Valorant NA Champions Tour Qualifiers

Official information on the teams that will be competing at the Valorant Champions Tour North America Stage 1 has been released. There are a lot of popular names as you rightfully expected, but we will also see the introduction of fresh talent in the competition. The eight teams that made it to this stage did so through a two-day single-elimination knockout bracket. The process was gruesome as over 120 teams registered for the event. It is worth noting that some teams are still competing for seed positions, with these eight being the ones that will contest in the first NA Challengers weekend. A lot of talent was discovered in this knockout bracket as only three teams out of the eight participated in the First Strike main event. 100 Thieves and TSM, who were the grand finalists in the First Strike event, failed to make it out of the qualifiers.

The event will start on February 4, 2021, and will end on February 7. All right teams will be looking for a share of the $50,000 prize pool and seed to Challengers 2. The first four teams will be rewarded with cash prizes and a direct slot to Challengers 2. The fifth to eighth-placed teams will be rewarded with cash prizes only. All fixtures will follow a best of three format, while the grand final will be a best of five game.

The eight teams that will compete in this event are;

• Immortals
• Team Envy
• NRG
• Sentinels
• Gen.G
• Luminosity Gaming
• XSET
• Andbox

Immortals is the team to watch as they placed first in the qualifiers. Victories over Team Envy and Sentinels to clinch that spot shows are good a team they are. They updated their roster in the off-season, and the changes are providing results for them. Why the victory against Team Envy is worthy of note is because they were knocked out of the First Strike event at the quarterfinals stage by them. However, that was before the introduction of the two players who helped them enact their revenge in the Challengers 1 qualifiers. The addition has shown that they are a stronger team than they were last year, which spells trouble for everyone that crosses their path.

Another team we are picking out from the pile that could pose a serious problem for other teams is Team Envy. They made it through the qualifiers without giving one single map away. That shows their mindset coming into this event and how committed they are to win it. They made it to the First Strike semifinals after knocking out Immortals in the quarterfinals. However, they were sent home by TSM in the semifinals, ending their run in the event. Team Envy also made an addition to their roster in the off-season, and that has also done them a lot of good.

Qualifying for the Challengers 1 out of 129 registered teams is a feat in itself. No team should be written off, as they all put up impressive performances to get to this point. As the days go by, we will see these teams in action again and know who will do enough to clinch first place.