China’s EDG All Set to Make International Debut at Valorant Champions 2022

Valorant Champions 2022, the World Championship for Valorant esports, will be the first-ever international event for China and its representative EDward Gaming (EDG). Fans will finally get to witness the much-discussed aggression of the Chinese powerhouse that won the East Asian Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) and made it to Istanbul, Turkey.

It may be the first event for the Chinese squad of EDG but it seems like all its opponents are wary of the team and are studying it closer than ever. At the pre-event press conference held on 31st August, players from different teams across different regions are serious about taking on EDG and are not underestimating the newcomer.

Is EDG the dark horse of Valorant Champions?

The one thing that is certain is that EDG is coming into Valorant Champions as a contender that has little experience on the international stage. The team showed great promise at the East Asia LCQ with aggressive gameplay and its performance on Fracture was greatly discussed. In the LCQ, EDG played Fracture three times and won the map by a landslide all three times (13-3, 13-3, 13-4) and was impeccable both on attack and defense.

During the press conference, XERXIA’s Valorant player Thanamethk “Crws” Mahatthananuyut gave a sneak peek into the scrims that XERXIA had with EDG and stated that the Chinese team was a dangerous one.

Crws said, “For me personally, they are a threat. They are a very big threat. We’ve been scrimming them a lot. And to be honest, they have the best scrim results I’ve ever had in the whole two years of Valorant, even [when compared to] EMEA coming into LAN events.” He said he was excited to see what the team brings forth while playing in front of a crowd.

Seconding this, Team Liquid’s Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom added, “I’ve heard the same from [DRX] stax. He just told me they [EDG] are the best region, the best team. I’m very excited to be in that group and I hope I get to play these guys and I heard they’re aggressive as well.”

Interestingly, Fnatic’s star player Jake “Boaster” Howlett also briefly talked about EDG at one of the press conferences while debating about potential dark horses. He believed that there are no dark horses and that every team deserved to be treated as Champions since they’ve reached this stage through hard work and prowess. However, he noted that other people might call EDG the dark horse but he begged to differ. “I’ve watched them play and I don’t think they’re a dark horse. I just think they are pretty good.”

The following is the starting squad for EDG’s Valorant team:

• Haodong “Haodong” Guo

• Donghao “Life” Qu

• Shunzhi “CHICHOO” Wan

• Senxu “nobody” Wang

• Yongkang “ZmjjKK” Zheng

The team’s substitute players are Zhao “Smoggy” Zhang and Bohao “Abo” Han.

Notably, EDG is not a newcomer to the world of esports since the brand is extremely successful in Riot Games’ other title: League of Legends. The EDG League of Legends team won Worlds in 2021 and is now looking forward to treading on its opponents in Valorant esports.

In its debut match at the Valorant Champions 2022, EDG will be taking on Paper Rex from Asia Pacific (APAC) on 31st August at 4 pm CEST. Click here to read more about Valorant Champions 2022 and to follow the scores and updates from the tournament.