VALORANT Champions Tour NA Stage 3 teams to watch: 100 Thieves

100 Thieves should be on everyone’s radar for the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Stage 3 Challengers.

After failing to qualify for Masters 2: Reykjavík, 100 Thieves were one of the few teams that did not make a roster change. Other teams that failed to qualify — like NRG Esports, TSM and Immortals — have all made changes. 100 Thieves, on the other hand, kept the same roster that they’d had coming into Stage 2. And, ultimately, this is why they should be feared.

The Thieves have some of the most prestigious names in FPS on their roster. This includes Spencer “Hiko” Martin, Nick “Nitr0” Cannella and their most recent addition of Ethan “Ethan” Arnold. These FPS legends had a hard time getting things together after they added Ethan to the roster to replace Quan “Dicey” Tran.

It wasn’t until the Stage 2 Challengers 1 that 100 Thieves began to return to their former First Strike glory. They beat XSET in the grand finals to earn their spot in the Challengers finals. However, after back-to-back losses to Sentinels and Team Envy, 100 Thieves failed to make it to Masters 2 in Iceland.

100 Thieves add two months of extra practice with Ethan

After defeating XSET in the finals of Stage 2 Challengers, 100 Thieves were finally looking to be a cohesive team. The addition of Ethan, in place of Dicey, made the team an echo of their former selves before Masters 2. Despite finishing fifth at Challengers finals, the team continues to be one of the best in North America. Now, two months later 100 Thieves have had plenty of time to scrim other teams and get a leg up on the competition for VCT Stage 3.

The spray comes through, @JoshNissan with 3 on site. 🔥#100T | #VCT pic.twitter.com/MrPOZHqoms

— 100 Thieves Esports (@100T_Esports) May 1, 2021

Before Masters 2, 100 Thieves were behind on the VALORANT meta because they were not using Astra in their composition. This was one of the factors that left 100 Thieves out of Iceland contention. Outside of this, the team looked poised to take down whoever came their way. The fundamentals of gunplay in FPS titles remain the same and 100 Thieves still have several decades of FPS experience under their belts to be ready for VCT Stage 3.

100 Thieves will begin their redemption arch in VCT Stage 3 on Thursday, July 1 with the open qualifiers. The team is setting their sights on Masters 3 in Berlin.