VCT Wrap Up | Stage 1 Week 7

EDG Misses their first international

Death, Taxes, and EDG dropping to the lower bracket of playoffs to clash with Bilibili Gaming and stop one of them from making it oversees. This has been the script for VCT China every single stage. And I know that BiliBili had certainly gotten sick of it. For whatever reason, neither of the top seeds have ever been capable of both going oversees, with Trace upsetting Bilibili when only 2 seeds could go, and both dropping to the lower bracket early this time. It felt like an inevitability that we’d be saying goodbye to Bilibili once again at the hands of EDward Gaming but for the first time, EDG would fall short, allowing Bilibili to secure the 3rd and final spot for China. Despite the roster issues, the maps went close, with a palpable comeback on our hands in the final, but some heroics on BLG put them through to the lower finals. They’d carry on that momentum to blitz Wolves Esports, who are now on a 5 map losing streak after getting shut out in Winner’s finals (narrowly) by Xi Lai Gaming, and XLG would lift their first ever domestic trophy. 3-1 over Bilibili, a team that had confidently going toe to toe with the top teams in the region comes out as the top team in the region ahead of Toronto.

No Back to Back Masters Champion

The “Win an international into lose domestically” pipeline remains unmatched. A pretty catastrophic 7 days of VALORANT has seen our Masters Bangkok winners sent home in 2. Queueing into DRX once again, this time the pendulum would swing in favour of DRX. As is the norm for our T1 vs DRX grudge matches, the maps went the distance, with the rounds this time falling in favour of DRX, who would then briskly be joining T1 in the lower bracket for a potential rematch after they fell to RRQ. T1, however, would not be attending the rematch, as Paper Rex, who have just barely been in their group’s Top 4 have decided to go on a run. Finishing it out with a knife kill, PRX in absolutely electric fashion sent T1 packing.

PRX TAKES DOWN THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD IN THE MOST INSANE ENDING 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Qpa2B7KfU5

— VCT Pacific (@vctpacific) May 3, 2025

Unfortunately, Boom’s undefeated Stage came to an end at the hands of Gen.G. Fitting that the first team to fall as part of a domnio effect of momentum would be the ones that would tip the scales in the other direction. And speaking of the scales tipping, the alternating seesaw of Wins and Losses currently known as TALON did so once more. You truly do have to pour one out for Nongshim RedForce, they’ve played TALON 3 times, and all 3 were on the “mandate of heaven” rotation where TALON were just destined to win. Unfotunately for Talon and Boom, their runs would be ending this weekend on the Sunday, both falling to DRX and Paper Rex 2-0 to set up an RX showdown.

G2 is Inevitable

The final week of Americas was absolutely one for the ages. The final 4 was one that few saw coming, mostly because Evil Geniuses were never supposed to make it this far. History wouldn’t quite repeat the Champions winning form, but you could taste it in the air. A few rounds that could have gone differently and we might not be sitting here with G2 Esports back on the throne where they probably belong. Before that, we started with an important seeding game between Sentinels and MIBR, both already guaranteed their trip to Canada, for these 2 teams, it was really who got to dodge G2 for a little bit longer. It would be Sentinels securing their spot in Grands and getting a double map ban advantage against the Group Stage champs.

.@jawgemo 🤝 @omgitspotter 🥹 #VCTAmericas pic.twitter.com/hj9s0ByHos

— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesportsna) May 3, 2025

https://x.com/valesportsna/status/1918498835724140815

It’s time to decide who is making it to Toronto in most regions as the playoffs say goodbye to teams in its earliest rounds for our VCT Wrap Up Week 6.

The Americas Crown fits a new head

China took a week off to let the rest of the regions catch up which means we get to open up with Americas for once, and what a region. Top seds KRU and G2 just one win away from automatically qualifying for Masters Toronto… and they’re both in the lower bracket.

Kicking things off with round 1 of playoffs, MIBR and SEN cruised to 2-0 wins over 100T and C9 respectively. Both matches they were favourites, as much as C9 were brilliant during the regular season, the playoffs curse continues to haunt them, and 100T showed signs of growth but MIBR really are looking like a Top 3 team in Americas comfortably.

The lower bracket would complete a 1-2 punch for C9, sending them home off the back of a 2-0 loss to Potter’s Evil Geniuses, and 100T would send NRG packing.

The real upsets would come after the opening 4 matches. G2 have looked shaky this week with a nailbiter 2-1 loss to Sentinels, who have booked their ticket to the Great White North, and MIBR definitively shutting out KRU.

Down in the elimination bracket, 100T were looking for that upset runback and while they took a map, the series would allude them, putting G2 in the win-and-in against EG, who, despite all odds, despite winning their last head to head with KRU were still the underdogs vs the Number 2 seed of Americas. But Yayster doesn’t lose to Kru. Unlike the week before that was Supamen and friends vs KRU, this time Icy and Yay lead the pack, putting on massive performances to keep Keznit on the back fut for as long as possible. This match and the G2 vs Sentinels are the matches of the week for Americas.

Keeping the seat warm

Gen.G are no strangers to the throne. They’ve admittedly had some growing pains this stage, with some losses no one was really expecting as they got Foxy9 accustomed to his role on the team. Admittedly when everyone loses to the team you got upset by it doesn’t exactly show badly on you. 4 Matches have been played out in APAC, all in the Upper Bracket. Gen.G took their turns with Talon trading dominant games back and forth to win 2-1, and this time ran Boom down in 2-0 fashion, getting them back for the regular season. This qualifies Gen.G for Toronto already, getting back to that top 3 placement we expected from them all season.

