Cover-Credits:
Fnatic won the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Europe, Middle-East and Africa (EMEA) challengers last night while XSET Esports secured a win at the North American (NA) Challengers event. Both teams were already locked in to qualify for Valorant Masters Copenhagen after qualifying for the grand finals of their respective Challengers events but securing wins at the finals will allow both teams to ride high on their momentum. Only time will tell which teams will dominate the Valorant Champions Tour as we head to Copenhagen next month for the second and final Masters event of this year.
XSET and OpTic are arguably the best teams in North America right now
Both XSET and OpTic Gaming had a fantastic run at the North American Challengers event and they have quickly risen to become two of the best teams in the world. OpTic Gaming’s rise happened at the start of the 2022 competitive circuit with the former Team Envy roster joining the organization. Team Envy had a solid team last year but it could not deliver any results. Under the new organization, the team has become a force to be reckoned with.
Challengers 2 champion XSET had a mediocre 2021 season but things took a turn for the better after Dree “DrewSpark” Spark-Whitworth joined as an analyst for the team. The team has been performing very well with multiple NSG championships in the bag while also placing first at the Stage 2 Challengers event. It is now time for the team to prove itself on the international stage as it heads to Copenhagen.
Fnatic emerges as the best European team in competitive Valorant
Stage 1 EMEA champion FunPlux Phoenix headed into the grand finals of the Challengers 2 event with an opportunity to secure its second VCT championship but the team fell short against Fnatic. The team could not head to Masters Reykjavik earlier this year amidst the Russia-Ukraine crisis but a second-place finish at the recently concluded EMEA Challengers 2 event means that it will get an opportunity to compete at Masters Copenhagen.
Fnatic has always looked like a talented team but it failed to secure first-place at any major international LAN so far. The team won last year’s Challengers 2 event and it fell short against Sentinels at Masters Reykjavik in 2021. With a Challengers 2 victory in the bag once again, it is time for the roster to step up and prove itself on the international stage next month.
