VCT NA Challengers 1: Week 3 Matches
Published: Mar 1, 2022
With just two weeks left to go in the VCT NA Challengers: Group Stage, it’s time to take a look at the current team standings and see what happened in week 3 of the tournament.
The surprises continue to mount up in group A where The Guard and Cloud9 continue with their win streaks. Both teams sit at the top with 3-0 scores and both are looking to close this group stage with flawless records. At the same time, 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses find themselves sitting at the bottom with 3 losses each.
Group B saw quite a few upsets as well. Sentinels lost to the new OpTic Gaming lineup and dropped down to the third spot in the group. Knights overpowered Rise and gave themselves a fighting chance in the group stage. Version1 still undefeated with 3 victories and a pretty significant early lead. NRG is fighting a hopeless battle. They’re the only team in group B with zero wins so far. They have one final shot, so hopefully they don’t waste it.
The Guard and Cloud9 Qualify for the Playoffs
Cloud9 and The Guard are undeniably the two most hyped teams in North America right now.
Cloud9 completely turned things around after the slow start in the previous season and are now crushing everything in their path. They went from being the underdogs to being the favourites in the NA Valorant esports tournaments.
The Guard continues to amaze the Valorant fans who find themselves rooting for this new squad with champion potential. They came out of nowhere and rushed through the qualifiers. They proved everyone wrong by going on a 3-0 win streak and qualifying for the Playoffs as one of the first three teams.
100 Thieves continue their downward trajectory after their third loss in week 3 despite all the recent roster changes. They lost 2-1 to Luminosity Gaming last week and remained in the 5th spot just above Evil Geniuses. If they lose to XSET on March 6th, it’s going to be the end of the road for them.
It’s hard to imagine Evil Geniuses winning their next match against The Guard, so we expect them to be eliminated this week. But we could be wrong and they somehow end up defying the odds. We’ll have to see.
๐ช๐'๐ฅ๐ ๐ค๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐๐๐ฆ! ๐ช
Our latest #VCT win this past weekend secured us a spot to advance!#StandGuard pic.twitter.com/3EdrTE4Otr
— The Guard (@TheGuard) February 28, 2022
Version1 Secures First Place
Version1 had a smooth run in group B so far. They fought Knights, Rise, and now NRG in week 3, and won all three matches. This secured them a spot in the Playoffs. However, their two biggest matchups are yet to come.
This week they’ll be playing against OpTic, and then Sentinels the week after. These two matchups will be the most hyped ones for the fans of NA Valorant and we expect two fierce battles.
OpTic beat Sentinels 2-1 in week 3, taking over the second spot in group B. Sentinels are not the same team we got used to watching in early 2021. They’re showing cracks in their armor. To make matters worse, they recently released their coach and will have to play without one for the remainder of the tournament.
Rise lost 2-0 to the Knights, which was a huge blow to the team. They’ll now have to fight Sentinels and hope for a win because Knights should have a much easier matchup against NRG in the same week. These two squads will most likely fight for the fourth spot in group B so it’s incredibly important they give it their all in week 4.
Week 3 of the Stage 1 #VCTChallengersNA Main Event was INSANE! In case you missed it we've got you covered with our Top 5 Plays of the Week! pic.twitter.com/YMIBUBaQJ0
— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesports_na) February 28, 2022
Who Will Survive Week 4?
Evil Geniuses and NRG are in tough spots right now. Both are last in their respective groups and have shown nothing so far. It will take a real miracle in week 4 to save these two.
100 Thieves are also in a complete disarray right now. They made a few snap decisions recently where they dropped ec1s and BabyJ. Bang and JcStani joined on loan and replaced them. Despite all of this, 100 Thieves still lost to Luminosity and now risk getting eliminated. We’ll see if they can survive XSET or if this match will be the last nail in their coffin.
Lastly, there’s Knights who probably have the best odds of turning things around and qualifying. They started with 2-0 after losing to Version1 and Sentinels, but last week’s win against Rise turned the tide in their favour.
This week will have some interesting matches so make sure not to miss it. The first match starts on March 4th where Rise will face Sentinels, and we expect some great Valorant betting odds here.