It was definitely not the performance from Boom that they’ve been showing all stage, its likely that the nerves finally caught up with them, so here’s hoping they can shake it off in the lower bracket, because they’ll need to if they want any shot at Masters.
The other side of the Upper Bracket had DRX vs T1 again but this time in 2-0 fashion it was DRX on top, dropping T1 into the shark tank. As always, both these games could have gone either way, with only 2 rounds separating them on Lotus and Fracture.

Despite their efforts, they might be in for a rematch vs T1 to make it to Masters as RRQ stood their ground and were able to convert on their Win-and-in unlike BOOM. Maps 1 and 3 were incredibly tight and could have gone the other way at any moment but Icebox as a big question mark here for DRX, who had just absolutely nothing in that 2nd map, getting shut out 13-4.

A not so voluntary week off, making history in EMEA

Sure, China took a week off because they were a week or two ahead. EMEA was a week behind, and now they’re an extra week behind due to Tech Pauses. Honestly, Tech Pauses are nothing new in EMEA, they’ve been a frequent thing since the region’s start. But the level of play being interrupted by Tech Pauses forced the region to be playing online in person just to try and get matches made.

THE LONGEST GAME IN VCT HISTORY

@BBL_esports win map 1! #VCTEMEA pic.twitter.com/emoBW694SG

— VALORANT Esports EMEA (@valesports_emea) April 23, 2025

And as you can expect, it didn’t go as planned, resulting in even longer tech pauses. It got so bad that the Team Liquid vs Karmine Corp match was cancelled after ruling a 1-0 lead for Team Liquid because play became untenable. It’s technically the longest VCT match of all time now. This is a VCT first, which is a shame because it somewhat overshadows what was actually the longest VCT EMEA match by rounds in the Turkish Derby. FUT vs BBL was a brilliant watch with Map 1 now officially being the longest match by round count domestically for pro play and VCT. This used to be 2 different records but the Turkish teams homogenized them into 1 after taking Ascent 25-23 in favour of BBL.

All of our regions have locked in their Top 4 teams going to their domestic playoffs, for this week’s VCT Wrap Up we’re covering all of the regions.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

China is always a lot of fun. For a region that has had 2 clear front running teams coming into the season, and a surprise contender that went to Bangkok, the region has been up and down. Despite some hickups, expected 1st seeds of their respective groups, EDward Gaming and Bilibili Gaming came out on top. Being 1 week ahead, China are actually already comfortably through their Playoffs to decide their representitives for Toronto. And somewhat unsurprising at this point, both the number 1 seeds are in the lower bracket. They’re set to face off in the coming week once again meaning that we won’t get to see BLG and EDG both at a Masters event. Where Trace were the team that went on a run to make the upset, this time Xi Lai Gaming and Wolves Esports came out swinging. Both teams upset their respective #1 matchups 2-0 to qualify for the Upper Bracket Finals, guaranteeing that at least 1 team from Group Omega will make it to Grand Finals and the Canadian Masters.

Bilibili Gaming closeed out their group stages only losing to Trace Esports, but when playing against Wolves in playoffs, they got shut out in pretty comfortable fashion. On the othere side of the Upper Bracket Semifinals, EDG vs XLG went the distance and is absolutely the match to watch of the week for China. You could argue that the fallout with S1Mon has had more of an eeffeect on EDG, but the BLG upset comes as quite a surprise, as the team – on the whole – looked more stable.

EMEA’s Pecking Order not set in stone

EMEA has mathematically locked in its final 8. However, none of the placements are locked at this point. In Group Alpha, both Apeks and GIANTX have slumped to 0-4 records, and Group Omega said goodbye to KOI and Gentle Mates’ run to playoffs. Due to how the remaining matches are scheduled, all of the teams could fluctuate in placements, but at the time of writing, the groups go as follows:

ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR. pic.twitter.com/yjsFhiH7YO

— VALORANT Esports EMEA (@valesports_emea) April 18, 2025

Vitality have looked incredibly shakey, having gone close in some maps vs the teams they’ve beaten, and taken for a ride by the current top 2 seeds of Fnatic and Heretics. right now, they’re separated by a round differential, with Heretics leading +6 on them by rounds. If they keep even on maps that number 1 seed is going to be decided by their clash at the end of stage. In Omega, the top 3 teams are tied at a 3-1 record, so again, no actual placements have beeen locked for any group in EMEA. Heretics have definitely woken up and even 4th place NaVi look like they have a shot at making it deep in playoffs depending on how the final weeks shape up. The eliminated teams will have a lot to work on, as while they don’t have the records to show for it, some of these maps could have gone their way and shaped the region differently.

Do or Die.

North America was possibly the most contesteed reegion thanks to Group Omega playing out in a way that allowed for this week to decide the final slot. The only team completely out of the running in Omega coming into this week was FURIA, joinign 2GAME and LOUD from Group Alpha in the no playoff zone. NRG had been under some heat as an org based on a trend of players leaving under dubous cercumstancese and finding success and smiles on other organizations. That wave of critisim would likely have continued if FNS and the boys couldn’t shut out a Leviatán that looked a little stronger after their performance the week prior. The desk predicted that LEV would get it done, with the solee exception of Babybay who clearly was a truther. NRG finished it out 2-0, securing their group’s 4th slot in playoffs. Over in Alpha, the 4th slot is occupied by Evil Geniuses. Thy weereen’t in any danger of not making it to Top 4, but there was a timeline wheere they could have poached the 3rd slot from 100 Thieves. Their match against the winless LOUD was expected to be a lot cleaner than it eendd up being. Going the full 3 maps and the distance in the first 2, the EG vs LOUD game is the match of the week for Americas. Despite not coming away with their first 1 of the stage, Pancada broke the Map Kill Record with his performance on Pearl. The new record sits at 34. 

