Fnatic secure playoff spot, Paper Rex and EDward Gaming emerge victorious in opening matchups

As day 4 of VCT 2023 - Champions draws to a close, the exhilarating climax of the renowned VALORANT Champions Tour 2023 continues to captivate fans around the world. The unfolding of today's matches upheld the momentum, delivering the anticipated thrill and energy that has come to define this tournament. Startling upsets colored the day's proceedings, none more impressive than Edward Gaming’s stunning victory over the towering EMEA powerhouse, Giants. Here’s the entire match lineup for day 4:

• Paper Rex vs KRU Esports
• EDward Gaming vs Giants
• Fnatic vs Bilibili Gaming

Paper Rex vs KRU Esports

Coming into the tournament, Paper Rex had already proved themselves as a noteworthy opposition on the international stage grabbing the APAC Regional League title and subsequently placing 3rd in Masters Tokyo, losing a close matchup against EG in the Lower Finals. On the other hand, KRÜ Esports had failed to make a profound impact in the regional leagues and had found themselves in Champions Los Angeles after an unexpected run through the recently concluded Americas Last Chance Qualifiers.

The recency bias highly favored them as the winners of this matchup, but the experienced veterans had other plans and walked through their opposition without breaking too much of a sweat taking Split and Pearl 13-7 and 13-8 respectively. Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie emerged as the MVP with a 1.17 rating on 238 ACS and 147 ADR. He did so playing Raze and Phoenix on each separate map, and while he had noticeably greater impact on Split, his efforts weren’t overshadowed on Pearl either with him being responsible for the game-ending defusal.

EDward Gaming vs Giants

Ever since Chinese teams were allowed to partake in International VCT events, EDward Gaming has managed to make each one proving themselves as the best of the line VALORANT talent the region has to offer. Although their success was relatively sporadic until Masters Tokyo, they had a decent showing then with a 5th-6th place to close amongst 12 of the best teams. Following that event, they outclassed their counterparts in the Chinese Qualifiers to secure a spot at Champions Los Angeles. GIANTX, on the other hand, earned a reputation as a mid-tier team during the regional leagues, earning the spotlight only after a fascinating run through the EMEA Last Chance Qualifiers where they found their way to the win without dropping a single map. In the opening matchup between these teams, proceedings commenced on Split, Giants’ map pick.

Their confidence soared throughout the first half, but the 9-3 curse didn’t take long to activate bringing the match to an Overtime decider, where Adolfo "Fit1nho" Gallego’s contribution made the difference giving them the early advantage. EDG did not give up and came through Bind’s gates soaring with a desire for revenge, and despite an uneventful first half, EDG picked up the pace on Defense and used the early momentum to close out the map 13-11 forcing Ascent as the decider. Maintaining their efforts and transitioning effectively to Ascent proved quintessential for EDG’s win over Giants as they were able to post a lead in the first half, and subsequently capitalize on it to emerge as the winners with a 13-8 close out.

Fnatic vs Bilibili Gaming

Bilibili Gaming upset against NRG in the opening matchup yesterday made a lot of headlines turning heads in the VALORANT community regarding the strength of the APAC region; however, the hype was almost nullified following their encounter with Fnatic in today’s matchup. Fnatic had taken down ZETA Division with ease and did not hesitate to give Bilibili a dose of the same bitter medicine. Haven was first to welcome both team, and despite it being BLG’s map pick, Fnatic ran rampant closing out the half with a 10-2 start courtesy of Jake "Boaster" Howlett’s outburst. He ended the half with a 2.08 rating on 306 ACS and with a 4 KD. Following halftime, Fnatic continued their run and closed out the map 13-2.

Lotus produced a relatively more nuanced narrative, perhaps because Fnatic had achieved a 9-3 score in the first half, a number notoriously known to plague the esports community. Bililbili launched several attempts at a comeback in the second half attaining varying level of success with each, but not enough to concern the EMEA giants, who had already sealed themselves a spot in the Playoffs. The end to the matchup came soon with a 13-8 end to the map.

Check out our VALORANT Champions event page for stats, the bracket, and schedule of the event.

Featured image photo credit: Liu YiCun/Riot Games