VALORANT esports continues to shine, with a great Day 1 for the play-offs of the VALORANT Champions Tour EU: Stage 1 Challengers 3. The Challengers 3 tournament, featured 8 top European teams, 4 of which qualified from the previous Challenger tournament, whilst the other 4 had qualified from an online open qualifier. The makeup of the teams is as shown:
From the Online Open Qualifiers
- Ballista
- Raise Your Edge
- Guild Esports
- DFuse Team
Coming through the automatic qualification quota of the Top 4 of the Challenger 2
- Fnatic
- G2
- Wave Esports
- OG Esports
The Format of Valorant Challengers 3 EU
The 8 teams fought in the single bracket, knockout style, Play-in, and Play-offs stage. The 4 teams from the open qualifiers battled it out in a Best of 3 Series, to fight for a chance to go to EU Masters, for which they had to beat the top 4 teams from the Challengers Series 2, in a single-elimination BO-3, in the play-offs stage. Losing in the play-offs stage would grant them an automatic qualification for the next Challenger Series, whereas winning would give them a free ticket to EU Masters along with a decent €8,750!
What happened in VCT EU Challengers 3?
The 4 teams that have qualified for the Masters are: Guild Esports, DFuse Team, Ballista Esports, and Raise Your Edge. Ballista Esports and Raise Your Edge have been the outlying surprises of this Challengers Series, with them not being too well known or touted to win the event.
Guild Esports have come in with big names into the VALORANT series, them qualifying here was expected, and they definitely lived up to it. The team, with big names from Swedish Counter-Strike, like Yacine and draken, took the game quite cleanly and have a spot booked in masters now.
G2 Esports fell to Dfuse team with both mixwell and zeek having a far from ideal day. Clearly shows that G2 either needs a bit of time to practice and improve, or maybe reevaluate their decision and maybe sign a top IGL. Dfuse team have been on the rise for a while, and shown why they’re not a team to be taken lightly. They took the game with a professional performance after a shaky first map.
Fnatic’s troubles continue as they fall in the VCT Challengers Stage 3, as well. Their recent form has been far from ideal, since signing for Fnatic. Ballista Esports of course has taken the headlines, with a massive win here. Ballista Esports had been touted as an up-and-coming Polish roster, but they’ve clearly outdone expectations here. Great performance from them.
OG’s form doing them no favors again as they fall to Raise Your Edge, a relatively unknown name in Top Tier Valorant. Another result showing us that Valorant is clearly ever-evolving and with time new names are emerging who are taking the scene by storm. Top performance from the lads to secure the 8,750€ as well as a seat at VALORANT Champions Tour: Masters!
Results of VCT EU Challengers 3
| Place | Team | USD | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | Guild Esports | $10,446 | Masters |
| 1-4 | DfuseTeam | $10,446 | Masters |
| 1-4 | Ballista Esports | $10,446 | Masters |
| 1-4 | Raise Your Edge | $10,446 | Masters |
| 5-8 | Wave Esports | - | - |
| 5-8 | G2 | - | - |
| 5-8 | Fnatic | - | - |
| 5-8 | OG | - | - |
What's coming up in VCT?
Valorant Champions Tour: Masters will begin on the 12th of March. The stage is set, and let's hope we can enjoy some top-level VALORANT!
Make sure to follow up for updates on the Valorant Champions Tour. Stay tuned with Gamzo for more gaming updates.