The final placements for playoffs are as follows:

Pacific in Shambles

Group Alpha’s group of death didn’t exactly shake out the way we thought it would when the draws happened. Yes, BOOM joins DRX, Gen.G and Paper Rex in the playoffs, but lording over them from on high at 5-0 was certainly on nobody’s radar. They continue their clean sweep of the bracket, currently only matched by Americas’ G2 for their group stage record. Paper Rex has held onto their Top 4 spot, ending playoff hopes for Global Esports and DFM. Group Omega still has fellow Indonesian team, RRQ, nestled on that top spot. Despite putting incredible work to dethrown T1 last week, this time they’ve gone and doubled down on the shock factor… by losing to Team Secret. In an upset that nobody saw coming, the team got pipped 2-1, barely winning theeir own mnap pick, getting cooked on Secret’s and ultimately losing out in the final map to a team that lacked a win all Stage and were already out of playoff contention. Lucky for them though, they’ll maintain theeir number 1 slot thanks to having better map diffeerential over TALON and T1, with theee latter dropping from 2nd to 3rd seed after also stumbling to a 3-2 rcord. All 4 teams in Group Omega that made it to playoffs finished 3-2, making it truly the most balanced group.

All teams are well underway for our VCT Wrap Up, we’ll be covering a lot of the upsets, ups and downs for each region.

Stage 1 Week 4

Lifelines have started running out as playoff spots lock in. China, 1 week ahead of the curve has established its Top 4 in each group, with some early frontrunners falling from grace, but the region has shaped up as one would have expected early.

EDG is on top

They stumbled early with an unexpected loss to Nova Esports, who really hit their stride and have finished groups with a respectable third place. Over in Omega, the final week of pre-playoffs matches took Bilibili off their lossless streak, meaning there’s potential for an upset later on in the bracket vs a team that looked pretty untouchable. Your 8 playoff teams are:

Bilibili vs Trace Esports is probably the most important of the matches that played out today, as it’ll be the most recent look at Bilibili’s form and a look at the potential mistakees that could occur in playoffs. At least with the number 1 seed for their group, they’ll have time to fix it. All’s not necessarily well in the EDG camp though as S1mon has been benched and the crash out has prompted responses from the whole team, siding with their coach. How this will affect the team going foward into playoffs is unknown but its a sad sight to see.

Rough summary of EDG's statements about S1Mon:

– S1Mon would barely communicate during scrims but would suddenly completely change when he was streaming. KK said: "If you communicated in scrims even 1/5th as much as you do during streams, we wouldn't want to drop you". https://t.co/OVW4Wj4mtD

— 🥛 (@wanshunzhi) April 14, 2025

Indo on top

As much as Pacific fans decree that VCT Pacific is more VCT Korea, its been a huge stage for Indonesia. At the end of the 4th week of VCT, its both groups lead by the Indo hopefuls. BOOM Esports are still going on that cinderella run at 4-0, adding Gen.G to the kill column this week in a nailbiter 2-0. For Group Omega, which was expected to be T1 and the rest, its actually Rex Regum Qeon on top. Admittedly its mostly on round differential, tying the Masters Bangkok winners at 3-1. However, the head to head is also in their favour with a huge upset over T1. RRQ have had quite a few games that they’ve choked away but this finally wasn’t one of them. As a result, the only guaranteed playoff spot belongs to Boom, who currently sit in that 1st place seed in Group Alpha.

Yayster does not lose to Kru

Americas, as always, has been a treat to watch. What was expected to be one of the least important maps of the week ended up completely shaking up Group Alpha, with EG coming away with the upset against Kru. This also continues Yay’s personal undefeated streak against the organization. It’s absolutely worth the watch just to see a startling game from EG, and a surprisingly shakey Kru, who honestly were mostly just losing to Supamen by himself.

SUPAMEN IS UNSTOPPABLE! #VCTAmericas pic.twitter.com/DrHQtlyOZt

— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesportsna) April 13, 2025

With this, 4 teams are in contention for the 1st seed in Group Alpha. Unfortunately for fans of LOUD, the team is yet to win a series, currently 0-4 and sitting in the spot everyone expected to belong to 2GAME. Group Omega is slightly more open, with only Furia truly out of the running. But after Verno was able to get his own back, going nuclear against his previous team, NRG are on the chopping block, its do or die for their playoff dreams next week. MIBR, however are guaranteed a spot in playoffs now, joining G2 and Cloud9. The remaining spot is neck and neck between LEV and the afforementioned NRG.

Down but not out

With EMEA lagging behind, there’s no teams mathematically eliminated from playoffs just yet, but the road for Apeks and GIANTX looks pretty sisyphian if they want a shot at the summit. Joined by KOI from Group Omega, the 0-3 teams have a lot that they still need to work on, even if they do show flashes in the pan. Apeks could potentially have gone to map 3 vs Fnatic, who are the first team into the playoffs from their group. Clutches from Crashies and getting their momentum back in OT allowed them to finish out a close 2-0 and start looking toward that number 1 seed. In a pretty shocking twist, above the winless teams in Alpha, Team Vitality, who didn’t drop a series in Kick Off are in pretty dire straights. Losing out to Team Heretics in pretty decisive fashion has me wondering whether Vitality will truly succumb to the superteam curse and fall apart, or if it just happened to be 2 rough draws with last week’s surprise loss to Fnatic, and Team Heretics finally finding their form. Heretics will be gunning for their group’s #1 seed, and the way both 3-0 teams have been playing has me looking very forward to the final week, which might be the winstreak ender for one of 2 potential 5-0 teams.

