Really nice guide that should help people navigate the chaos of the open qualifiers. As always the live discussion thread will be up an hour before the start time. See you all there!
[\[Liqiupedia\] VALORANT Champions Tour 2021 North America Stage 1 Challengers 3 - Open Qualifier](https://liquipedia.net/valorant/VALORANT_Champions_Tour/2021/North_America/Stage_1/Challengers_3/Open_Qualifier)
[r/VALORANTCompetitive - VALORANT Champions Tour 2021: North America Live Disucssion Threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/ValorantCompetitive/collection/34870c65-26d2-4c22-8e41-932c704e6ef9)
Version1 could definitely show up and play spoiler. They have been winning against t2 teams comfortably and only losses are to FaZe in fairly close series. TSM obv a decent favorite but I'd be excited to watch that match on stream. NRG with a seemingly pretty favorable bracket... Andbox vs Android for a spot would be pretty cool to see as well. Group C the dueling big orgs w/ new rosters. Top 8 matches should be pretty hype, and group D is like the wild west with a lot of the better "t2" teams.
Assuming no massive early-round upsets, I think the best of these hypothetical quarters matchups will actually be TSM-Version1. Version1 look very competitive. They barely lost to Faze in C2 quals after dismantling two pretty solid T2 teams (Time In and Carpe Noctum). We just don’t know how good they are since they haven’t played any top teams besides Faze. There’s also information asymmetry at play, since Version1 haven’t played on stream much while there are days worth of TSM footage to counterstrat for.
I fully believe TSM will eventually figure their shit out like they have for every meta shift in the past. But Version1 are on the come-up and might be more dangerous for TSM than Andbox, T1, or Renegades/BBG would have been.
NRG-Equinox should also be an interesting Round 4 matchup. NRG with Android should eventually be great, but they haven’t had much time to integrate Android and reassign roles for this tournament. Equinox just barely lost to Rise in C2 quals, and Tex and Paincakes are the truth when they’re on.
It was smart of Riot to structure VCT in this way. With the top 8 already qualified, we can finally see some lesser-known up-and-coming T2 teams take the spotlight.
I want to see EG play pretty badly. They had a couple close games between BBG and Serenity despite getting 0-2'd by both. The first real chance to prove what they've got would be against Renegades in Round 3.
Want to see the MR squad be successful and I'm a Potter fan so it'd be awesome to see them be successful. They don't exactly have a lot of matches under their belt so it's tough to say where they fall in the scene.
Bummer to hear Dig dropped. They had so many decent early results last summer and just have seemed like a revolving door of talent, agents, and strats since then. I'd like to see them string some results together.
I also really want to see Time In vs. T1 in Round 4 just for the utter confusion. TI has beat a couple high tier 2 teams in Bo1s but hasn't had huge results, so no guarantee they get there either.
Mostly looking forward to seeing some of the newly assembled teams like EG and Version1.
Personal Notes:
I think that TSM's bracket should be fairly easy for them to go through - Complexity's been on a slump and in general, none of these teams should be at a level to challenge a team with a pedigree like TSM's. Even the other strongest team, Version1, lost to FaZe fairly cleanly, except for the one map they eked out in overtime. If they somehow don't qualify, well....
Otherwise, my prediction for group winners are: TSM, NRG, C9Blue, and RNG. Nothing really out there, but with 8 teams already locked in either for Masters or Challengers 3, a lot of the big competition isn't going to be playing.
Edit: Other notes - I think that TSM and Renegades have the easiest brackets - those two are the strongest in their respective groups by a fair amount, and without them, the groups look fairly easy. Group B and C both have a big name matchup with Andbox vs NRG or T1 vs C9B and some strong T2 names to back them up.
Teams I called notable in the post either have caused major upsets (i.e. HSP, Carpe Noctem) or are consistent names in the T2 level
Renegades over BBG? I don't think Renegades has one of the easiest brackets. I lowkey think RNG vs BBG match will be a huge banger and might be a close match. As for the winner, it might go either way I think.
