At the conclusion of a wild day in NA VCT Challengers Three closed qualifiers, Kansas City Pioneers and Gen.G have been eliminated from the tournament.
The Pioneers had a solid run, defeating a Version1 team that qualified for VCT Masters Two: Reykjavik in the lower bracket, but unfortunately went up against Sentinels in the second round. Gen.G were close to upsetting Sentinels in the first round of the upper bracket, although ultimately were knocked to the lower bracket. They defeated an upstart Rise team in the first round of the lower bracket before falling to Envy 0-2 in the second round.
The losses eliminate both teams from the tournament. They’ll have to wait until the next open qualifier event for another shot at Challengers Finals. Kansas City have nothing to be ashamed of. They were knocked out by the best VALORANT team in the world, and knocked out a strong Version1 team.
Gen.G might need to return to the drawing board in a few elements. A close first map with Envy was fine, but it seemed like they never showed up to the second map. While there’s no immediate, glaring cause for concern, Gen.G has a lot of talent, and if they iron their issues out they’ll be a top four team in no time.
The top four finishers in the event punch their tickets directly to the closed qualifier. KCP and Gen.G just barely missed the cut. Sentinels, Envy, 100 Thieves, and XSET will skip the next open qualifier tournament in its entirety.