Team Omega is fun for different reasons, now settling on a 4 way points tie. KC, TL, BBL and FUT are all 2-1 after the French Derby kicked Gentle Mates down to 5th place. There were a lot of 2-0s this week, but the most intersting of them was of course the Kick Off finals rematch of Team Vitality vs Team Heretics.

Stage 1 Week 3

The third week of VALORANT Champions Tour saw some pretty big matchups going into each other. The regions are in flux right now as some of the more stacked groups fight for the pecking order. And the free for all groups have more than lived up to the name.

China’s First teams out of the running for Toronto

VCT’s run through China has now managed to exclude 3 teams from the qualification rung of Masters Toronto. In group Alpha, TYLOO have yet to win a match, and at 0-3 are out of the running. Every other in the team in the group is sitting at 2-2 or better. With Nova Esports continuing to impress at the top of the group. Unlike Group Omega, who have locked in 2 guaranteed playoff contenders, no one from Alpha has clinched a playoff spot. Nova and EDG will be looking to change that in their next matches, sitting at 3-1. FPX, Titan Esports Club and Dragon Ranger Gaming are all neck and neck looking to play for that 3rd place spot. DRG have looked solid in their recent performances and their resistances are likely going to float them if things stay deadlocked.

Over in Omega, Bilibili have cruised to a 4-0, netting them a guaranteed 1st seed positioning for their group. XLG have also booked their ticket to playoffs as either the 2nd or 3rd seed, depending on how the remaining weeks go.

The remaining weeks won’t matter for All Gamers and JD Gaming who have been markedly lower than the rest of te pack and can no longer qualify for playoffs off of record alone.

The match to watch this week is Bilibili Gaming vs Wolves Esports

Shout out to my ex

EMEA had all eyes on the region this year. We’ll cap things off with the biggest match of the week and the one to watch if you somehow missed it. Fnatic faced off against Vitality (aka Derke’s team), having the two teams meet for the first time since Derke’s departure from the once undisputed kings of the region. Vitality may have taken EMEA by storm in Kickoff, but in the head to head, Fnatic would come out on top. Vitality in all honesty, were pretty lucky to go to 3 maps with how tight map one was before getting shut out on their map pick. the tight moments would be where Vitality struggled, and Boaster was calling an absolute blinder, and clicking heads when his team needed him.

why you gotta kick me when I'm down pic.twitter.com/RrGkpj4CKs

— VALORANT Esports EMEA (@valesports_emea) April 4, 2025

The match was filled with a lot of fun moments and is definitely worth going back to if you didn’t catch it live.

For the rest of the region started to establish its frontrunners. GIANTX and Apeks are now in the red, being 0-2 after the first 2 weeks. GIANTX though were impressive, turning a 10-0 deficit into a map win vs Heretics, albeit unable to close the series. And Flor and friends continue to struggle to run important maps into series wins.

The maps to watch this week are FUT Esports vs Gentle Mates and Apeks vs NaVi.

Americas in Flux

Americas has had a very active week with Group Omega seeing 5 changes to its rankkings, and Group Alpha starting to identify its top talent. KRU still sits at the top, yet to drop a series. And 2GAME, running off the momentum from their big win last week over LOUD were able to take a map off of that first place KRU. The new roster has genuinely impressed but its likely that SEN, 100T and KRU will keep their top spots.

Group Omega’s shake ups came from LEV getting their first win on the board. Which, for now, keeps them from being disqualified from playoff contention. MIBR would narrowly beat Cloud9 past the post in a 3 map banger. Both teams genuninely look fantastic and I’d be shocked if NRG, can wrestle away one of those playoff spots from them.

MIBR vs C9 is the match to watch. And if you need a laugh, the pre-match nonsense with LEV’s team crashing the couch is some good fun.

BOOM explode into Stage 1 as PRX self destructs

Coming into Stage 1, you’d be forgiven for expecting PRX to have “figured it out” after their swift exit from Kick Off while BOOM could be 0-3 but lo and behold, that’s not the timeline we live in. Instead, languishing without a series win, Paper Rex are currently facing elimination. We talked last week about how they did get dealt a rough opening hand, but now with the pressure on it seems like they’re buckling. Losing out 2-1 to a BOOM esports who are now up to a 3-0 record alongside expected front runners DRX. This one is one to watch as its probably one of the most important matches of Group Alpha.

In Group Omega, Talon and Nongshim put on a show, going to 3 maps for the Talon upset. All 3 maps pretty much came down to who got out of the gates first, both teams putting the game lights out with a lead. It’s a disappointing look from Nongshim early on, they’re not out of the running yet. Still, the uphill climb isn’t something we were expecting. They were one of the more promising teams coming out of Ascension.

The match to watch for Pacific is Paper Rex vs BOOM Esports.

Week 2 has been pretty chaotic with some upsets, so this week’s VCT Wrap up will be bigging up some underdogs and finally getting to talk about EMEA.

