EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) Muggle Tang Shijun (唐时俊) CHICHOO Wan Shunji (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Haodong Guo Haodong (郭浩东) hold China's number one slot again, after capping off a near-flawless Champions China Qualifier run with a 3-1 victory over Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #5 B3ar Yang Zhanxiong (杨瞻雄) whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) Levius Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中) Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) Yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) Biank Zhong Jianfei (钟剑飞) .
The Champions China Qualifier was a 12-team LAN held in Shanghai that qualified three teams to Valorant Champions 2023. Of the 12 teams, four were selected based on their results in the FGC Valorant Invitational: Act 1 and Act 2, while the other eight qualified via a preceding Swiss stage in June.
The China Qualifier's playoffs used a modified double-elimination bracket that gave the four FGC teams a first-round bye. The other eight first played a knockout round, which eliminated the losers from the tournament. From thereon, the remaining eight squads played the double-elimination bracket. The upper quarterfinals and first two rounds of the lower bracket were Bo3, and the remaining matches were all Bo5. The top three teams were selected to Champions — the two finalists and the lower final's losers.
ZmjjKK diff.EDG and Bilibili, both FGC teams, quickly proved themselves head and shoulders above the competition. The pair reached the upper final without a single map loss to their name, but only the former kept that streak up going into the grand final; EDG secured a 3-0 win in the upper final.
The other two FGC rosters, Attacking Soul Esports Attacking Soul Esports Inactive monk Wang Haoyu (王浩宇) Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) YHchen Chen Yuhan (陳昱瀚) Zero1 Meng Zhen Ren (任梦真) and FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Rank #2 Autumn Kale Dunne Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) AAAAY Zhang Yang (张杨) BerLIN Zhang Bolin (張柏霖) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) , were both relegated in their first match. ASE were able to piece together just one win — an unexpected result after the team's run up to Masters — while FPX went on a streak that eliminated Weibo Gaming Weibo Gaming China Rank #11 TryTryz Lu Shiwei (卢世炜) Star1og Jun Chao Liang (梁竣超) DRK R1ckLeexD Li Xu (李旭) (2-0), Trace Esports Trace Esports China Rank #3 LuoK1ng Zhang Zhan Peng (张展鹏) Kai Lu Zhinan (卢智楠) cxyy Cui Xinyu (崔新宇) FengF Song Xuefeng (宋学锋) YOU Yip Man Ho heybay Ho Shun Hei (2-1), and finally TYLOO TYLOO China Rank #13 Flex1n Lo Rui (罗瑞) slowly Kelun Sun (孙克伦) Ninebody Ding Yi (丁毅) ICEKING Cheng Wanpeng (程万鹏) AAK Shi Yekai (施叶凯) hfmi0dzjc9z7 Zhang Juncheng (张峻程) Eren Yang Zhengwei (杨曾威) (3-1) in the penultimate round of lower's, to seal their return to LAN.
The lower final was Bilibili's to take, but not with ease. They went back and forth with FPX throughout, as both teams took close wins on their map picks. Bilibili took the final win on Ascent (13-5) and moved to the grand final. They would ultimately fall to an EDG squad which, after placing second during Masters Tokyo qualification, claimed their top spot once more.
EDG still had a tougher time against Bilibili in the grand final. The former gave up just 10 rounds across Split (13-4) and Fracture (13-6). EDG were then handed their first map loss on Bind (14-12). Haven was an equally tight afair, but EDG were the ones to find the 14-12 win, claim their spot atop the Chinese throne again, and the number one China seed going into Champions.
Split wasn't even ZmjjKK's best map.With the Champions China Qualifier concluded, there are just four Champions spots up for grabs. Two stem from the EMEA LCQ, which will draft two teams to Los Angeles, while the Pacific and Americas Last Chance Qualifiers will each qualify one team from its region to Tokyo.
The EMEA and Pacific LCQs begin in just a few days. The Americas LCQ kicked off yesterday with the first of three elimination bouts, in which 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 found their first win of the season with a 2-0 over MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #4 jzz João Pedro mazin Matheus Araújo artzin Arthur Araujo RgLMeister Matheus Rodigoli frz Leandro Gomes .
Valorant Champions 2023 will be played in Los Angeles between August 6 and 27 between the 16 best teams of the world.
The current Valorant Champions team list is:
- Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov (Pacific)
- DRX DRX Korea Rank #1 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) (Pacific)
- T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 Sayaplayer Ha Jeong-woo (하정우) Rossy Daniel Abedrabbo Carpe Lee Jae-hyeok (이재혁) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) xccurate Kevin Susanto (Pacific)
- LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #1 Quick Gabriel Lima saadhak Matias Delipetro Less Felipe de Loyola tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira (Americas)
- Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #21 Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le Apoth Vincent Le jawgemo Alexander Mor (Americas)
- NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #3 crashies Austin Roberts Victor Victor Wong Marved Jimmy Nguyen Ethan Ethan Arnold Demon1 Max Mazanov (Americas)
- Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #13 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Enzo Enzo Mestari Mistic James Orfila Keiko Georgio Sanassy (EMEA)
- FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 Leo Leo Jannesson Derke Nikita Sirmitev Boaster Jake Howlett Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder (EMEA)
- FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #2 MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan cNed Mehmet Yağız İpek qRaxs Doğukan Balaban (EMEA)
- Pacific LCQ
- Americas LCQ
- EMEA LCQ
- EMEA LCQ (Masters Tokyo slot)
- EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) Muggle Tang Shijun (唐时俊) CHICHOO Wan Shunji (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Haodong Guo Haodong (郭浩东) (China)
- Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #5 B3ar Yang Zhanxiong (杨瞻雄) whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) Levius Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中) Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) Yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) Biank Zhong Jianfei (钟剑飞) (China)
- FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Rank #2 Autumn Kale Dunne Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) AAAAY Zhang Yang (张杨) BerLIN Zhang Bolin (張柏霖) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) (China)