Wolves Esports out of VALORANT Champions contention

Wolves Esports are ruled out of VALORANT Champions qualification after Dragon Ranger’s win against XLG in VCT China Stage 2 playoffs. DRG’s progression in the upper bracket has knocked Wolves out of China’s top four in the league’s Championship Points table.

Wolves cannot reach VALORANT Champions 2025

Following their collapse in Stage 2, Wolves’ last hope at Champs qualification was via Championship Points, having found themselves amongst the top four after their Masters Toronto fairytale run. Now, with DRG’s playoffs win having moved Wolves to fifth, spot in Paris is no longer possible for the organisation.

The result has followed a post-Masters collapse for Wolves. Despite significantly exceeding expectations at the tournament, and having had time to recharge after failing to reach the Esports World Cup, Wolves were unable to continue good form into Stage 2 and failed to reach playoffs in the competition.

Wolves’ Stage 2 woes

Wolves’ struggles during Stage 2 have been evident. The group stage began with three straight 2-0 losses to FPX, All Gamers, and XLG, quickly causing inquests into the team’s form and causing worries over their Champs prospects.

Though they managed a group stage win against DRG in their fourth match, a final defeat to Nova Esports saw them finish bottom in their group — failing to reach playoffs.

Head coach Fayde has blamed the poor form on a number of factors, including a sponsor-filled schedule preventing them from having a proper rest when others competed at EWC, as well as meta and map pool changes that were “extremely challenging” for the team to handle.

VALORANT Champions qualification had remained a possibility via Championship points. Ahead of them in the table were only BLG, XLG, and EDG, three of the favourites to make deep playoff runs. If two of those were to reach the grand final, then Wolves’ shot at Champs was a real possibility.

However, Dragon Rangers’ own run, currently seeing them reach the upper bracket final, has already granted them enough points to leapfrog Wolves in the standings and condemn the latter’s chances of making it to France.

The darlings of Masters Toronto

A team that most VCT followers knew little of at the start of the year, Wolves became overnight stars in the VALORANT circuit during their Masters Toronto run. Largely written off as one of the worst teams ahead of the tournament, the side went above and beyond expectations to earn a third-place finish, beating the likes of Team Heretics, RRQ, and Gen.G on the way.

Now, the team has seen their season end early, with their new global fans forced to wait until next season, at least, before they’ll see the likes of Lysoar and Juicy line up for Wolves on a global stage again. Their energetic in-game leader SiuFatBB, became a superstar in Canada, playing the crowd like a fiddle and looking to have had more fun than any other player on stage throughout the event. With his contract due to finish at the end of this year, the player may have already appeared for Wolves for the last time.