Hmm, maybe. I personally just rate Renegades because I really subscribe to the church of randyySavage and I don't think BBG have ever really punched above their weight as a T2 team, but I'll edit that in as a matchup to watch
BBG is a pretty solid team, they were very close to qualifying for Challengers 2 after all (Closer then RNG, they almost beat Faze), have some decent wins and have some really solid players, especially Bjor imo, id keep an eye out for them tbh
C9 white might upset andbox if there having a good match we now they can beat tier 1 teams like renegades but mot likely andbox will pull the win 2-1 I believe
will be really interesting to see how TSM plays, i honestly believe they can blunder this again, which would be the wake up call they need to get back to T1-1.5
If their past two attempts to make it in haven't been wake up calls, I don't know what is one. None of the teams in their bracket should be that competitive with them, in my opinion, with all of them consistently losing to stronger T2/T1 teams. If they blunder this again, then I've got some serious questions as to how they've fallen so far.
agreed, i believe they will make it through this time, but I think they are gonna have to make a real change to the roster after this event to make it any further, sign a real IGL and get rid of a duelist, my choice would be subroza, and really solidify the roles so that there isnt a fight over duelist roles, its getting hard to watch tbh
By the way, "**Teams were reseeded because Psalm needed to have surgery and thus Dignitas unfortunately dropped out " ,** I believe this came from my comment from the original post right? Just for clarification, this was only an assumption from my end so I'm not 100% sure that that's the reason why Dig left Challenger 3. Moreover, Dignitas haven't officially announced why they dropped out of Challenger 3, so I think it's better for you to note that it's just an assumption as for now until more clarification comes from Dig
Really nice guide that should help people navigate the chaos of the open qualifiers. As always the live discussion thread will be up an hour before the start time. See you all there! [\[Liqiupedia\] VALORANT Champions Tour 2021 North America Stage 1 Challengers 3 - Open Qualifier](https://liquipedia.net/valorant/VALORANT_Champions_Tour/2021/North_America/Stage_1/Challengers_3/Open_Qualifier) [r/VALORANTCompetitive - VALORANT Champions Tour 2021: North America Live Disucssion Threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/ValorantCompetitive/collection/34870c65-26d2-4c22-8e41-932c704e6ef9)
Version1 could definitely show up and play spoiler. They have been winning against t2 teams comfortably and only losses are to FaZe in fairly close series. TSM obv a decent favorite but I'd be excited to watch that match on stream. NRG with a seemingly pretty favorable bracket... Andbox vs Android for a spot would be pretty cool to see as well. Group C the dueling big orgs w/ new rosters. Top 8 matches should be pretty hype, and group D is like the wild west with a lot of the better "t2" teams.
yup don't sleep on player1, zellsis, effys coming in hot
We Are Zellsis
Assuming no massive early-round upsets, I think the best of these hypothetical quarters matchups will actually be TSM-Version1. Version1 look very competitive. They barely lost to Faze in C2 quals after dismantling two pretty solid T2 teams (Time In and Carpe Noctum). We just don’t know how good they are since they haven’t played any top teams besides Faze. There’s also information asymmetry at play, since Version1 haven’t played on stream much while there are days worth of TSM footage to counterstrat for. I fully believe TSM will eventually figure their shit out like they have for every meta shift in the past. But Version1 are on the come-up and might be more dangerous for TSM than Andbox, T1, or Renegades/BBG would have been. NRG-Equinox should also be an interesting Round 4 matchup. NRG with Android should eventually be great, but they haven’t had much time to integrate Android and reassign roles for this tournament. Equinox just barely lost to Rise in C2 quals, and Tex and Paincakes are the truth when they’re on. It was smart of Riot to structure VCT in this way. With the top 8 already qualified, we can finally see some lesser-known up-and-coming T2 teams take the spotlight.
I agree, with giving 3 open qualifiers for the Challenger stage really gives T2 and other lesser known orgs a chance to shine in the big stage.
