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Valorant Champions Tour 2023 was an extremely fun year for the esports fans. The 2023 season began with the biggest VCT event in the game's history, LOCK//IN, which saw the franchised teams and a few Chinese teams compete in a single-elimination format to become the best in the world. This was then followed by the international VCT Leagues where the franchised teams gave it their all to qualify for Masters Tokyo.
Finally, the official VCT season was rounded off with LCQ (Last Chance Qualifiers) and Valorant Champions 2023. All these events led to many storylines, shining the spotlight on teams that broke through their competitive shell. The pressure of going up against the best in the world pushed certain teams a lot more than what was predicted. Below is a list of five such teams that surprised everyone in VCT 2023.
Note: The list is subjective and only reflects the writer's opinions
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Evil Geniuses, EDward Gaming, and three more Valorant teams that shocked the world in VCT 2023
1) EDward Gaming
EDward Gaming is a Chinese non-franchised Valorant team and hence competes in the Chinese region. Unlike other global teams, Chinese orgs had to go through different regional tournaments for each international event. They had an invitational event to qualify for Tokyo and a qualifier tournament for Champions 2023. Among Chinese teams, EDward Gaming would always come out on top.
EDG qualified for all three international events in 2023. Their most successful run was during VCT Masters Tokyo where they defeated some of the top teams in the world, like LOUD, NAVI, and T1. EDward Gaming became the first Chinese team to get an international win and the first to make it to the Playoffs stage. They finished in 5th-6th place in Masters Tokyo and Valorant Champions 2023.
2) BiliBili Gaming
Bilibili Gaming is a Chinese non-franchised Valorant team that competes in China. Like EDward Gaming, they went through the same regional tournaments to qualify for international events. Bilibili Gaming was always one step behind EDward Gaming but would consistently show its presence among the top teams in China.
Bilibili Gaming finally made its international debut by qualifying for Valorant Champions 2023. Many people doubted and wrote them off immediately, but BLG blew everyone's minds with incredible performances. They handed China their second international win and even managed to defeat a reputed organization like NRG twice. They also earned credit for being the second Chinese team ever to make it to the Playoffs stage and securing a 7th-8th place finish in Valorant Champions 2023.
3) Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses is a North American esports team that competes in the VCT Americas League. The team's 2023 journey started off rough, with an early elimination in LOCK//IN and an even worse start in the Americas League. However, after holding open tryouts and acquiring Demon1, the team started to flourish. They barely made it to Masters Tokyo but were able to finish in second place, losing only to Fnatic.
The team also went on to have a phenomenal run in Valorant Champions 2023 as they won their rematch against Paper Rex and became the World Champions. Evil Geniuses is the first and only North American team to win Valorant Champions.
4) FUT Esports
FUT Esports is a Turkish esports team that competes in the VCT EMEA League. Coming into 2023, many people did not know what to expect from FUT Esports. They started out with a decent performance in LOCK//IN. However, things changed in the EMEA League, and the team grew stronger with each match. They went on to take down NAVI and take a map off of Fnatic.
FUT Esports had a great showing in Tokyo but pushed themselves even further during Valorant Champions 2023. They became the first full Turkish team to make it to the Playoffs of an international event. FUT secured a 7th-8th place finish in the Champions.
5) Cloud9
Cloud9 is a North American esports team that competes in the VCT Americas League. The team was immediately in the limelight as they signed players like yay and Zellsis into the squad. However, things didn't work out for this roster.
Shockingly, Cloud9 ended up parting ways with yay, the best player in 2022, and vanity, one of the best IGLs (In-game Leaders) in the scene. This decision was heavily criticized by the community. On top of that, Cloud9 decided to recruit jakee, a collegiate player, and runi, a tier-2 player, into their squad.
This new iteration of Cloud9 was being counted out by everyone in the Valorant community, but the team performed above everyone's expectations. They had a great performance in the Americas League and finished in 2nd place during its Regular Season and just barely missed out on both international events. The level of performance put up by the players was nothing short of incredible.
