Bilibili Gaming upsets NRG, Fnatic and EG close out easy wins

We are already three days into VCT 2023 - Champions, the highly anticipated culmination of the iconic VALORANT Champions Tour 2023. Today’s set of matches did not fail to match the intensity and hype that people expected from the tournament, producing shocking upsets with Bilibili Gaming taking down NA giants NRG Esports. The following matchups lit up the stage in Los Angeles on day 3:

• NRG Esports vs Bilibili Gaming
• Fnatic vs ZETA Division
• Evil Geniuses vs FUT Esports

NRG Esports vs. Bilibili Gaming

VCT 2023 - Champions

NRG Esports

0

X

2

Bilibili Gaming

Group C - Opening Match, Best of 3 - August 8, 2023 - 7:00PM

12

Lotus

14

8

Split

13

NRG Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

crashies

1.12

210

36/35/12

+1

1.03

73.2%

127.0

27%

50%

1

1

s0m

1.05

204

34/32/17

+2

1.06

71.3%

134.7

27%

56%

5

4

ardiis

0.98

221

36/35/7

+1

1.03

71.8%

151.3

19%

62%

8

5

Victor

0.92

213

34/38/4

-4

0.89

71.8%

133.6

18%

60%

9

6

FNS

0.80

167

22/35/24

-13

0.63

78.0%

107.0

12%

50%

4

4

Bilibili Gaming

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

whzy

1.53

318

51/37/10

+14

1.38

79.4%

183.2

15%

56%

10

8

biank

1.18

217

37/26/17

+11

1.42

80.9%

140.6

16%

33%

2

4

Knight

0.99

201

33/39/14

-6

0.85

73.6%

129.6

32%

45%

5

6

yosemite

0.95

188

29/30/17

-1

0.97

77.9%

108.3

17%

17%

1

5

rin

0.77

155

25/30/11

-5

0.83

66.5%

107.6

27%

33%

2

4

Coming into the tournament, a lot of people had opted for NRG Esports as their favourites to win the tournament. Heading into the tournament, a significant number of enthusiasts had pegged NRG Esports as the prime contenders for victory. NRG, having meticulously crafted their lineup around OpTic’s core, notched achievements within regional leagues and more recently, even triumphed in Masters Tokyo earning themselves a 4th place. Nonetheless, their ventures onto the international stage had yielded naught, while the up-and-coming Chinese outfit Bilibili Gaming orchestrated a stunning upset during their global debut, besting one of the premier teams globally. The underdogs found themselves trailing throughout the initial phase of the map, a trend that persisted until halftime.

Even after the sides switched, a reversal of fortunes seemed improbable until the twentieth round, when momentum unexpectedly swayed in favor of Billibilli. This surge enabled them to equalize the score and propel the match into overtime, which they successfully navigated to clinch the map. Transitioning to Split, NRG's preferred battleground, their fortunes took a further downturn as Billibilli concluded the initial rounds with an 8-4 advantage. This lead swiftly ballooned to 11-4 before NRG could muster substantial resistance and even then it was rendered futile courtesy of Wang "whzy" Haozhe, who was crucial in securing the win for Bilibili with an incredible 2.05 rating on 396 ACS on Split. In the post-match press conference, Pujan "FNS" Mehta addressed their performance as the tweet above highlights.