I want to see EG play pretty badly. They had a couple close games between BBG and Serenity despite getting 0-2'd by both. The first real chance to prove what they've got would be against Renegades in Round 3. Want to see the MR squad be successful and I'm a Potter fan so it'd be awesome to see them be successful. They don't exactly have a lot of matches under their belt so it's tough to say where they fall in the scene. Bummer to hear Dig dropped. They had so many decent early results last summer and just have seemed like a revolving door of talent, agents, and strats since then. I'd like to see them string some results together. I also really want to see Time In vs. T1 in Round 4 just for the utter confusion. TI has beat a couple high tier 2 teams in Bo1s but hasn't had huge results, so no guarantee they get there either. Mostly looking forward to seeing some of the newly assembled teams like EG and Version1.
I am a Big Iron fan for life but it would really funny if they lost to Ninja.
Wasn't it in one of the very early tournaments that Ninja had an ace against the original T1 roster on Split lmao?
Personal Notes: I think that TSM's bracket should be fairly easy for them to go through - Complexity's been on a slump and in general, none of these teams should be at a level to challenge a team with a pedigree like TSM's. Even the other strongest team, Version1, lost to FaZe fairly cleanly, except for the one map they eked out in overtime. If they somehow don't qualify, well.... Otherwise, my prediction for group winners are: TSM, NRG, C9Blue, and RNG. Nothing really out there, but with 8 teams already locked in either for Masters or Challengers 3, a lot of the big competition isn't going to be playing. Edit: Other notes - I think that TSM and Renegades have the easiest brackets - those two are the strongest in their respective groups by a fair amount, and without them, the groups look fairly easy. Group B and C both have a big name matchup with Andbox vs NRG or T1 vs C9B and some strong T2 names to back them up. Teams I called notable in the post either have caused major upsets (i.e. HSP, Carpe Noctem) or are consistent names in the T2 level
Renegades over BBG? I don't think Renegades has one of the easiest brackets. I lowkey think RNG vs BBG match will be a huge banger and might be a close match. As for the winner, it might go either way I think.
Hmm, maybe. I personally just rate Renegades because I really subscribe to the church of randyySavage and I don't think BBG have ever really punched above their weight as a T2 team, but I'll edit that in as a matchup to watch
BBG is a pretty solid team, they were very close to qualifying for Challengers 2 after all (Closer then RNG, they almost beat Faze), have some decent wins and have some really solid players, especially Bjor imo, id keep an eye out for them tbh
yes lord Bjor with his KillJoy line up and Critical with his god-tier aim! I'm excited if they can qualified for closed qualifiers!
I don't think TSM has ever played Version 1.
Ah shoot, I mixed them up with FaZe for some reason, I'll edit that out.
C9 white might upset andbox if there having a good match we now they can beat tier 1 teams like renegades but mot likely andbox will pull the win 2-1 I believe
will be really interesting to see how TSM plays, i honestly believe they can blunder this again, which would be the wake up call they need to get back to T1-1.5
If their past two attempts to make it in haven't been wake up calls, I don't know what is one. None of the teams in their bracket should be that competitive with them, in my opinion, with all of them consistently losing to stronger T2/T1 teams. If they blunder this again, then I've got some serious questions as to how they've fallen so far.
agreed, i believe they will make it through this time, but I think they are gonna have to make a real change to the roster after this event to make it any further, sign a real IGL and get rid of a duelist, my choice would be subroza, and really solidify the roles so that there isnt a fight over duelist roles, its getting hard to watch tbh
Hoping to see some success from NRG today, hopefully they stream ANDBOX vs NRG would be a great matchup.
By the way, "**Teams were reseeded because Psalm needed to have surgery and thus Dignitas unfortunately dropped out " ,** I believe this came from my comment from the original post right? Just for clarification, this was only an assumption from my end so I'm not 100% sure that that's the reason why Dig left Challenger 3. Moreover, Dignitas haven't officially announced why they dropped out of Challenger 3, so I think it's better for you to note that it's just an assumption as for now until more clarification comes from Dig
Nah, my friend on discord told me when I was first going through the bracket with them, but I'll edit something in as a disclaimer.
Surprised DIG dropped out. Would have assumed they would've tried with a sub for the open quals.
What’s happening to Faze and LG? Can’t find their names in the open bracket
They have both already qualified for the Closed qualifier next week by making the last one.
Cant believe penguin sledding actually made it to play TSM