DRG return to Ascension after being eliminated from Champions Paris

The VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Valorant Champions group stage elimination matches continue, and the clash between G2 Esports and Dragon Ranger Gaming dealt a crushing blow to DRG's VCT hopes. The American squad refused to leave Paris early and took down DRG in convincing 2-0 fashion.

There was a lot of hype around Max "Demon1" Mazanov returning to the scene as an emergency sub for Ilya "vo0kashu" Ushakov on DRG. But that hype quickly faded, as DRG are not only eliminated from Champs — they must now fight to reclaim their spot in the VCT.

DRG return to Ascension

Since both XLG Esports and DRG were promoted through Ascension, only one team gets to keep its spot going into next year. That meant everything was on the line when DRG took the stage against G2.

Just a day earlier, XLG sent Sentinels home and advanced to the decider match in Group A. Now it was DRG’s turn to step up — but they crumbled under pressure. Despite giving it their all, G2 came out on top and closed the series 2-0.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Valorant Champions

G2 Esports

2

X

0

Dragon Ranger Gaming

Group D - Elimination Match, Best of 3 - September 20, 2025 - 4:00PM

13

Lotus

7

13

Abyss

7

G2 Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

jawgemo

1.41

278

39/27/15

+12

1.44

77.5%

176.0

35%

50%

9

9

leaf

1.20

229

35/27/9

+8

1.30

75.0%

153.7

22%

60%

3

2

JonahP

1.11

200

29/26/15

+3

1.12

77.5%

130.4

21%

57%

4

3

trent

0.97

174

26/22/15

+4

1.18

75.0%

128.4

28%

17%

1

5

valyn

0.78

159

22/25/13

-3

0.88

80.0%

105.4

29%

25%

1

3

Dragon Ranger Gaming

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Flex1n

1.15

211

29/29/16

0

1.00

80.0%

134.8

33%

71%

5

2

Akeman

1.01

212

31/31/3

0

1.00

65.0%

133.9

30%

78%

7

2

SpiritZ1

0.90

200

27/34/8

-7

0.79

67.5%

121.8

27%

53%

8

7

Demon1

0.89

174

25/26/9

-1

0.96

77.5%

115.0

45%

50%

2

2

Nicc

0.56

120

15/31/12

-16

0.48

70.0%

91.9

33%

0%

0

5

Because DRG were eliminated before XLG, they're spot in the VCT China next year is up in the air. They’ll have to compete through Ascension while XLG automatically retains their VCT spot for next year.

How it works

It might seem strange that one of China’s top teams has to leave the VCT, but only Ascension teams risk relegation in every region. It doesn’t matter if they earn more points than franchised teams since franchised teams have guaranteed spots each year.

There’s only one way for Ascension teams to secure their place in the VCT for the following season: qualify for Champions. Since both DRG and XLG made it to Champions Paris, the team with the worse finish sees their VCT spot in jeopardy. In this case, that turned out to be DRG.

Could be back next year

Although DRG's spot in the VCT is not safe, they won’t get sent down to the Challengers League. Since they reached Champs, they get placed right into the China Ascension tournament. If they win Ascension later in October, they get to come back to VCT China for the 2026 season.

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Featured image credit: Adela Sznajder/Riot Games.