Week 2 Stage 1

Not just Lightning in a bottle

We’ll start with China once again as we always do, and what a region to talk about this week. Last week we ragged on EDG for stumbling vs Nova Esports, but with a win over FPX, Nova have shown that they actually have a little bit of momentum behind them. Both EDG and FPX were the expected 1 and 2 seeds for Group Alpha, yet somehow, when the dust settles, its  Nova on top, with their opening loss to DRG and 2 of the most valuable wins of the whole region under their belt. If they can just go even with the rest of the group they’ll make it into playoffs, making that fight for third place a whole lot harder for the rest of the other teams. Over in Group Omega, its business as usual really, All Gamers and JD are yet to take more than a map, and Bilibili remains undefeated in a series, now being the only team in the region at 3-0.

Your match to watch for China this week is Nova Esports vs FunPlus Phoenix.

EMEA is here (finally)

Starting later than the other regions, EMEA got its first rounds going.

Week 1 of Americas and Pacific is now under way so for our VCT Wrap Up we’ll be starting the official Week 1 for the majority of viewership. EMEA is still lagging behind, not starting over the weekend, but will be coming up soon. They opened up with some really fun looking matches, with the results all going as expected when the dust settled, with Team Vitality, Fnatic and Team Heretics getting their wins on board. I still cannot figure out for the life of me why we don’t see double duelist for Apeks and Team Heretics still look likea team that won’t necessarily guarantee that 2nd seed into playoffs. Avova deserves special mention this week as the team’s usual superstar was shakey in the face of Heretics. Without him, the third map may not have even been on the cards. The Boo brothers were in top form once the nerves started to shake. Running rampant in Icebox. Over in Omega, which is a complete free for all, it would be FUT, Gentle Mates and BBL that opened up with series wins.

Your EMEA matches to watch are: Team Liquid vs Gentle Mates and Apeks vs Team Heretics.

.@AvovAFPS with the clutch! pic.twitter.com/IQEYsB2YQx

— VALORANT Esports EMEA (@valesports_emea) March 27, 2025

APAC Isn’t quite as clear cut as you’d think

During the first weeks and when looking at groups, I made a point of some regions being more top heavy than others. Apac was a region that looked like it should have been pretty clockwork. ZETA Division shocked everyone though, taking a map off ot T1, and showing some real promise even if they did up getting blown out in the final map. Its still a series loss but it was an expected one and as far as tiebreakers go, map wins against the likely #1 seed might be enough in Group Omega if they can get some wins against the rest of the pack. Its been a rough stat for Paper Rex, sitting at 0-2 this week. But, its not completly over just yet, they drew the roughest possible opening hand of Gen.G into DRX. They took a map in both, and I’m sure fans would have loved to see a win in the collumn, but from here, the rest of the season should be a lot easier. But they’ll need to win these for a shot at playoffs.

Your matches to watch in VCT Pacific are Paper Rex vs DRX and T1 vs ZETA.

LOUD Silenced as 2GAME pick up a win

I don’t think anyone expected 2GAME to get more than maybe 2 maps but they did just that in a single series. 2-0ing one of the Brazilian favourites, the 2nd seed of ascension managed to scrap together 2 huge maps vs Loud. They were close and could have maybe gone either way, going 12-14 in Lotus and 11-13 on Pearl. Genuine heroics from 2G, and some shocking coordination from the boys at LOUD was what got them across the line. There’s a lot of questions to be asked for thee rest of the group, will this be a flash in the pan? The whole region has somewhat been in shambles this week. Kru are at the top after taking a 2-0 win over Sentinels, putting Americas Group Alpha with 4 teams tied at 1-1. Map wins and rounds won will matter massively when deciding their playoff contention now since KRU have been on a heater. 2GAME showing they aren’t a team to write off means that that group should be a lot more fun than initially expected.

Group Omega has been comparitively normal though, with G2 crusing to a 2-0 start. That said, they went the distance, going the full 3 maps vs MIBR, who are really starting to come into their own. Verno is a great fit for the team that helps round out the rookie roster. NRG are on the board now after a rocky start that continued into their opening map of Lotus. Once they got their footing vs Furia it was pretty much over though, delivering back to back 13-2 and 13-4 to clean up the series. 100T have also gotten themselves on the board with some comfortable wins over Evil Geniuses. Both teams look like they’re starting to adjust to the new meta, and yay jumped from the bottom of the scoreboard in map 1 to the top of his team in the 2nd. Sure both outcomes were a loss, with Cryo dropping 25+ in both maps, but its a good sign that these teams are both on the up.

Your matches to watch for Americas are: G2 vs MIBR and 2GAME vs LOUD.

Week 1 Stage 1

EDG Stumbles once again

We’ll still start things off with China, now in their second week, they once again are benefiting from the general quality of play in the region going up from the bottom. EDG have hit their expected speedbump in the season, taking an upset loss early on again. This time, the ones that would benefit from the expected “random EDG loss” would be Nova esports. A team that didn’t look all that impressive in week 1 now have a very important win under their belt. As long as they can keep some sort of form and EDG bounces back, their Opponent’s Win% is going to carry their tiebreakers.

The match to watch for China is definitely the Nova vs EDG game.

Americas Returns

Kicking things off in a big way, Americas opened up with NRG vs Cloud9. Two teams that have been known to make pretty snap decision rosster changes. NRG definitely didn’t have the performacne anyone watching the off season were expecting. The removal of Verno to make way for Moist x Shopify’s Brawk was a welcome change in that first map. They traded back pretty one sided games on their map picks to go into the last. NRG did start to bring it back but such a big deficit just made it too big a mountain to climb.