Fnatic vs. ZETA Division

VCT 2023 - Champions

Fnatic

2

X

0

ZETA DIVISION

Group C - Opening Match, Best of 3 - August 8, 2023 - 9:45PM

13

Fracture

5

13

Haven

6

Fnatic

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Alfajer

1.71

321

45/17/9

+28

2.65

89.2%

219.6

33%

78%

7

2

Leo

1.28

257

32/15/15

+17

2.13

91.8%

179.4

32%

75%

3

1

Derke

1.16

229

33/26/3

+7

1.27

67.8%

153.9

26%

44%

7

9

Boaster

1.02

192

25/23/13

+2

1.09

83.8%

112.3

27%

100%

6

0

Chronicle

0.95

133

17/22/27

-5

0.77

86.3%

83.3

20%

100%

2

0

ZETA DIVISION

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Dep

0.89

219

26/31/2

-5

0.84

56.7%

144.4

29%

67%

4

2

SugarZ3ro

0.79

152

18/29/15

-11

0.62

67.7%

90.2

24%

20%

1

4

ten

0.77

184

24/32/5

-8

0.75

59.8%

123.0

19%

21%

3

11

Laz

0.75

163

23/30/3

-7

0.77

54.1%

93.5

20%

27%

3

8

crow

0.48

103

12/30/9

-18

0.40

54.1%

68.1

16%

100%

1

0

For the second matchup of the day, it was Fnatic, the infamous winners of Masters Tokyo that sealed an easy win over the Japanese ZETA DIVISION. As far as matchups go, this faceoff featured the least frequent momentum shifts. Despite ZETA choosing Fracture as the first map, it was the opposing team that got off to a better start instead taking six consecutive rounds before letting ZETA take one. This led to the halftime score reading 8-4, a less than ideal situation for the trailing team given Fnatic history of sustaining dominance on Defense. As expected, Fnatic closed out the matchup within the following six rounds with a final score of 13-5.

On Haven where Fnatic were imagined to run rampant after a good finish on Fracture, turned out to be relatively less one-sided as Zeta kept the lead differential to 2 points. However, the second half turned out to be almost a mirror image of Fracture as Fnatic only let a round slip before sealing the win. Emir "Alfajer" Ali Beder ended the game as the MVP with a rating of 1.71 on 321 ACS and a mind-blowing 2.65 K/D. He truly is the cream of the crop as far as VALORANT talent goes. 27040

Evil Geniuses vs. FUT Esports

VCT 2023 - Champions

Evil Geniuses

2

X

0

FUT Esports

Group B - Winners Match, Best of 3 - August 8, 2023 - 11:44PM

15

Pearl

13

13

Bind

9

Evil Geniuses

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Ethan

1.25

213

33/35/41

-2

0.94

79.2%

141.0

17%

43%

3

4

C0M

1.18

209

39/33/20

+6

1.18

73.4%

135.0

17%

78%

7

2

Boostio

1.16

226

42/37/15

+5

1.14

69.8%

154.5

29%

56%

5

4

jawgemo

1.13

234

37/36/19

+1

1.03

66.7%

151.9

17%

60%

6

4

Demon1

0.84

163

32/33/6

-1

0.97

62.2%

122.4

40%

47%

7

8

FUT Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

MOJJ

1.15

232

38/37/17

+1

1.03

73.9%

155.7

33%

75%

9

3

AtaKaptan

1.05

200

32/38/30

-6

0.84

75.2%

130.7

25%

33%

3

6

qRaxs

1.03

206

34/35/21

-1

0.97

71.1%

130.5

29%

29%

2

5

qw1

0.94

214

38/38/3

0

1.00

70.3%

128.3

25%

43%

6

8

MrFaliN

0.89

184

32/35/11

-3

0.91

62.2%

122.6

21%

25%

2

6

Following a similar trend to the preceding matchups, the concluding winners match between Group B’s Evil Geniuses and FUT Esports, too, came to a hasty end after the NA team demonstrated their dominance on the International stage once again. Coming into the league there were a lot of doubts raised against their roster composition, but they persisted one event after another, turning heads especially after their unexpected run at Masters Tokyo, where they reached the Grand Finals against Fnatic. They were facing off against the sole Turkish representatives, FUT Esports, which had reigned supreme over T1 in the opening matchup. Evil Geniuses opened strong on Pearl taking nine rounds to FUT Esports’ three. Unfortunately, the notorious 9-3 curse had been activated and FUT’s Defensive pressure was just as good in holding EG back. This exchange resulted in Overtime, forcing the map to proceed to 28 rounds, coming to an end only after EG managed to execute a final push and close out the map. Bin, in the other hand, was less eventful.

Once again, EG started in charge of the momentum, but lost control of it exactly midway through the first half, such that the scoreline noted 6 rounds in favor of either side by halftime. Being all tied at halftime provided a good opportunity for FUT to pull a comeback; however, EG wasn’t looking to delay securing their Playoff position any further and came storming out of the gate taking seven rounds before FUT Esports could even manage double digits. Ethan "Ethan" Arnold kept the team in check and provided the difference needed to elevate their game above that of FUT Esports and qualify for the Playoffs.

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

Featured image photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games