A New Age in the VALORANT Champions Tour 2024?

“SPIKE DOWN A…”

“LAST PLAYER STANDING…”

“FLAWLESS…”

“ACE…”

Whether you are a player or a watcher of content creators or professional players, those who are familiar with VALORANT know some of these phrases all too well. VALORANT is a free-to-play tactical shooter game developed by Riot Games. The start of the new year was also the start of a new year for the VALORANT Champion Tours, now being held in Madrid in March, another installment of this series after having riveting events from the Icelandic city of Reykjavik to the German political capital of Berlin to the Japanese metropolis Tokyo. Let’s take a quick journey into the various regions and how their first events started in the wake of their respective kickoffs.

Americas

Original American VALORANT powerhouse Sentinels won the Americas Kickoff, gaining a spot in the Madrid Champions Tour alongside the Brazilian powerhouse LOUD. 

Sentinels survived a close encounter with elimination after initially being defeated by LOUD in the Group Stage before making a run through the losers bracket, defeating Leviatán and 100 Thieves in the process to qualify for the play-ins, where they defeated G2 and MIBR.

LOUD was within the top three teams of the group stage, so they automatically made it to the playoffs, where they defeated Evil Geniuses before losing to Sentinels in the finals of the entire tournament.

Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)

Karmine Corp displayed an underdog run, beating other prominent teams such as FNATIC and Natus Vincere (NAVI) to win the EMEA Kickoff. Karmine Corp qualified for Madrid alongside Team Heretics, another underdog team against the other favorites within the region.

Karmine Corp made a strong comeback, returning from being forced into the losers bracket after losing to the very team that they would beat in the finals of that same tournament: Team Heretics. To get there, Karmine Corp beat out Team Vitality and KOI in the play-ins before defeating FNATIC in the finals, an astounding upset considering FNATIC’s incredible record last year and many of their best players still being on the team such as the Finnish star Derke, the British in-game leader Boaster, and the Russian wonder Chronicle.

Pacific

GenG qualified for Madrid alongside Paper Rex, a former Singapore-based organization. Paper Rex was already a strong contender, but GenG was an underdog team beating out the other favorites of the Asia-Pacific region T1 and DRX, both Korean teams.

GenG once fielded an American roster, before shifting their focus to a Korean roster. GenG lost to Paper Rex in the preliminaries before beating Rex Regum Qeon, an Indonesian organization, twice to make it to the play-ins. In the playoffs, they beat out the Filipino organization Team Secret and the Japanese powerhouse ZETA DIVISION.

Paper Rex is an all-time favorite after their stellar performances in previous editions of Masters, and they still showed their strength through the defeats of T1 and GenG before losing to GenG in the finals.

China

China has become a popular region, especially after a stellar performance from both Bilibili Gaming and EDward Gaming in Masters Los Angeles in 2023, beating out stellar teams from other regions. KangKang has become especially popular after his flashy performance on EDward Gaming went viral. 

EDward Gaming returned for another run in another masters event alongside FunPlus Phoenix, an organization that once fielded a European roster, but now runs a Chinese roster. 

EDward Gaming continued their rampage as they made it to the playoffs after beating out their bracket, taking out Wolves Esports. Bilibili Gaming was eliminated in the play-ins after making a losers bracket comeback. FunPlus Phoenix also automatically qualified for the playoffs and beat out Dragon Ranger Gaming to make it to the finals, where they lost to EDward Gaming.

Onto Madrid… 

As Madrid approaches, only time can tell what will happen, and what upsets or new changes could occur. It has already been shown, whether it was the upset of the Brazilian teams in Reykjavik 2022 or the defeats of Team Liquid in Berlin. As the announcements go left and right:

“Last player standing…”

It truly is… not over until it is over. Like many other editions in the past, there are many surprises and upsets to come in the future for teams with the rise of new rosters and organizations appearing in this upcoming edition alongside some returns from some of the oldest powerhouses to recent underdogs.