For a non North American faceoff, KRU and LOUD got the runback from Kick Off. KRU looked like the team we’re sadly used to seeing when they’re not going on their fabled runs. Similar to the first series, both teams looked strong on the maps they won. Split came down to the wire, and was one of the more interesting maps of Day 1. Ultimately KRU would take it again vs LOUD.

Stinger + @yay = ACE!!! #UnlockYourAce pic.twitter.com/5YVMj8Um38

— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesportsna) March 23, 2025

Day 2 started off as expectted results wise, with G2 winning 2-0 vs FURIA. They put on a show while doing it, but credit to FURIA, they put in work, even getting a highlight knife kill on the back foot. LEV and MIBR was going to be a fun one. Aspas and friends now had access to the newly dropped Verno, and LEV picked up C9’s newly freed up Rossy. It probably wwould have gone to 3 maps if not for some heroics out of Xenom and a dominant second half of Icebox. Not even a single round taken on defence for LEV showed whyy the re-integraged map was MIBR’s pick, alongside a really impressive showing from Harbour. This series is the one to watch in Americas.

2G put up a fight on map 1 vs EG. Which levies some concerns about Potter’s roster, but that early exit from kick off clearly gave 2G some time, even if it wasn’t a map or series win. Day 3 was all expected results. It may have come down to the wire in kick off, but SEN looked heads and shoulders better than 100T on their map, and kept it close on Haven. Split looked so drilled for the Americas #2 seed, blowing them out of the water 13-1.

Pacific is a playground

Day 1 opened up with a bottom of the pack game with Global vs DFM. So far DFM still just doesn’t look like the team’s all there just yet. They’ll get a couple of rounds going, but Meiy is still really the only player who’s able to stay close to a positive KD. GE will be happy to have gotten a 2-0 win vs DFM. If DFM can make some of their highlight rounds more frequent, that early win might be useful for getting a leg up on the middle of the pack.

While DFM showed the makings of something Cohesive, ZETA had a flash of brilliance vs T1. Only bangers on Split as T1 took us into OT but it was short lived, ZETA cleaned up 14-12. Sure, they would get walked by T1 on Haven, but it gives some hope that ZETA might have some real confidence this year against teams that might have been expected to beat them this stage.

Day 2 was one of the most interesting maps on paper. PRX and DRX really tend to run Pacific domestically, and thanks to a pretty poor performance in Kickoff, Paper Rex have had plenty of time to cook. Unfortunately, despite a hot start, DRX really didn’t let off once they stabilised. Icebox looked good for PRX though,  bringing the Waylay in to great effect. Her Refract especially was really impressive with how safely she can get out after a pick compared to the Jett. DRX though continue their domestic dominance here in week 1.

Talon vs Team Secret was the epitome of this week’s matches. Strong showings on your map pick and getting exposed on your opponent’s. Map 3 would go deep as neither side could get a true hold of Haven. The favourites would win out despite a huge blunder from a missed Trip Wire.

BOOM explode into Stage 1 with a 2-0 over the third place giants of Gen.G in week 1. For a team that was expected to go to Bangkok over T1, this was not the start anyone was expecting. BOOM were playing with a fire lit underneath them, taking scrappy rounds and delivering 3 aces in the first map alone. Map 2 finished on a razor’s edge, going into OT. So many map points went BOOM’s way but Gen.G made them work for it, Round 32 would be the final attempt to pry that second map from Gen.G’s hands, and securing only the second biggest of the week. In a group of death like this one, this will have huge implications for Gen.G’s season.

The RRQ choke came back to bite them once more, allowing a map to slip through their fingers as Nongshim Redforce found their sea legs. Dambi especially was a tret to watch once the aim was hot, putting on a show as Nongshim bashed and bruised their way to a 2-1 comeback to start their Stage.

Stage 1 has started, once again with China having a 1 week head start, so this week’s VCT Wrap Up talks all things China.

China Week 1 Stage 1

As one of the regionas that got started soonest, the Chinese teams have had plenty of time to go back to the drawing board after the selectoins for Masters Bangkok took place. Keeping the hands hot with a “best of the rest tournament” with the teams that didn’t qualify, Chinese fans have not had as long an off period ass other regions.

Waylay’s Debut Game

Day 1 started off well with 2 of the teams that put a dent in EDG facing off. BLG vs XLG was a fun set. Going 13-8 to XLG after a long dry spell from BLG to open up the first map of Pearl. With Icebox back in the pool Bilibili looked better in their attacking half. The match also brought us the first use of Waylay in VCT! Rarga wasn’t super flashy with the new speedster, but his smart use of high ground on attack side won his team many important rounds. Ultimately it wasn’t enough, as BLG finished out the Map 13-9. We’d see more of the same on the final map of fracture where XLG struggled to make proper use of the Thai duelist on defence, bleeding rounds and having to make that uphill struggle on attack side. Bilibili Gaming would be the first team on the board for Stage 1.

Shaky start for Trace Esports

For a team that went on an upset run to get to Bangkok, Trace’s fire looks without foundation. Putting up the worst record at an international event for rounds taken, its possible that Trace took quite the confidence hit. Despite a strong start on pearl, the map just barely dodged overtime, finishing 13-11. A mix of overheating and mistakes brought the map much closer than it had any right to be, considering it was TE’s map pick. AG made good use of Lotus for map 2. The lead was never anything huge, with a few rounds that could have gone either way. All Gamers would give back a 13-11 of their own to go to the third map. From there though, the wheels would fall off the wagon and a lightning fast ascent finished out Day 2 with Trace cleaning up 13-1.

