The VCT Stage 2 Challengers 1 open qualifiers had massive upsets. The single-elimination format spelled doom for some of the most popular NA VALORANT teams.
The top three teams of the VCT 2021: NA Stage 1 Masters are out of the Stage 2 open qualifier in a surprising twist of events. Sentinels, FaZe Clan and Gen.G lost their round of 16 matches in the open qualifiers and will have to now qualify via the second round of open qualifiers.
Top three of Stage 1 Masters eliminated in Stage 2 open qualifiers
The North American VALORANT scene is highly volatile right now. Multiple teams have laid claim to the top ranks in the region. The performance of the top three Stage 1 Masters teams only serves to emphasize the instability in the region.
The VALORANT Championship Tour Stage 1 Masters ended with Sentinels securing a 3-0 victory over FaZe Clan. The team had to make sudden roster changes after Riot Games suspended its star player, Jay "sinatraa" Won. While the first map on Bind was somewhat close, Sentinels had a dominant performance against FaZe on Bind and Haven.
But the team could not carry its form into the North American Stage 2 Challengers 1 - Open Qualifier. Sentinels lost 0-2 to Built By Gamers (5-13,5-13) crashing out of the tournament. It was a rude shock for the fans and an unexpected result.
FaZe Clan’s match against Versus1 started with a loss on HAVEN. The team struck back on Ascent. However, an extremely competitive Icebox map saw Version1 knock out FaZe Clan in overtime. With 62 and 61 kills respectively, Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro and Erik "penny" Penny were dominant in the game against FaZe. In contrast, Corey "corey" Nigra had the highest number of kills on FaZe Clan at 52 eliminations.
Gen.G, the third-ranked team in the VCT North America Stage 1 Masters, lost 0-2 to Cloud9.Blue. The team put on a fight on Icebox, but Cloud9.Blue walked over Gen.G on Ascent.
Which teams qualified for the North America Stage 2 Challengers 1?
Here is the list of teams that qualified to the North American Stage 2 Challengers 1 Main event:
- 100 Thieves.
- Andbox.
- Cloud9 Blue.
- Immortals.
- Xset.
- Built by Gamers.
- Team Envy.
- Version1.
The tournament kicks off on April 8 and will run for four days ending on the 11th. It has a $50,000 prize pool with the eight teams competing in a double-elimination bracket. The top four teams will move to the Challengers finals, which is one step closer to Stage 2 Masters - Reykjavík.
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