With so many regions and timezones, its pretty hard to catch all of the games live, so here’s our VCT Wrap up for Week 1. VCT China technically started the week before, but now with all regions in full swing, we’ll be recapping this week’s VALORANT matches for those that didn’t quite have the time.

VCT Wrap up Week 1 | Top Matches to Watch for Each Region

Week 1 in EMEA had a turbulent start

One of the regions that for once had a very active off season for roster moves, every team was coming in with a pretty new look. The obvious match to watch would be the debut of Flor in Tier 1. While many players will be having their rookie years in the Champions Tour, Florescent’s jump from Game Changers is a franchise first and would have many eyes on her.

And she performed fantastically under the bright lights. While the result wouldn’t have been what Apeks wanted, falling to the new Gentle Mates roster who looked fantastic, the match would show that EMEA is going to be a fun region to watch this season.

Gentle Mates will be playing Champions runner up Team Heretics next week, with the remaining round 1 bye FUT Esports facing off against Team Liquid, fresh off their win 2-1 over KOI.

Lower Bracket filled with Sharks, and I don’t mean Leviatan

While Team Vitality, now featuring Derke would narrowly scrape out a win over Karmine Corp, his old team Fnatic, who are no strangers to the Upper Bracket Finals of EMEA, are already slumming it out in the Lower Bracket Round 1 thanks to a nailbiter loss to BBL.

They go into their face off against NaVi as the favorites. NaVi themselves took the first map from Karmine Corp in their opening match before getting flattened 13-2 and 13-6 on the crack back. The aforementioned KC are also coming into Loser’s Round 1, expecting to send GiantX home.

After checking out how GC’s finest did in her debut match, the Fnatic vs BBL match is absolutely our EMEA match of the week to get watching.

China well underway

China is already slightly ahead of the rest of the VCT Regions, with its first matches taking place the weekend prior. 2 teams have already been sent home, with All Gamers dropping 2-0 to Nova Esports and 2-1 to XLG Esports; and Titan Esports Club winning their opening match 2-0, before dropping to the elimination bracket 2-1 to FunPlusPhoenix (FPX) and bowing out 2-0 to JD Gaming.

The region is going pretty much as expected though, with no upsets of note, and some of the middle to low end of the pack teams trading maps here and there. The top side of the bracket has looked a little more contested, with the Winner’s Semis matchup of Bilibili Gaming vs FPX being made off of 2-1 wins to get there.

VCT China favorite EDG, unlike Bilibili have shown no cracks in their armor, cleaning up a very decent looking Nova team 2-0. Trace Esports will be playing them for a spot in Winner’s finals, having also made short work of their opponents Dragon Ranger Gaming.

There’s unfortunately no English speaking broadcast for the Chinese region, so you might be looking at co-streamers like Sliggy, Sideshow or Thinking Man’s Valorant to get some English insight on the region. But if you’re not looking to get an early look at the Smoggy highlight reel for EDG, the Bilibili vs XLG match is my recommendation, since Bilibili are one of the few teams that look like they might have a shot at EDG if they get their act together.

Pacific’s bottom teams pack a punch

Pacific has always been one of those top heavy regions, the teams at the bottom were there for a region, and a somewhat three horse race still had a pecking order. Pound for pound upgrades amongst those bottom feeder teams do look like they’ll be the rising tide that raises all ships, with no expressly free wins for any but the top teams.

VCT pacific kick off 2025
Image credit: RIOT Games

T1 took an uncomfortable 2-1 win over newcomers BOOM Esports, who were a replacement team, coming second in their domestic Ascension finals. The team that beat them, Sin Prisa Gaming, were fully acquired by Nongshim Esports and took it clean 2-0 over a ZETA DIVISION roster that once again refuse to make moves in the offseason. ZETA have been known to go on a run, so we’ll see how they do in the lower bracket while Nongshim faced off against their first big test in DRX.

New Year New Me

Detonation Focus Me (DFM) and Global Esports have drawn some well deserved side eyes across the years with some pretty dismal performances in previous years. Global, now living up to their Global name, have abandoned their Indian roots, looking to appease the fan base by getting some wins on the board.

One of their players will unfortunately be absent from their opening matches in Kickoff due to VISA issues, however, the team has something to prove, even with their backs against the wall logistically. DFM as well were several cuts below their fellow Japanese team in prior years, but the new roster has been accumulating scrim bucks.

With the finals of Pacific being set for Tokyo, it’d be huge for a Japanese team to make it there. Unfortunately though, it looks like an uphill battle as Rex Regum Quan (RRQ) sent them to join their countrymen in the lower bracket.

Americas did not disappoint

Despite what a clean flush of 2-0s would imply, Americas honestly has lived up to the hype as one of the loudest regions. The return of Yay had some standout moments facing off against LOUD, who looked shaky to start and were dragged across the line from heroics by Dgzin to snatch a win from EG, and snowball into a 2-0 win.

Yay and his team will be joining Aspas and friends in the lower bracket after 100T made short work of them on root to a matchup against Sentinels. This easily was the match of the week across all regions, going to the final map, with huge performances out of both SEN and 100T.

NRG had looked good in the off season with their results leading into Kick Off, but they took a close loss to Cloud 9, so if they want to make a deep run, they’ll have to prepare for a marathon in the Lower bracket. Xeppa was an absolute standout, dropping 54 across the 49 rounds played, edging out S0m who also had a brilliant series, dropping an average of 1 kill around at 49 kills by the end.

NA had so many good maps to pick from this week, but NRG bringing back a 10-3 deficit on Fracture to go into OT is worth seeing.

Tejo goes to Town

The new agent 27, Tejo, is legal for all of Kick Off and has been put into use by some teams. Not everyone was super sold on whether the agent could fit in on such short notice, seing sparing usage across the regions. Americas were believers in the 27th Agent’s potential, showcasing how strong the agent can be with its Guided Salvo. Armageddon wasn’t particularly impressive in coordinated play but the Guided Salvo lived up to expectations, denying space and getting an unreasonable number of kills over the week.