NUTURN, Crazy Raccoon, and X10 have secured their spots at VCT Masters Reykjavík with victories at their respective VCT Stage Two Challengers Finals. The three VALORANT teams will each represent Korea, Japan, and the Southeast Asia region, respectively. At time of writing, only the teams from Brazil and Latin America are to be determined.
The victor of the Korea Challengers Finals, NUTURN Gaming, surprised everyone with their win over the dominant Vision Strikers in the semifinals. That loss by Vision Strikers was their second in two weeks but followed an untouched streak of 83 series without a loss (79 wins and four draws). Capitalizing on their momentum from defeating VS, NUTURN delivered an impressive 3-0 performance against DAMWON in the grand finals to secure their spot in Iceland.
Japan saw its primary favorite fall as well. Absolute JUPITER were considered Japan’s best team, having won First Strike prior to the start of the VALORANT Champions Tour. But Crazy Raccoon beat them not once, but twice in the Challengers Finals double bracket. Crazy Raccoon won 2-1 in the upper bracket final, then beat JUPITER again in the grand finals 3-1.
The Southeast Asia finals saw teams from across the region compete for one Masters spot, including the Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Vietnam, and Indonesia. But it was X10 Esports from Thailand who emerged above the rest at the end. The top seed from Thailand didn’t drop a single series in their upper bracket run and now join the field of 10 heading to Iceland.
The three will join the four teams already qualified from Europe and North America. Team Liquid and Fnatic will represent Europe, while Sentinels and Version1 will represent North America. The grand finals of the Challengers event for each of those regions are taking place later today.
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Published: May 2, 2021 10:29 am