TSM
TSM
North America
Rank #10
Recoil
seven
Johann Hernandez
gMd
Anthony Guimond
vora
sym
Tyler Porter
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 #8
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.