Reigning Champions eliminated, EDG first team to leave Champions Paris

One year ago, EDward Gaming stood on the stage of the Inspire Arena in Seoul and claimed the title of VALORANT World Champions. Now, a year later, EDG’s dream of back-to-back Champions titles is crushed as they’re the first team to be eliminated from the group stage of VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Valorant Champions. Team Liquid, meanwhile, are the ones who continue their journey toward a spot in the playoffs.

From crushing to crushed

The series started with EDG on fire, completely dominating Liquid on their own map pick, Sunset. EDG took Sunset 13-4 but their momentum stopped there. The tide shifted on Abyss, where Liquid answered back with a convincing 13-6 win to even up the series. The match went to the decider map: Bind.

Both teams were desperate to stay alive in Paris, and the crowd was treated to a nail-biter. Bind went to overtime, and in the end, Liquid came out on top—sending the reigning champs packing.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Valorant Champions

Team Liquid

2

X

1

EDward Gaming

Group C - Elimination Match, Best of 3 - September 19, 2025 - 1:00PM

3

Sunset

13

13

Abyss

6

15

Bind

13

Team Liquid

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

nAts

1.25

249

60/37/9

+23

1.62

76.6%

160.0

23%

60%

6

4

paTiTek

1.00

179

38/43/29

-5

0.88

75.4%

113.7

24%

40%

2

3

kamo

0.90

196

45/45/10

0

1.00

68.6%

133.9

34%

42%

11

15

trexx

0.84

165

36/43/19

-7

0.84

72.7%

117.4

20%

57%

4

3

Keiko

0.72

161

33/45/11

-12

0.73

66.5%

110.1

25%

53%

8

7

EDward Gaming

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

ZmjjKK

1.10

231

51/47/9

+4

1.09

55.1%

133.9

18%

48%

13

14

Smoggy

1.03

195

42/47/27

-5

0.89

79.4%

128.4

19%

64%

9

5

Jieni7

1.00

208

43/46/17

-3

0.93

64.9%

125.8

29%

60%

6

4

nobody

0.86

168

39/37/9

+2

1.05

65.8%

110.9

28%

17%

1

5

CHICHOO

0.76

145

35/37/14

-2

0.95

70.0%

101.8

18%

50%

3

3

ZmjjKK unhappy with his performance

As a former Champions MVP, Zheng "ZmjjKK" Yongkang came into Paris with high expectations. In the post-match press conference, he reflected on last year’s victory at VCT 2024 - Champions 2024, saying his best memory was the courage he had on stage. After losing that confidence, he now needs to rebuild it to return to the top:

“To get a champions trophy, you need to have the right time, the right plays with the right people. Sometimes you need to sacrifice many things to come to the peak. And for this year, I didn’t perform as good as last year. For me individually, I need to work on my form and my competing mentality to reach the highest level in the future.”

In a previous interview with THESPIKE.GG, ZmjjKK mentioned his progress on Yoru. But today’s loss showed that it wasn’t enough. ZmjjKK is disappointed in his own performance and felt that his gameplay didn’t live up to the standards on the international stage.

“I have improved on Yoru. I think I play good with him before but I couldn’t adapt to the pace of Yoru. I just can’t play as comfortably as the traditional Duelist. I think that’s a problem I should fix, I should be better.”

nAts popping off

To keep Liquid alive, Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin delivered when it mattered most. After a slow start on Sunset, nAts top-fragged on both Abyss and Bind — ending the series with a 60/37 KD and a jaw-dropping 249 ACS. Even EDG’s Head Coach, Tang "Muggle" Shijun, acknowledged nAts as one of their biggest problems:

“NAts really popped off today. Both on defence and attack, he always gave us a lot of pressure during the game.”

NAts emphasized the importance of mentally resetting after the blowout on map one. According to him, the team regrouped and stuck to the plan on Abyss. When asked what it's like to have nAts on the squad, Kamil "kamo" Frąckowiak had high praise:

“I think with nAts on the team as a player, for me, I don’t have to worry that much about the emotional side of the game. Because he helps everyone on the team with that a lot. And also he frags out, like today. It’s just amazing to have him [on the team].”

The Road Ahead

With EDG eliminated, Liquid now gears up for a rematch against DRX. In their last meeting, DRX dominated with a 2-0 sweep. This time, Liquid will need to dig deep and find a way to flip the script to keep their playoff hopes alive.

For all things VALORANT-related, make sure to stay tuned to THESPIKE.GG as we continue to update you with the freshest game and esports news.

Featured image credit: Adela Sznajder/Riot Games.