VALORANT Challengers EU: Top Teams Miss Out on Masters Qualification

Yesterday, the last Challengers weekend concluded and decided on the remaining four teams that are now heading to Masters. The three most famous lineups have all failed to qualify. Above all, G2 Esports were unable to book their Masters tickets across three straight Challengers weeks.

They actually got off to a great start on Ascent. A quick 13-3 over DfuseTeam made it appear as though they would quickly dispatch the French team. Boasting a 19-8 KD and a 1.80 rating, Jacob “pyth” Mourujärvi delivered a statement map, but things looked much different on Split. Suddenly, DfuseTeam took the lead and Jonathan “TakaS” Paupard helped his team to a 13-8 win. With a whopping 27 kills on Bind, he effortlessly secured a second victory on a 13-7 scoreline on Bind, ending the match in his team’s favor. This means that the French roster is now heading for Masters, whereas G2 Esports have  missed out on the event for a second time straight.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO G2 ESPORTS?

Oscar “mixwell” Cañellas and his men are struggling with major inconsistencies. Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks and pyth led the charge on Ascent, meanwhile mixwell only secured 10 kills. On Split, he suddenly recorded 25 kills, doubling the output of the next best G2 player. Without his heroics, the team would have completely fallen apart, but on Bind, he suddenly was back to the bottom of the scoreboard. Patryk “paTiTek” Fabrowski was the only one to have a great showing on the last map.

This makes it particularly difficult for G2 to make hard decisions now. There is no single player who constantly drags the team down, which means that there isn’t a clear prospect for the roster chopping block. The tactics and the system which mixwell had established over the past year appear to be growing stale. They have long since been overtaken by other teams in many regards. Only few of the lineups that dominated last year’s VALORANT competition as still around at the very top. Alliance, DfuseTeam, Ballista Esports, and Raise Your Edge Gaming are now leading the charge.

GUILD ESPORTS ON TO MASTERS

After saying goodbye to Gianluca “xTribune” Oehme, Wave Esports had to make use of Danish replacement talent. At epic.WAN, this worked out beautifully and Mathias “SEIDER” Seider put up a great performance at Challengers 3 as well – but unfortunately, he was the only team member to do so. On the two short maps versus Guild Esports, he scored 37 kills and a 1.40 rating. In doing so, he even surpassed the top performers from Guild, but his colleagues were in the negative all throughout.

Wave Esports definitely had a bad day, which has now cost them their shot at Masters. Guild Esports secured 13-5 and 13-6 victories on Split and Haven, respectively, and proved their potential. Now, William “draken” Sundin and his mates have to show the same level of performance against the likes of NiP and Heretics if they want to stand a chance at a solid Masters placement.

BALLISTA – THE FIRST POLISH SUPERTEAM?

The Polish roster’s qualification matches were already impressive. But Fnatic was a completely different challenge and the team’s match history didn’t inspire a lot of confidence in them being able to take on this challenge. However, they got into the game with a 6-6 half on Haven. On the offense, they only let go of two rounds and quickly secured a 13-8 victory. So Fnatic were back to the drawing board and stood with their backs against the wall on Bind. They mounted a 7-5 half, but Ballista soon pulled tight to reach overtime. There, Ballista quickly secured the match victory. This 2-0 finish grants the Polish squad a place at Masters.

But despite this exciting and impressive victory, the players’ performances give reason to worry. A look at their individual output reveals a large gap between the best and worst players. Over the course of the Best-of-Three, Kamil “baddyG” Graniczka delivered a 1.28 rating, whereas, Przemysław “KEREME” Bogdanowicz only put up a 0.78 rating. While this didn’t hurt their overall performance in this game, it will definitely come to cost them going up against the likes of FPX. It might even make the difference between losing and winning altogether.

RAISE YOUR EDGE IMPRESS VERSUS OG

Jose Luis “koldamenta” Aranguren Herrero successfully led his team into battle. Not only did RYE beat the OG squad, they wholly dismantled them on two straight maps. Patryk “starxo” Kopczyński, Vladyslav “Kiles” Shvets, and Santeri “BONECOLD” Sassi all competed for the MVP medal. The three players scored at least 30 kills, respectively, and made sure that RYE advanced after 13-3 and 13-4 victories.

But just like the rest, they now have to get ready for a different level of play. OG really aren’t on par with NiP, Heretics, FPX, and the rest, which means that this victory is by no means a guarantee for their ability to make a deep run at Masters. But if the star players on this roster show up as strong as they have done so far, they at least have a shot at competing against the top tier teams.