Coming into Champions 2023, the Americas League fields a unique cocktail of Davids and Goliaths. First, can underdogs
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses
North America
Rank #20
Derrek
Derrek Ha
NaturE
Nicholas Garrison
supamen
Phat Le
Apoth
Vincent Le
jawgemo
Alexander Mor
and
KRÜ Esports
KRÜ Esports
Latin America South
Rank #3
keznit
Angelo Mori
Klaus
Nicolas Ferrari
Shyy
Fabian Usnayo
Melser
Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro
heat
Olavo Marcelo
keep up their momentum? And second, will former Champions
LOUD
LOUD
Brazil
Rank #1
saadhak
Matias Delipetro
Less
Felipe de Loyola
tuyz
Arthur Andrade
cauanzin
Cauan Pereira
return to form in time for another shot at glory?
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses take a final bow onstage at Masters Tokyo (Photo by Liu Yi Cun/Riot Games)
At the beginning of the season, EG were lampooned for their 10-man roster and perceived lack of firepower. Early power rankings consistently placed the team at the bottom of the Americas League.
And at first, EG seemed to play into public perception. They began the league with a 1-4 record, their only win against a winless KRÜ. On April 15, three weeks into the League, EG announced on Twitter that Demon1 would replace controller player BcJ for future matches.
Eventually, EG would end the season 4-5 with their playoff chances hinged on
MIBR
MIBR
Brazil
Rank #4
jzz
João Pedro
mazin
Matheus Araújo
artzin
Arthur Araujo
RgLMeister
Matheus Rodigoli
frz
Leandro Gomes
winning against
100 Thieves
100 Thieves
North America
Rank #2
bang
Sean Bezerra
Cryocells
Matthew Panganiban
eeiu
Daniel Vucenovic
Boostio
Kelden Pupello
Asuna
Peter Mazuryk
, an unprecedented feat given that MIBR were playing with their assistant coach
TxoziN
. Then TxoziN throttled 100 Thieves on Lotus, and the rest was history.
Evil Geniuses proceeded to make it to Tokyo as the third Americas slot. Despite visa issues, Demon1 was able to fly in just in time to 2-0
FUT Esports
FUT Esports
Europe
Rank #4
MrFaliN
Furkan Yeğen
yetujey
Eray Budak
AtaKaptan
Ata Tan
cNed
Mehmet Yağız İpek
qRaxs
Doğukan Balaban
in the opening match of the tournament. EG wouldn't drop a single map until the upper bracket finals, where they lost 2-1 against eventual tournament winners
FNATIC
FNATIC
Europe
Rank #2
Leo
Leo Jannesson
Derke
Nikita Sirmitev
Boaster
Jake Howlett
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
Alfajer
Emir Ali Beder
. After narrowly coming out of the lower bracket finals 3-2 against
Paper Rex
Paper Rex
Asia-Pacific
Rank #1
mindfreak
Aaron Leonhart
Jinggg
Wang Jing Jie
f0rsakeN
Jason Susanto
d4v41
Khalish Rusyaidee
something
Ilya Petrov
, EG lost to FNATIC in the grand finals 3-0.
From the bottom of the barrel to second place at Masters Tokyo, EG have already exceeded all expectations for them this season. The question is: Now that they are no longer considered unknowns, can they still continue their dominance?
KRÜ Esports
Angelo "keznit" Mori (L) and Nicolas "Klaus" Ferrari of KRU Esports hug onstage after LCQ victory (Photo by Tina Jo/Riot Games)
In the off-season, KRÜ lost long-time players
keznit
and
Mazino
as well as their head coach
Onur
to rival LATAM team
Leviatán
Leviatán
Latin America South
Rank #1
tex
Ian Botsch
kiNgg
Francisco Aravena
Mazino
Roberto Rivas
aspas
Erick Santos
C0M
Corbin Lee
. In exchange, KRÜ gained Leviatán controller player
Melser
.
At first, it appeared obvious that Leviatán had won the trade: The blue serpents reached the semifinals of LOCK//IN and began the regular season with a promising 3-1 start. Meanwhile, KRÜ bombed out of LOCK//IN and went on one of the worst regular season runs in the entire league, ending with a winless 0-9 record.
Then, Last Chance Qualifiers: After a more than one-and-a-half month long break, KRÜ took down Brazilian teams MIBR and
FURIA
FURIA
Brazil
Rank #9
kon4n
Vitor Hugo
xand
Alexandre Zizi
mwzera
Leonardo Serrati
havoc
Ilan Eloy
Khalil
Khalil Schmidt
nzr
Agustin Ibarra
to advance to the double-elimination bracket of the tournament, where they remained undefeated all the way to the grand finals with victories against Leviatán and favorites
Cloud9
Cloud9
North America
Rank #9
Xeppaa
Erick Bach
runi
Dylan Cade
moose
Kaleb Jayne
vanity
Anthony Malaspina
OXY
Francis Hoang
.
Leviatán emerged victorious against Cloud9 in the lower bracket finals, setting up a grand finals showdown between the LATAM representatives. KRÜ defeated old teammate Mazino and coach Onur 3-1 (keznit had returned to KRÜ mid-season) to complete the biggest upset run in Valorant history and secure their spot in Champions 2023.
Now KRÜ have an opportunity to prove their Cinderella run through the LCQ bracket was no fluke, and that they are far from the same team that lost to every one of their opponents in the VCT regular season.
LOUD
LOUD at VALORANT Masters Tokyo (Photo by Lee Aiksoon/Riot Games)
The Champions 2022 winning team lost Sacy and pANcada to Sentinels in perhaps the most unexpected shakeup of the off-season. In their place, the team recruited young and upcoming Brazilian talents tuyz and cauanzin .
In LOCK//IN, LOUD quickly showed off that they were still a force to be reckoned with. The team won four games in a row, including a 2-1 victory against the new incarnation of the OpTic core, to make it to the grand finals in front of their home crowd.
Unfortunately for LOUD, FNATIC took home the victory and the narrative with an incredible 11-3 comeback on the final map of the series, Icebox.
Not to be deterred, LOUD went on a dominant 8-1 regular season run and placed number one in the Americas League. They cruised through the playoffs undefeated, taking down NRG in the finals 3-0. However, the Brazilian team hiccuped in Tokyo. LOUD didn't win a single map against Evil Geniuses and
EDward Gaming
EDward Gaming
China
Rank #1
ZmjjKK
Zheng Yongkang (郑永康)
nobody
Wang Senxu (王森旭)
CHICHOO
Wan Shunji (万顺治)
Smoggy
Zhang Zhao (张钊)
Haodong
Guo Haodong (郭浩东)
and bombed out of the tournament in just two games.
Analysts blamed the disappointing performance in part on LOUD's map picks: The team didn't play any Harbor/Viper compositions in Tokyo and star duelist aspas only played a single map on Jett. In a post-match interview on the Brazilian broadcast after their loss against EG, Less also expressed some frustrations with LOUD's draft.
In the lead-up to Champions, unsubstantiated reports of internal issues surrounding aspas led LOUD IGL saadhak to speak out, claiming that the team was “united and focused 100% for the Champions.”
This begs the question: Was LOUD's performance at Masters Tokyo just another example of the “second-place curse,” or was it a sign of something more troubling to come?