The North American NSG First Strike Valorant open qualifiers stage was an incredible five-day run, where some of the top teams in the world battled it out against each other to earn a spot in the closed qualifiers.
Cloud9 Blue are the team that emerged victorious in the open qualifiers, and Tenz and co. put up an incredible showing throughout the tournament.
With the open qualifiers for the NSG Valorant First Strike now done and dusted, 16 teams were selected to move on to the main NSG event.
The 16 teams are:
1. Cloud9 Blue
2. Team Envy
3. TSM
4. Gen.G
5-8. Sentinels
5-8. T1
5-8. 100 Thieves
5-8. The Slimy Boogermen
9-16. Spot Up
9-16. XSET Gaming
9-16. Complexity
9-16. Luminosity Gaming
9-16. Renegades
9-16. Dignitas
9-16. Equinox Esports
9-16. Built By Gamers
After the end of the open qualifiers, there was a lot of speculation among fans as to how the closed qualifier brackets will be set up. However, we finally have some official news from Nerd Street Gamers, and the Valorant First Strike closed qualifier brackets have finally been revealed.
Nerd Street Gamers reveal the official groups for their First Strike Valorant closed qualifiers
As you can see from the above tweet from THESPIKE.GG, the brackets for the NSG First Strike Valorant closed qualifiers look stacked.
Group A:
- Cloud9 Blue
- 100Thieves
- Luminosity Gaming
- XSET
Group A will be quite a difficult one for both Luminosity and XSET. Cloud9 Blue and 100Thieves will be the heavy favorites in the group.
Group B:
- Gen.G
- T1
- Complexity
- Equinox Esports
Group C:
- Team Envy
- Sentinels
- Dignitas
- Spot Up
Group C might just turn out to be the group of death as Team Envy, Dignitas and Sentinels are some of the best Valorant rosters in North America.
Group D:
- TSM
- The Slimy Boogerman
- Renegades
- Built by Gamers
Group D feels like the easiest to predict, and TSM should be the top dogs here.