VALORANT Challengers 2 NA: How Did Envy Manage to Win?

Unlike with the European version of Challengers, the North American viewers were treated to a full Double Elimination bracket. The event boasted great talent in the form of Sentinels, 100 Thieves, Immortals, and Gen.G, but at the end, it was Team Envy who went home with the trophy.

The tournament kicked off with some exciting results. 100 Thieves had made it to the tournament after a weak performance in the Challengers 1 Qualifier and were ready to go up against the rest. But in their first match already, Luminosity beat them in a 2-1 series. This should maybe not have come as a surprise, as LG had stood victorious at the NSG Winter Championship before – even beating out Envy in the Grand Finals. 100 Thieves later set themselves on top of Gen.G., but in their duel with Sentinels they met an untimely end, suffering an 0-2 loss as Hunter “SicK” Mims collected 40 kills in total.

ENVY PLAY THEIR WAY INTO THE GRAND FINALS

For Pujan “FNS” Mehta and his boys, the tournament played out in a different fashion. With just eight round losses, they steamrolled XSET and already beat Sentinels in a closely contested Best-of-Three. Immortals became a bigger challenge and on Ascent, they brought the Envy boys to their absolute limits. With a 13-4 victory on Bind, however, they managed to close the game out on a 2-1 scoreline and advanced to the Grand Finals. There, they received a map advantage. Still, they potentially had to play out four entire maps against Sentinels, who had made their way to the Grand Finals via the Lower Bracket. Fortunately, Envy didn’t have to go this far.

On Haven, the team secured a quick 10-2 lead. But as their offense wasn’t nearly as strong, they had to watch as Sentinels slowly clawed their way back into the game. Thanks to the strong performances of Victor “food” Wong and Austin “crashies” Roberts, the team eventually collected the rounds necessary for a 13-9 finish.

So Sentinels stood with their backs against the wall. They were forced to deliver their a-game on Bind, but Envy once again mounted a 10-2 first half. This time around, Sick and his colleagues failed to grind the deficit down. On a swift 13-3 scoreline, Team Envy ended the Grand Finals, brought home $20,000, and secured the highest seed for the upcoming Masters tournament.

SENTINELS, IMMORTALS, XSET TO MASTERS

But the other teams on the winners’ podium haven’t gone home empty handed. Aside from the obvious prize money, the best four teams have also qualified for Masters and thus won’t have to play out Challengers 3. Luminosity Gaming, 100 Thieves, FaZe Clan, and Gen.G., however, are all heading to the third and last leg of the Challengers journey. Teams like Cloud9 will have to once again attempt to enter via the Open Qualifier and use their last chance at making the Masters tournament.