What to look out for in the NA VALORANT Challengers League

Teams to watch out for in the NA VALORANT Challengers League

The Favorites:

The Guard is arguably the best team statistically in the VCL right now. They started the year strong with a win in the Tarik X Ludwig invitational over partnered organizationss T1 and Sentinels. They have retained the roster core they made it to Masters Copenhagen with, with the exception of ex-NRG tex, who replaced sayaplayer.

The New Kids:

Group A:
Teams BreakThru, Oxygen Esports, and Turtle Troops (previously called Squirtle Squad) are free agent teams which made it through the recent qualifiers. BreakThru had made it through in the first qualifier without losing any games, Oxygen Esports had a successful lower bracket run, while Turtle Troops went through the LCQ to make it. BreakThru signed Tanizhq, ex-coach of Vitality and has well-known players including aproto, flyuh, and thief. Turtle Troops is a mix of popular streamers and well-known players, including WeDid and Okeanos.

Group B:
Disguised, a team owned by popular streamer Disguised Toast consisting of players like ex-T1 and 100T Steel, Exalt, and gangsta steamrolled their way through the upper bracket of the qualifier to lock in their VCL spot. Dark Ratio, who recently got signed by MadLions, got knocked down to the lower bracket but still made it through the first qualifier. Finally, OREsports squeaked through the lower bracket of the LCQ.

The Old Guard:

Group A:
G2 Esports consists of ex-Sentinels and Version1 professionals, including ShaZam, dapr, and penny. While both teams struggled in 2022, they’ve qualified for international events in the past and it remains to be seen if they can regain the glory of the past. As for Shopify Rebellion, they signed Luminosity’s successful roster in June 2022 who had qualified for groups in NA VCT both times. They most recently won Knights Freezeout.

Group B:
TSM, while a team that’s declined considerably over the course of 2022, look to be in much better shape now. They placed second in the recent Tarik X Ludwig Invitational. M80 is another team to watch out for in this group. They comprise of the old Ghost Gaming roster core. The team, consisting of players like Zander, johnqt, and NiSMO were extremely consistent over 2022.

The Wildcard: 

FaZe Clan was just two wins away from making it to Champions 2022. The roster now is a complete unknown. Only BABYBAY and POISED remain from the original team last year, with ex-FaZe player flyuh for instance having qualified for Challengers on another team, BreakThru. The team still hasn’t released their roster so they’re definitely the wildcard in the event.

Stories to pay attention to

G2 Esports and MadLions are both European organizations that have signed NA players to try their hand in the NA ecosystem. It’s going to be exciting to see how their investment pays off.

Rivalries: TSM vs FaZe has always been a favorite match to watch for NA fans. Unfortunately, these teams are in different groups so we’ll have to wait for league play to conclude before we watch them clash. G2 and M80 also had their players make it through VCT groups last year, so they’re definitely up there when it comes to competition.

TSM is back? While TSM started off strong in Valorant with a win at the T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown and a second place finish at First Strike: North America, they struggled in 2022. The new roster has no players remaining from the original TSM core since subroza seems to have switched over to content creation. It remains to be seen what they can achieve this season.

Streamer power: Turtle Troopers has both governor and Harmful who are popular streamers and creators in the Valorant ecosystem. OREsports’ Nillyaz also falls in this category as does M80’s Johnqt. Finally, players like XXiF and ZexRow were well-known in Fortnite before entering the Valorant scene.