VALORANT: A Quick Summary of the Teams Qualified for NA Stage 1: Challengers Group Stages
VCT 2022 has started at full speed, and matches continue to be played in many parts of the world. Group matches started to be played on February 11 in North America, one of the most exciting areas of VCT. In today’s article, we wanted to prepare a detailed guide about what is going on in Valorant NA Challengers.
To put it simply, to summarize the Challengers tournament, a total of 12 teams can take part in the NA region. These 12 teams gain the right to participate in the tournament in three different ways.
The first way to participate is by inviting teams based on several factors by Riot Games. These factors are determined by considering the rankings of the teams, their performance in previous tournaments, and their popularity among the Valorant community.
The second method of joining is qualified teams through Open Qualifiers #1. Let’s come to the third and last method; it is selected from the teams that have qualified with Open Qualifiers 2. Those selected are considered Tier 3 teams in the North America region.
Now that we have detailed information about how the teams are selected, let’s get started without wasting more time.
- Invited Teams for NA VCT Challengers
Cloud9
Undoubtedly, Cloud9 was one of the teams that were considered certain to be invited to Stage 1 Challengers. Because they deserved it thanks to their success in the last VCT 2021 tournament, they were the only NA team to make it to the playoffs at Valorant Champions. In terms of popularity, we can say that they are seen among the most important teams in the world. Since the end of the VCT 2021 season, they have not changed their roster and continue to play in the same style. Moreover, the fact that they did not make any changes seems to have shown their effect. Because on February 11, 2022, 100 Thieves managed to beat their opponents with a clear score of 2-0 in their match.
Sentinels
Moreover, the fact that they did not make any changes seems to have shown their effect. Because on February 11, 2022, they managed to beat their opponents with a clear score of 2-0 in their match with 100 Thieves. 2021 VCT 2021: Winning first place at Stager 2 Masters Reykjavík was one of their most important Valorant achievements. They had a great victory by beating Fnatic in the final. When we came to 2022, they started the season with a win by beating NRG 2-1 in their first match in Group A. The team’s in-game leadership is IGL Shahzeb “ShahZam,” and the coaching chair is Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty.
If you are interested in Valorant esports betting, we recommend that you pay attention to Cloud9 and Sentinels this season. At the same time, you can access Esports news instantly on our site and make more accurate predictions by keeping your information up to date.
OpticGaming (Envy)
Formerly known as Envy, they joined OpTic Gaming on February 10, 2022, with all their players. That’s why they will play the tournament under the name OpTic Gaming. Their greatest achievement is to beat Gambit 3-0 at Stage 3 Masters – Berlin at VCT 2021. They were eliminated early because they couldn’t do the same in Valorant Champions. The team aims for success under the leadership of Pujan “FNS” Mehta and fellow star player Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker. However, they did not start the season as well as they wanted. They were shaken by their 2-1 defeat against Rise in their first match.
100 Thieves
100 Thieves had their latest achievement at the VCT 2021 Stage 3 Masters – Berlin. They have been preparing for VCT 2022 for a long time and in January 2022 they made some changes among the coaches of the team. The Head and Assistant Coach were changed. They lost 2-0 to Cloud9 team in their first match of the New Season, namely the VCT 2022 NA Challengers 1 tournament. Although they started the season with a loss, they still appear as one of the favorite teams of the tournament.
- Teams qualified through Open Qualifiers #1
Version 1
The team, which could not recover from the losses and shock defeats they experienced in the VCT 2021 Season, seems to be back. Because they managed to beat the Knight team they faced in the first match of the season with a clear score of 2-0. While not considered one of the best teams in NA, it is a team worth considering. They partially completed the restructuring by bringing SoaR player Alexander “Zander” Dituri to fill the gaps in the team.
XSET
In one of the first tournaments of the year, VCT 2021, they achieved moderate success by placing second in Stage 2 and 3 Challengers 1 tournaments in NA. Cloud9 is one of the winners of the group stages like the Sentinels and Version 1. This match was played on February 13, 2022, against Evil Geniuses, and they won 2-0. Their only move in the off-season is to replace Bryce “PureR” Lovell with the transfer of ex-SoaR player Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiban.
The Guard
Unlike other teams, it is still a new team. We don’t know the details yet, as they made their debut in the fall of VCT 2021. However, we know that it is a team owned by the Kroenke Sports and Entertainment company. Also on their roster is HA “Sayaplayer” Jeong-woo, a former Overwatch player. They beat teams like FaZe clan in the open qualifiers and only lost to a strong opponent like XSET. The Guard faced Luminosity Gaming in their first game in NA this season, and they won the game 2-0.
NRG
NRG became the fourth and last team to participate in the main Challengers event in the first open qualifier tournament. They just lost to XSET just like The Guard did. In the qualifying match, they secured a clear victory against Rise and secured participation in the tournament. James, a former TSM player in the offseason, added “hazed” Cobb to their roster.
- Teams qualified through NA VCT Open Qualifiers #2
Evil Geniuses
As you know, EG is a well-established Esports team that never achieved the success it wanted. Moreover, they failed to qualify for last year’s VCT 2021 Champions. Therefore, they decided to renew the entire team in the autumn of 2021. Kelden “Boostio” Pupello and in January made a radical change by adding Jefrrey “Reformed” Lu, Alexander “jawgemo” mor, and Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond to the team. However, they lost their first match at VCT 2022 Stage 1 Challengers against XSET.
Knights
Eliminating Soniq was enough to qualify for the Challengers Main tournament. However, they also managed to beat big teams like TSM and Built by Gamers in the same season. They owe these wins to one of the former Immortal players, Amgalan “Genghsta” Nemekhbayar.
Luminosity Gaming
To qualify for the Challengers Tournament, they had to beat teams like Bait Academy, the Pioneers, and Soniq. They also left one of their players, YaBoiDre, to Evil Geniuses while they were still in the qualifiers. Then, one of the off-season moves, Adam “mada” Pampuch and TSM academy player Brandon Michael “bdog” Sanders were recruited.
Rise
The fourth and final team of the Open Qualifier 2 qualifiers was Rise. In both the first and second open qualifications, they lost in an upper bracket qualifying match. They again lost their lower bracket qualifying match in the first open qualifier, but they ultimately came through in the second open qualifier with a victory over Built by Gamers. In addition, the Rise team, who also won their first match in the 2022 Group Stages, looks at the season with great hope.
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