Expected Results on Day 3

Day 3 was a little cleaner for the teams expected to pick up wins. Dragon Ranger Gaming comfortably shut out Nova Esports 2-0, showing great discipline on defence side. The second map was closer but again, strong defensive holds was the main difference maker as the rounds went deeper. EDG would then show up for target practice against Tyloo. KangKang being on Waylay was the least surprising agent pick, finishing map 1 with a 2.5KDA. Map 2 would be more of the same although the waylay would get put away in favour of the Jet Op we know and love.

Establishing a hierarchy

Day 4 didn’t have any real storylines coming in, as it was the remainder of the chinese teams looking to establish themselves against the other of the middle of the pack teams. the newly changed Deadlock made an appearance for Wolves Esports on Pearl. But the series lacked anything of note as they picked up their expected win against JDG, 13-9 and 13-11. FPX looked good on Icebox against TEC, and Haven looked drilled as always. Outside of EDG just player-diffing teams, Waylay has struggled in her opening week.

With all eyes on international competition, these teams were playing not just for themselves but to put some respect on their respective regions. With the Swiss Format beign the first stage, all regions were split to avoid regional matchups, with the 1 seed of each region playing into a 2 seed from a different region. To qualify for playoffs, the teams are looking to get 2 wins before they amass 2 losses.

The Importance of the Number 1 Seed

While The final week of Kick Off had a lot of these teams showing genunie promise, with debatable outcomes on who desrved that number 1 seed. Despite how close some of the Grand Finals were, the teams that came out on top stayed on top. The first 4 matches showed exactly why the teams that came in as their 1 seed did so; with no upsets across any of the matches. The favourites would drop 0 maps across the open days, setting up the the first of the qualifying games.

Heavy is the Crown

While the opening rounds may have gone as expected, the 2nd round is where we would actually start to see the sparks fly, as the teams faced off for what could be their punched in ticket to the Playoffs. While we’d never have our shot at a champions rematch thanks to Team Liquid preventing Team Heretics from even making it to Thailand, the other Champions finalists would not disappoint. Ever since the domestic upset from Trace Esports, Edward Gaming have looked like the Chinese super team that they have always were meant to be. Making short work Team Liquid they put on a dominant performance against the Americas superstars.

Although the match went to 3 maps, the final map was so one sided for EDG that IGL Valyn forgot they even took a map in the series in his wrap up tweet.

0-2 EDG insanely wp to them

we’ll get better from this

— G2 valyn (@valynfps) February 22, 2025

On the other side of qualifiers, Team Vitality took down DRX on a very narrow 2-1 win. There were quite a few narratives coming into this match. Sayf’s spotty record at internationals vs early round DRX outside of their own region definitely had DRX somewhat favoured. And that favour could definitely be felt as crucial rounds went to pieces. Vitality drew first blood on their map pick of Bind, with Derke and Trexx leading by example in the server. Rookie Hyunmin was keeping DRX in a lot of these rounds though with fantastic rounds showing huge comfort on stage. But some of those nerves would creep in having him comparitively drop off in the second map, where DRX would be brute forced across the line by Mako.

Credit where credit is due, the final 2 maps both went 13-11, so each could have gone either way but Abyss’s IGL head to head could not tell a bigger story. Mako brought a 291 ACS, +9 K/D finish to Map 2, while Sayf finished Abyss out with just 7 kills secured at -12. Sure, when you have have legends like Derke achieving his 2000th international kill while hammering 32 frags, its not as important to secure them yourself. But Sayf is one of the names in people’s mouths when you talk about the Fragging IGLs that have been pushing their teams to the top.

Ultimately when the dust settled, veteran presence would win out over the newer blood, putting the 2 super teams through as your top seeds for Playoffs, guaranteeing their spot in Winner’s side, and will be gifted slightly more comfortable matchups in that opening Double Elimination round.

The first to fall

On the other side of the coin, the underdogs of Thailand were all coming in looking to make an upset. Their hopes, unequiovcally dashed, would leave our 4 number 2 seeds fighting for the best of the rest. Despite being the only team to actually have beaten their respective #1 seed domestically, Trace Esports would be our first team to fall, losing 2-0 to T1. A year ago, if you were to tell anyone that the Chinese team not named EDG went out in 2 without taking a map, no-one would challenge you on it, but Trace showed a lot of promise this year. ITs just an unfortunate luck of the draw, a hard match up and a reminder that their tourney lives might have been decided domestically when they came in as the second team. T1 showed exactly how they went toe to toe with DRX, and looked clarly the better team, closing out a 13-3 and 13-8 to send Trace to enjoy the rest of their holiday in Thailand.

The other eliminationmatch was much more of a nailbiter. Team Liquid have been no strangers to upsets in the last few weeks, beating Heretics to qualify and pushing Vitality to the brink, going up 2-0 in the best of 5. Unfortunately they were humbled back to their position as a number 2 seed as Vitality woke up to complete a reverse 3-0, and being another team to get shut out in round 1 extended their map losing streak to 5 in a row. Sentinels would push that up to 6 with a scrappy 7-13 Lotus despite being one of their wonkier maps. Liquid however really do no dislike Abyss. Their map pick would go into OT after hero rounds and messy VALORANT took us deep. The map probablyshould have finished Liquid’s favour 14-12 BUT 0.8 seconds tied the game up and took us into Round 27.

