VALORANT Champions Tour Stage 3 North America has completed its first round of Challengers. The third Stage of VCT saw several upsets but ultimately had Sentinels walk away as the champions. However, they didn’t get their crown through the upper bracket this time around.
Sentinels are touchable
After winning Masters 1 in North America and winning Masters 2 without dropping a map, Sentinels appeared to be the best VALORANT team in the World. However, that wasn’t the case during the closed qualifier for Stage 3. Sentinels fell to the lower bracket early after XSET handed them their first loss.
In the lower bracket, Sentinels swept their way through the competition to get to the grand final against XSET. It was here that they lost the first map, but they went on to win the next three. Sentinels may have walked away with the win again, but they proved they aren’t unstoppable.
XSET deserve a spot at the top
XSET have made several deep runs at tournaments but they failed to show up when it counted for VCT Stage 3. To make it to a grand final, they had to defeat Rise, Sentinels and 100 Thieves. This was no easy task, but in the grand final rematch with Sentinels, they failed to close out the game when they should have.
Despite not getting first seed at Challengers playoffs, they still qualified and are one step closer to qualifying for Berlin. If XSET continues to play the way that they have been, they could easily make it to Masters 3.
Version 1 fall from grace
Without Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro playing with the team due to a suspension, Version1 seems like shells of their former selves. They fell early in the bracket to 100 Thieves before dropping out of the tournament at the hand of Pioneers. This unexpected exit showed the struggles that Version1 has faced without its entire roster present. Even with stand-in Brady “Thief” Denver’s impressive performance, Version1 needs their whole team together to show what they can really do for VCT Stage 3.
Published: Jul 12, 2021 01:47 pm