The teams building dynasties at VALORANT Champions 2025

As 16 teams converge on Paris for VCT’s biggest event, four of them will be aiming for a VALORANT Champions title that will cement their dynasty status.

G2 Esports – global title a necessity

G2’s season has been one of impressive consistency. No other side worldwide managed more than one regional title this year: G2 won three.

Their second place at Bangkok and fourth at Toronto are not to be undersold. Though they failed to secure a global title — they were agonizingly close to doing so in Bangkok — they’re the only team to have been a consistently high finisher in both tournaments.

No other team in the top four at Bangkok made it to Toronto, and no other team in the top four at Toronto had been to Bangkok. Their level this year might just have made their 2025 one of the best-performing seasons a team in VALORANT has ever had. But that will mean little if it ends without a global trophy.

If they’re to win it all in Paris then this team will immediately be recognised as one of the best in the game’s history.

If they do not, then their Americas exploits will be written off as the farming of a two-team region, in which G2 was clearly the stronger of those two, even doing so with an illness-induced roster shuffle.

Paper Rex – the first Masters-into-Champs

Paper Rex’s long-lasting core is already hailed as one of VALORANT’s greatest, and had been far before their Masters Toronto win saw them finally lift a global title.

Now, with such a trophy having been secured at the eleventh time of asking, they head to Champs in unfamiliar territory. Not only are they the outright favourites, but there are no question marks around the team’s ability to get it done on the global stage.

PRX’s triumph in Toronto was followed up by a largely comfortable Stage 2-winning run in what’s often considered VCT’s strongest region. For a team to win internationally and easily follow it up with a regional trophy, there’s little reason not to expect them to carry on that form and win internationally again.

While Paper Rex’s dynasty status is absolutely cemented already, winning VALORANT Champions would give them an incredibly strong case as the best team of all time.

They were considered in the conversation already, but becoming the first lineup to have won both a Masters and Champs title, and to do so back-to-back, would make it extremely difficult to argue against them being labelled as the number one.

EDward Gaming – back-to-back

EDward Gaming are outsiders in Paris despite being the current Champions holders. Their season has been rocky.

Their Kickoff win, featuring the same five-man that won in Seoul four months prior, gave early indications that the side was to continue its dominance in China and would again be a force internationally.

But their dropoff in Stage 1, amid turmoil surrounding S1Mon’s departure, meant that Masters Toronto was missed — their first time failing to qualify for such an event since 2022. Things did improve with a third-place finish in Stage 2, enough to qualify them as China’s third seed via Championship Points, but there’s not been enough improvement for them to be seen as serious title contenders.

If somehow they are victorious in Paris, all previous struggles will be forgotten. They would be the first back-to-back VALORANT Champions winners and will have created a legacy that stands alone.

Any mishaps in between will be irrelevant, at least to those sympathetic to EDG. Simply take a glance at the Riot’s other huge title, League of Legends, and how T1’s successive Worlds titles have them hailed as the best roster to ever play the game, despite having been consistently humbled in their own region by Gen.G.

Domestic and even global struggles will mean little if EDG manages two straight Champions victories.

Fnatic – under its own shadow

Fnatic’s 2023 exploits still make them the only back-to-back global event winners after their LOCK//IN and Masters Tokyo runs. The lineup is one of the strongest ever, each player a legend in the scene.

It’s no surprise then that in the two-and-a-half years that followed, Fnatic was still constantly compared to that era. It makes sense — 3/5 of the lineup are still there.

So while they’ve found some success since — three EMEA titles and runners-up spots at Toronto and the EWC — a lack of global trophies is underwhelming for a team where the majority of their lineup is knowingly capable.

Like Paper Rex, Fnatic’s core did already reach dynasty status, they did so the moment they lifted the trophy in Tokyo, however a failure by this core to do so again would feel a massive missed opportunity.

The timing couldn’t be more crucial either. With Leo’s departure now confirmed, his status having been another shadow looming over Fnatic for some time now, and with Chonicle and Boaster’s contracts both up at the end of the year, Fnatic may well look a very different side after this event.

Again in line with PRX: a win in Paris for Fnatic would cement them as VALORANT’s greatest team.