It's been a rollercoaster of a year for Vision Strikers Vision Strikers Inactive stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Rb Goo Sang-min (구상민) Zest Kim Ki-seok (김기석) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) .

The team carried it's unbeaten streak from its formation in 2020 through the first stage of the VCT, eventually going over 100 straight matches without losing. Vision Strikers lost their first match in Stage 2, and eventually failed to qualify for Masters: Reykjavik because of a defeat to NUTURN NUTURN Inactive .

Team captain Kim "glow" Min-soo (김민수) retired from competitive gaming and became Vision Strikers' coach, and the team returned to dominance in Stage 3. They qualified for Masters: Berlin, topped their group, and then fell to Gambit Esports Gambit Esports Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Chronicle Timofey Khromov d3ffo Nikita Sudakov sheydos Bogdan Naumov nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin in the quarterfinals.

“We prepared for Masters 3 with the goal of winning the title,” glow said. “After the tournament ended for us, we were quite tired mentally so we decided to take a month of light break. Afterwards, we went all-in to prepare for Champions.”

buzz and mako fistbumping each other at Masters 3 Image credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games

Vision Strikers are among six teams at Champions who have not played an official match since Masters: Berlin or Stage 3 Challengers. With two and a half months of downtime, they've had time for both rest and practice.

Among all the teams coming from the APAC region, Vision Strikers have the best chance to win it all at Valorant's inaugural premier tournament. They looked capable of doing so at Masters 3 before they lost a nailbiter to the eventual champions.

“After we lost to Gambit in Masters Berlin, we talked as a group about where we went wrong and how we can approach the game differently,” glow said. “If we meet Gambit again, I doubt the results will be the same.”

That confidence comes in part because of the level of preparation Vision Strikers have put into Champions. Vision Strikers didn't just go home and practice against APAC's best teams the past couple of months. They've been practicing against the best in Europe.

After the dust had settled from Masters: Berlin and the respective teams had gone back to their regions, Vision Strikers were one of a few teams to announce that they'd be moving into Europe three weeks prior to the start of Champions for a bootcamp at the Esport Factory DE located in Osnabrück, Germany.

Esport Factory
@EsportFactoryDE
Was an honor to have you here. We wish you best of luck for your tournament @VisionStrikers. Hopefully our jersey will be your luck charm for Berlin.
11:14 AM · Nov 20, 2021 ·
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Their experience at Masters 3 and their recent training against European teams has been important to the team's growth. glow was a titan in the Korean tactical shooter scene with a long career in Counter-Strike. In his 30s, he was the roster's pillar of experience to lead them in their matches. Now, no one on the team is older than 21.

“I want to show the world what our team can do,” glow said. “I want us to play against the top regions and top teams and win the championship. I believe our team is the youngest team at this tournament. I believe our guys gained valuable experience and if we fix the minor mistakes in our game, we can definitely win the championship.”

Scatterplot showing first kills per round compared to ACS. BuZz has highest FKPR, but is on lower end of ACS Yu "BuZz" Byung-chul (유병철), the youngest on the roster at just 18 years old, recorded the highest FKPR in Masters Berlin; essential towards Vision Strikers' success. Image credit: Ominous

Vision Strikers emerged on top of one of the hardest, if not the very hardest, groups in Masters 3. Their group included two of EMEA's top teams, Acend Acend Inactive ALIVE Gilad Hakim musashi Alessio Xhaferi pyrolll Artur Minin cullumx Nikolaj Cullum Andersen chiwa Egor Stepanyuk and Papara SuperMassive Papara SuperMassive Europe Rank #13 skylen Asil Yalçın ip0TT Yiğit Karadeniz VenTT Emre Bozkurt Celasun Emir Celasun umu7 Umut Pekdoğan , and a feisty Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov squad who represented Southeast Asia. Their reward for winning that group was a matchup against the third of Europe's four representatives, Gambit.

Much like at Masters: Berlin, Vision Strikers once again find themselves placed in a “Group of Death.” Their group includes Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #8 Xeppaa Erick Bach Rossy Daniel Abedrabbo v1c Victor Truong moose Kaleb Jayne OXY Francis Hoang from North America, Masters: Reykjavik finalists FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #3 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder from Europe, and the APAC LCQ winners FULL SENSE FULL SENSE Asia-Pacific Rank #5 JohnOlsen Chanawin Nakchain Leviathan Thanyathon Nakmee aLerT Wattanachok Yingnakorn Potter Sutthichai Promsrikaew Sushiboys Panyawat Subsiriroj . With a tough group already on the horizon, the competition will be stiff for Korea's sole representatives at the tournament.

At this point, Vision Strikers know better than to take their opposition lightly.

“First of all, I think our group is the most competitive in the tournament and I believe that we will come out of the groups on top and I expect Cloud9 to come second. But, if Fnatic performs well against Cloud9 in their match, I might swap the two,” glow said when asked about his thoughts on his teams' group. “I also think that Full Sense is a great team that many people underestimate, so we have to make sure to watch out for them as well. If anything, I think Full Sense can make a splash at the tournament against Cloud9 or Fnatic.”

Last time, Vision Strikers answered the challenge with a swift four maps to advance into the playoffs. They'll want to repeat that level of dominance at Champions.

What they don't want to repeat is what came after: a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to kick-off the single-elimination playoffs.

But Vision Strikers have experience they didn't have that first time they played at an international LAN. They know what competition in Berlin is like now, and they know what to expect from Europe's powerhouses after nearly a month of bootcamping.

This is the team the rest of the world once copied strategies from while they seemed invincible against native competition. They don't quite have the same luster they did back then, but that doesn't mean the shine is gone.

It would be a mistake to treat them as if they were a dull quarterfinalist instead of a sparkling championship contender.

tamagao contributed to the writing of this story.