Thus, the main stage of the 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) in Istanbul was completed. Engraved with shocks and surprises, Champions made sure Brazil’s representative LOUD took home the trophy.

The team dominated the playoff stage beating Leviatán, DRX and OpTic Gaming and faced the North American giant again in the final step, showing us a game we won’t long forget. OpTic ultimately failed to clear the final hurdle and returned to the United States in second place.

VCT Champions: Ultimate Ranking

The final standings for VALORANT Champions 2022 are as follows (EMEA fans, yes, we are crying too).

1: LOUD

2: OpTic Gaming

3: DRX

4: FunPlus Phoenix

5-6: Fnatic – XSET

7-8: Leviatan – Team Liquid

9-12: KRU Esports – Paper Rex – ZETA Division – 100 Thieves

13-16: BOOM Esports – Edward Gaming – FURIA Esports – XERXIA

The Rise of LOUD

One of the first major disappointments of the tournament was the inability of Asia-Pacific giant Paper Rex to leave the group. The team lost to Liquid and Leviatán and was crushed under the weight of their own glory.

After FPX won the VCT Stage 2 Masters, EMEA, which was shown as the favourite, failed to qualify for the final. While all three representatives of the region exited the group stage, FPX was in the bottom group and Fnatic and Team Liquid in the top group, but these adventures didn’t last long.

After Fnatic lost to XSET and Liquid to OpTic, the two teams faced each other in the lower group. At the end of the bittersweet streak, Fnatic won with a clear 2-0, forcing Liquid to pack his bags. Unfortunately, the joy of the team’s victory was short-lived. Lower group DRX broke the quarterfinal spell, beating Fnatic in a game from behind to take a dramatic win.

Meanwhile, FPX didn’t give a fuck about anyone, they knocked out XSET and Leviatan and made their mark in the semi-finals. However, here he ran into DRX and this quickly put an end to the good trend. Icebox has been a constantly rolling map (thanks in large part to the heroic plays of Ardis ‘ardiis’ Svarenieks and Pontus ‘Zyppan’ Eek), but the team has officially passed away in Haven. The team defended well but showed no presence at all on the offensive, by picking Viper in left field, the DRX pulled back all nine rounds but ended up playing one of the craziest moves we’ve ever seen in our lives.

With the current champion gone, EMEA’s dreams of taking home the championship two years in a row have been shattered and the podium has moved to North America, Brazil and Korea. In the subgroup final we saw that DRX was not quite ready for the championship, OpTic managed to beat their opponent after a competitive battle that lasted five maps. DRX took two games as it went wrong and endured 10 full rounds on the final map, Haven, but was eventually forced to kneel.

The sides of the war were clear: OPTIC vs. LOUD is the game fans have been waiting for. After not even getting a card from the Brazilian giant in the first game, OpTic took the LOUD deep into overtime on cards one and three and won the second card relatively comfortably. LOUD, on the other hand, has outdone itself under pressure, on fire and winning games one and three. The Duelists of Brazil’s Erick ‘aspas’ Santos’, who was clearly superior on the fourth map, won the North American team by one shirt and pushed his opponent into second place.

The success stories of those who didn’t get a chance are always beautiful, and LOUD, who lifted the trophy, told us such a story, proving that the favorites are not invincible and that every region has a chance to win. to win the title. championship! Now it’s time to jump into VALORANT, unleash your inner LOUD and close out the last months of the year in style!

Source: (BYZHA) – Beyaz News Agency