The second North American VCT open qualifier is over and we finally have the last four teams that will be joining the VCT NA Challengers 2 action in just a few days.
The first two teams that made it out of the qualifier were 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses, who both secured the upper bracket spots. The other two were Sentinels and Ghost Gaming, who ended up in the lower bracket, but successfully climbed back to the top.
The Return of 100 Thieves
It’s no secret that 100 Thieves have been struggling in the second season of Valorant Champions Tour. Nothing seemed to be working and the team kept losing fights they’d usually win without even breaking a sweat. Once VCT Stage 1 Challengers 1 came around and the team ended up dropping out of the group stage, the organisation realised something had to be done.
After Hiko’s retirement and several roster swaps, 100 Thieves were once again back on track and ready to test this new lineup in the VCT Stage 2 open qualifier 2.
The opening match against Soniqs went incredibly well for 100 Thieves. It was a quick 2 – 0 with 100 Thieves dominating both maps. 100 Thieves looked a bit shaky against NYFU on the first map, but quickly recovered and wrapped things up with 2 – 1. Finally, they defeated Akrew in round 3 and qualified for the NA Challengers 2.
Overall, they’re looking in much better shape this time around.
Sentinels’ Lower Bracket Sweep
Sentinels had a pretty good run in the VCT NA Stage 2 open qualifier. This time, Sentinels were playing with a new member, Eric “Kanpeki” Xu, who they recently acquired from Akrew. They also finally signed Rawkus from FaZe Clan, so they had a coach on their side as well.
After a hard-fought battle, @Sentinels defeats @akrewhq 13-9 and have qualified for the #VCTChallengersNA Main Stage! pic.twitter.com/PNSDp6aWfZ
— VALORANT Champions Tour NA (@valesports_na) May 9, 2022
Aside from the initial upper bracket blunder against Akrew, it was pretty much smooth sailing through the lower bracket. Sentinels played a total of four matches and won all of them, including the rematch against Akrew. They seemed to have regained some of their former confidence and looked much stronger during those key fights.
They still have to work on their team cooperation and put in some extra practice, but overall, this came really close to the form they had back in the golden days of VCT 2021. Hopefully they won’t disappoint in the upcoming VCT Stage 2 Challengers 2.
Evil Geniuses Looking Strong
It’s been far too long since we’ve seen Evil Geniuses qualify for any major Valorant Champions Tour event. They used to be one of the best squads in the early days of Valorant esports, but then slowly faded out. Thankfully, they finally did it and qualified for the next VCT Stage 2 NA Challengers 2.
EG had a pretty smooth run in the open qualifier 2 where they defeated Ghost Gaming, Girl Kissers, and Knights. Ghost Gaming was the only team that gave them some trouble, taking one map from them. But other than that, Evil Geniuses looked really confident. If they can take this energy to the VCT Challengers 2, they might cause some serious upsets.
