TSM TSM North America Rank #8 seven Johann Hernandez gMd Anthony Guimond defeated FaZe Clan FaZe Clan Inactive POISED Kevin Ngo mummAy Anthony DiPaolo TiGG Tanner Spanu BABYBAY Andrej Francisty supamen Phat Le 3-1 in the grand final of VCT North America Stage 3: Challengers 2 to win the team's first ever Challengers title.

TSM and FaZe both advance into NA's Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs alongside Luminosity Luminosity Inactive moose Kaleb Jayne mada Adam Pampuch dazzLe Will Loafman bdog Brandon Sanders TiGG Tanner Spanu and Rise Rise Inactive . They join the four teams who qualified from Challengers 1: Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #3 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid , Envy Envy Inactive Marved Jimmy Nguyen Victor Victor Wong crashies Austin Roberts FiNESSE Pujan Mehta yay Jaccob Whiteaker , 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #4 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk , and XSET XSET Inactive .

The tournament champions finished fifth in both of the two Challengers main events they had competed in previously, making their title the first time they have qualified to a VCT regional final event. Their championship run comes after a period of roster changes — the team's first since it joined the TSM organization in May 2020 — that began with the addition of Braxton "brax" Pierce as a sixth player in March. The team decided to move on from brax and bench Stephen "reltuC" Cutler in May, and eventually benched Taylor "Drone" Johnson. Sean "bang" Bezerra and Aleko "LeviathanAG" Gabuniya were brought on as their replacements.

But TSM wasn't alone in making roster changes. All three of the other qualifying teams also made moves shortly before securing a spot in the Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs.

Hunter "Inspire" Schline joined in place of Jimmy "Marved" Nguyen for FaZe shortly before the start of Stage 3. Luminosity switched out two players before the start of Stage 3 and have played through Stage 3 with a third, Tanner "TiGG" Spanu, who has not yet been officially signed to the team. Rise kicked off July by adding Phat "supamen" Le in place of Abdo "c4Lypso" Agha.

Some of the new additions instantly proved themselves to be stars for their new teams.

bang finished second in the tournament in K:D, only falling short to teammate Matthew "WARDELL" Yu, but led the tournament in clutch percentage among all players with at least 10 clutch attempts. TiGG had the second highest ACS on his team and supamen had the second best K:D on his team.

Whether a player was old or new ultimately didn't matter for TSM, however. All five players led the team in ACS and kills in at least one map over the tournament, and even the grand finals saw three players claim that title.

TSM ran through the tournament without dropping a match, likely a relief for a squad that has had its fair share of marathons lately. The team first staved off elimination in the qualifiers with a 38-round third map against Andbox Andbox Inactive oderus Chad Miller mummAy Anthony DiPaolo Lear Dayton Akau Jonaaa6 Jonard Penaflor vice Daniel Kim before taking 44 rounds in the second map against Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) yoman Chae Young-moon (채영문) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) to avoid starting the main event in the lower bracket.

Instead, their grand final opponents took the long way to the final match by making a complete lower bracket run. FaZe began the weekend with a defeat to Rise before winning four straight matches, including a rematch against Rise, to end up against TSM in the grand finals.

But regardless of how they got there, TSM, FaZe, Rise, and Luminosity will all share a bracket in Challengers Playoffs with an equal shot at winning the tournament and securing a spot in Berlin.

North America's Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs begin August 3. Pick 'ems are already open for the tournament.