A heartbreaker for Liquid after playing so well individually when they needed to, picking apart SEN in the individual rounds, and both teams managing to drop 1v4 turnarounds when their teams needed them their most. Well saved timeouts from coach LohaN helped with the nerves after both teams continued to trade defensive rounds. Finally Nats and co would limp across the line 16-14 to go to map 3. Absolutely anyone’s game…

Is what we thought before round 1 started on Bind.

Vintage Nats Unplugs SEN City and sends them home

There’s no I in team but you might want to check the spelling when Nats is involved, as he more or less alone apparently owns a penthouse flat in SEN City and lives there rent free. Dropping 20 kills by round 10 as he consistently 1v4’d to get Liquid 10 rounds straight on Defence. While North America looked like one of the strongest regions coming into Kick Off, its going to be a long hard look at one of the loudest regions. Team Liquid continue to stand their ground and plant their feet firmly against giants that they aren’t expected to get the best of. 22 kills,  11-1 at the half and eyes firmly on the next round. We’ll be pouring one out for Sentinels this time as Vintage Nats was here to play. A fast exec in the pistols and a bonus that went as expected, near perfection from Team Liquid gave the most dominant performance of any map at kick off. Trace may not have won a map but at least when they lost Lotus they got 3 on the board.

Week 3 of our VCT Wrap Up sees more teams sent home as we narrow down the field. We’ve also put both our Winner’s Finalists getting ready to square off.

VCT Wrap Up KickOff Week 3

More and more teams have taken their elimination loss in a lower bracket filled with sharks. With only 2 spots to qualify for Bangkok, an early entry to the loser’s bracket has made some tournaments much longer than others. China locked in their 2 representitives last week. With the expected 1st seed EDG punching their ticket, getting revenge after a surprise upset from fellow qualifiers Trace Esports.

EMEA has a new pecking order

Fnatic, now without Derke and LEo were never going to be expected to put out the same firepower that they had coming in compared to previous years. An early drop to the lower bracket off the back of their loss to BBL put the crosshairs on them early. While Gentle Mates would show that the Ascension teams have what it takes to stand in EMEA, the previous kings of Europe showed just how wide the gap at the top is. That said, an on fire Fut would end their run in the lower bracket 2-0, now set to face off against Team Liquid to make Top 3 and play that deciding match for Masters.

Nex week, our top 4 will decided its ladder rung with Team Heretics vs Team Vitality in the Upper Bracket Finals, and the loser playing the winner of Team Liquid vs FUT Esports.

For EMEA, its the BBL show for my matches to watch. They may have had a rough week, starting it in the Winner’s Side and ending it on a flight home, but they put on a show in both instances.

• Their match vs Heretics showed some real promise
• And their match against a rapidly improving Team Liquid went the full distance

It feels like Nats is definitely becoming more comfortable in his role as a Fragging IGL, getting back to the same sort of form we expect out of him, but its continued standout performances from Keiko and Kamo that keep the numbers in their favour.

Pacific adds Talon to its Top 4

They may not fully have shaped up the way we expected but T1, DRX and Gen.G making Top 4 was more or less a given; being most people’s top 3 teams of the region. The 4th slot was pretty up for grabs though, and good performances out of teams like RRQ showed other realities where we might have seen some favorites in the lower bracket sooner. The bracket was pretty kind to Talon compared to the other teams looking to be the David amongst the region’s 3 Golliaths.

Continuing a string of 2-1 finishes, Talon vs Nonghshim RedForce is my match of the week for Pacific. Not only was it incredibly important, for seeing how the new blood shakes up against previous pack centres, but also for giving them another shot at the top. They’ll be facing off against Gen.G to make it to the Loser’s Finals.

Gen.G may not have gotten a map on the board vs fellow titans DRX, but the games were close and my second map to chase up if you want to see both these previous finalists looking like what we expect to see from them for the rest of the year.

The Last GOAT remaining in Americas

It has been and will be one of the most fun talking points going into the season, and so far it hasn’t disappointed. When the dust settled this week, the last remaining of Aspas, Yay and Demon1 was the former. Going into Kick Off, I was expecting to see these head to heads happen in the Upper bracket, but instead, all of them have been when all the chips are down. First to fall would be EG, getting mogged by MIBR in map 2 to send them home. Aspas and crew would face off against Leviatan and Demon 1 to keep the bracket hopes alive.

The franchise fraught with failure would be finishing drought. The roster of Aspas and unproven superstars stepped up once more to bring MIBR on the cusp their first organization win over Leviatan. Xenom really stood out this week as one of the ones to watch this season, putting this team on his back when Aspas wasn’t doing his damndest to take them the full distance on his own,. They finally put the series to bed in Overtime after some 11th hour heroics from COM took us past the full 24.

Lev ended up in the loser’s bracket after a trouncing from G2, who absolutely came to play. I had faith in the team going into Kick Off, but not that much faith. They’ll be looking to play Sentinels to lock in their spot for Bangkok after the boys kept SEN city the city that never sleeps; knocking Loud out of the Upper bracket.

Over on the lower bracket side of things, NRG were disappointing, continuing to ride high highs but also showcase some comedically low lows. They fell 2-1 to KRU who have started to wake up to some extent. Famously a team who can go from looking like they don’t know how to shoot back to going on a run. The KRUpium would not run dry and lightning would indeed be striking twice though, clinching it over LOUD to end the week and continue their time in Kick Off.

The matches of the week for Americas this week are Sentinels vs LOUD, and Leviatan vs MIBR.