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Dragon Ranger Gaming defeated Rare Atom in the Grand Final of VCT 2023 China: Ascension. This makes them the eleventh Chinese Valorant team and 44th overall to enter the franchised leagues.
VCT 2023 started out with only three regions: Pacific, Americas, and EMEA, receiving Tier 1 franchised leagues. However, Chinese teams like EDward Gaming and Bilibili Gaming proved themselves on the international stage as they performed exceptionally in global events. This helped towards the formation of a franchised league for the Chinese region.
While ten teams directly made it through, the final spot was decided by the intense Ascension event. Dragon Ranger Gaming went through a lower bracket run in both the Group Stage and Playoffs but still managed to break through their competition. With this win, they will compete at the highest level of Chinese Valorant for the next two years. It also allows them to compete for international VCT events directly.
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Dragon Ranger Gaming's highlights from VCT 2023 China: Ascension Grand Final win against Rare Atom
Dragon Ranger Gaming was the underdog coming into this matchup. Their opponents, Rare Atom, had defeated Chinese international representatives like EDward Gaming and Attacking Soul Esports in the past.
The Bo5 (Best-of-five) series started out with Split. Despite it being Rare Atom's pick, Dragon Ranger was able to convert many rounds on the attacking side, giving them an advantage heading into the second half. They closed out Split with ease by a 13-7 win.
The second map, Ascent, was a very close match. Both teams gave it their all and ended with a 6-6 in the first half. However, Dragon Ranger Gaming barely closed out the map in overtime with a 14-12 win, putting them in a 2-0 lead overall in the series.
The third map, Lotus, was an absolute domination. After losing a close game on Ascent, Rare Atom was fired up. They defeated Dragon Ranger Gaming with an outstanding 13-0 win, putting the series on a 2-1 scoreline.
On the final map, Bind things got very interesting as Rare Atom used the latest Duelist, ISO, in their team composition, leading to his debut in a pro match. The first half ended with Dragon Ranger having a small lead with a 7-5 score. The second half saw Rare Atom take the lead for themselves, bringing things in their favor with 11-8. This is where Dragon Ranger's resilience kicked in as they got five rounds back-to-back and won Bind by 13-11.
With this, Dragon Ranger Gaming won the Bo5 series by 3-1 and earned their spot in the VCT China League. The man of the match was given to TvirusLuke, who got an ACS of 234 and K/D/A of 1.0. Rare Atom's stew was another standout as he put up an incredible performance by getting 89 kills in the entire series. It will be fascinating to see how well Dragon Ranger stacks up against the best teams in the world.
