KRÜ Blaze silences the crowd after sending KC home at GCC 2025

Playing against the Karmine Corp (KC) crowd is not easy, but KRÜ Blaze accepted the challenge. In two dominant maps, the Latin American queens defeated the blue wall and secured the top four at the VALORANT Game Changers Championship 2025.

Following KC's defeat against KRÜ Blaze, all teams from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) were eliminated from the tournament. GIANTX finished in 9th-10th place, while G2 Gozen secured 5th-6th place. This also marked the first time that the samurais did not place in the top three. KRÜ Blaze was responsible for two of the three European eliminations.

The Americas region has many reasons to celebrate. For the first time ever, the top four spots in the Game Changers Championship will be held by four teams from this region: KRÜ Blaze, MIBR GC, Shopify Rebellion Gold, and Team Liquid Brazil. Additionally, this marks the first time that two Brazilian teams have reached the top four.

During the post-match press conference, KC Şura "Jiex" Yıldırım took the opportunity to demand more respect towards women in the competitive scenario. "Every day, we show our talent and our gameplay. We are not different, and we deserve the same respect as the men’s scene. We might even be working harder than many teams, yet we still don’t receive the same treatment. I want to compete more than anything, so I’m asking Riot to step up and invest in the inclusive scene. We will make this investment worth it."

One of the hot topics lately has been the lack of international opportunities and events in the inclusive scene. While the men’s circuit has three international tournaments throughout the year, the Game Changers circuit has only one. One of the players raising this issue was NOVA's Kelly "shirazi" Jaudian in one of the post-match press conferences. "We need more off-season [international] tournaments because they help us progress in-game and outside of it," she said.

KRÜ’s win over KC pushed Caue “dods” Fernandes to the top of the ace leaderboard at the Game Changers Championship, hitting four total and overtaking both G2’s Petra “Petra” Stoker and Ava “florescent” Eugene, each sitting at three.

Not only that, but she also equaled the record of aces in a single edition that was also held by florescent. Both of them now have three. Can dods bring us more aces and break another record at the event?

Against the fierce crowd, dods was not afraid to show her power. "The crowd was booing us, and that made me want to fight them until the end. I had a blast in this game, and all I did was stand up and scream. We have now broken the 5th-place curse, and there is a lot to come," she said during the press conference.

As for the next encounter with MIBR GC, coach Beatriz "Bebesita" Hornes is thrilled to see Brazil reach so far in the competition. "I believe this was the match my team was most excited for. We’re really happy to play against MIBR."

There isn't much to say about either map, as all that was visible was KRÜ Blaze destroying KC's dreams in the tournament. Even though the first map was slightly better for the blue wall, there was not much the team could do to stop KRÜ Blaze's run at the GCC 2025. In Split, KC was still able to win five rounds during the first half, but bringing that momentum to the second half was way harder, as KRÜ kept controlling the map and dominating the flow of the match.

The second map was even more dominant, as KRÜ Blaze started with five rounds in a row, leaving KC in a very tough situation. However, KC was still able to bounce back and bring two rounds to the score, but that was not enough to start a comeback. The Latin American team was already too confident in their power and communication, ending the map in 35 minutes.

That's all for now. Stick around for more VALORANT news, guides, and updates on esports.gg.