Valorant Champions Group Stage is Over
Published: Dec 7, 2021
Things took an unbelievably crazy turn on the last day of the Valorant Champions group stage. ALL the underdog teams won their matches and now find themselves in the playoffs.
To say that this tournament has been unpredictable would be a massive understatement. At this point, we might as well take all the Valorant betting predictions and throw them out of the window.
So Envy’s out after losing to X10 CRIT, and Team Vikings are also no longer in the race since Team Secret completely obliterated them on both maps. And here’s the best part, Cloud9 Blue defeated the Korean giants, Vision Strikers, and are now the only North American team in the tournament.
The Rise of the SEA Teams
SEA has been one of the more neglected regions in Valorant esports. With all the hype revolving around North America and Europe for nearly an entire year, there were no real ways for Valorant fans to get a realistic glimpse into the SEA region.
When the Valorant Champions tournament began, all three SEA squads were viewed with skepticism and were expected to drop out almost immediately. There were good reasons for these assumptions since all three faced some incredible competition from the other regions.
FULL SENSE drew the short end of the stick and got grouped with three very strong opponents, first losing to Vision Strikers and then to Cloud9 Blue. However, X10 CRIT and Team Secret exceeded all expectations.
We first saw what Secret was capable of in the match against Gambit Esports, where the Russian giants were thrown off their game. Despite losing that match, Secret showed the other teams they weren’t here to lose, and they definitely proved that in the end.
And then there’s X10 CRIT. When they lost their first match versus Envy, they were pretty much immediately written off as one of the two losers of group A. But we couldn’t have been more wrong since this team successfully mounted a comeback and won the following two matches, including the rematch against Team Envy.
The roles in the playoffs have now been reversed and X10 will fight Gambit, while Team Secret will face off against Acend.
The Hope of NA
Cloud9 Blue, a team with pretty unremarkable early Valorant Champions Tour results, now find themselves in the Valorant Champions playoffs as the only squad representing their region.
They defeated Vision Strikers in one of the most interesting matches we’ve had in the tournament so far. It wasn’t an easy battle, and Vision Strikers certainly pushed Cloud9 to their limits, but they ultimately won 2-1 and finished second in group D.
While this is a huge victory for the NA team, their biggest challenge lies ahead of them. They will have to fight Team Liquid, who are probably the hardest team to beat in the playoffs. But if there’s anything we’ve learned from Valorant Champions so far, it is that you should expect the unexpected.
The match between these two teams will be broadcast live later today on the official Valorant Twitch channel, so make sure not to miss it!
