are even bigger 'names' than some Valorant pros.

“Every single one on my team, every single person, they’ve competed in other games in a dominant way,” he explains. “I mean sh*t, they even have more followers than some of the current pro players on the top one team.”

The video was followed with the comment asking again that acknowledge his teammates and "put some respec (sic)" on their names.

The team gets its name from Ninja's Adidas brand deal which uses the tagline "TIME IN" so a cynic may think that Ninja's push to get the name frequently said is not entirely altruistic. They have no announced plans to further compete but with Ninja truly putting the time in on Valorant and yesterday's performance against FaZe it seems like it would be stupid not to.

Ninja's deal with Adidas has seen them release sneakers and hoodies. (Picture: Adidas)

The Valorant JBL Quantum Cup playoffs will continues today at 22 pm CET / 4 pm ET / 1 pm PT. 100 Thieves are set to play the Sentinels in the semifinals, while Gen.G Esports will face off against FaZe Clan who recovered from their losses against Time In and 100 Thieves to beat Team Envy and book their place in the semifinal.