The European leg of the VALORANT Champions Tour gave the fans a look at both past and present. The Future of Riot Games’ fps seems set.
Absence of champions
Two of the biggest upsets came before a single game was played in the main event. G2 Esports, Red Bull Home Ground champions, failed to qualify on not one but two occasions. Needing only one BO3 to get in the main event, G2 lost against Ninjas in Pyjamas in Challengers 2 and against Dfuseteam in Challengers 3. Number one team in Europe? Maybe until the Main event grand finals.
🥇 RANK 1 EU 🥇 pic.twitter.com/lNAqozy6ct
— G2 m1xwell (@Mixwell) March 21, 2021
Their Home Ground grand final opponents Team Liquid also failed to qualify. Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom’s team failed to make it past the Round of 16 twice, losing to Alliance and Rix.GG respectively.
Open tournaments are the way forward
VCT showed that an emerging game and competitive scene need open qualifiers to see the best teams compete. A lot of people welcomed all the tier 1 organizations buying into VALORANT, as it showed the trust those organizations had that the game would become the next big thing. The invitational tournaments helped pave the way for VALORANT to become the spectator sport it is today, but with how the Champions Tour unfolded it became very clear that the biggest names in the scene didn’t necessarily have the best lineups.
A name will only get you so far.
Open qualifiers are a must for every self-respecting tournament organizer, and holding invite-only tournaments is a disservice to the game, the fans, and the countless players trying to make a name for themselves. There were quite a few surprising names in the main event. People who bet money on Ballista, Acend (ex-RYE), and Dfuseteam would have gotten really rich. These three teams made sure big household names like G2 Esports and Fnatic were nowhere to be seen.
It’s one thing to surprise a team in a single knockout game, it’s something completely different to outperform everyone’s expectations in the actual competition. No one would have faulted these three teams to quietly exit the tournament after losing both games. Luckily for the VALORANT historians, this is not what happened.
There was a lot of discussion recently about our @PlayVALORANT roster so here is some official Ballista statement. TLTR? In short – we’re good😁 pic.twitter.com/QS10F6pfSg
— Ballista Esports (@Ballista_GG) March 18, 2021
Ballista, pitted against First Strike champions Team Heretics, proved an aggressive playstyle and a nothing-to-lose attitude could work against the established top teams. They pushed Heretics to the edge, narrowly losing their opening match. Dfuseteam -without an organization to back them after this tournament- knocked down Alliance to the lower bracket in Group B, winning handily in two maps.
The only team not to win its opening game was Acend, losing against NiP, but fighting until the very end. Only two rounds separated these teams at the end of their series. Despite losing this opening match, this would not be the last we saw from Acend.
A new king rises
Not only team storylines are written in these big tournaments. Players underperform, or step up when their team needs them the most. Champions Tour was no different, and the individual talent shown by multiple players was a sight to behold. But when we talk about a new king who rises, we can only talk about one man’s heroics.
Mehmet Yağız “cNed” İpek, already quite popular before this event, played out of his mind. To say he single-handedly won VCT would be very disrespectful to his teammates, but there is truth in the statement that Acend wouldn’t have won without cNed. He was there in clutch situations, and in the grand finals’ final map Ascent, the cherry on top of his performance was an ace at 11-8 for his team, breaking Team Heretics’ morale for good.
Looks like @cNedf0r is renovating showers today with the Operator#VALORANTMasters | @valesports_eu pic.twitter.com/5o8BF9zKiS
— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) March 21, 2021
Playing Jett in all five maps, İpek was the only player on the server to break triple digits in kills, ending the finals at 111. His success immediately showed in his Twitch viewership as well. Since winning VCT Masters his viewership -already at a solid 2.4k before the finals- skyrocketed by an impressive 66%, almost surpassing 4k average concurrent viewers.
Out with the old, in with the new
The period between tournaments is often a time where you can expect roster changes. The teams who underperformed or outright disappointed, will be looking to identify what went wrong. That’s often one or more players. While some teams will remain dedicated to the core players they have, other teams will definitely be looking to strengthen their roster.
A team coming out of nowhere winning the entire thing was the best thing to happen to competitive European VALORANT, as it should give newer teams the confidence to continue competing.
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