As the VCT NA Challengers League Open Qualifiers come to a close, ten of the twelve teams in the tournament have been determined.
In the first split of the North American Challengers League, six of the twelve teams competing have received invitations from the tournament hosts, Knights Arena. While the majority of these squads have already announced their rosters, the starting lineups for a few are still up in the air.
The North American Challengers League’s Open Qualifying Rounds kicked off on January 10, 2023. After 256 teams battled it out in the first round of single elimination, 32 remained to compete in a second round of double elimination.
Four teams, BreakThru, Disguised, Oxygen Esports, and Dark Ratio have advanced through the qualifiers and will continue on to the Ascension Tournament proper of the Valorant Champions Tour.
From the total of 256 Valorant teams that entered the Open Qualifiers, the mentioned made it through. Two more will be added after the January 18-23 Last Chance Qualifiers.
Since just five North American clubs are allowed in the VCT Americas competition, the remaining skill pool is quite sizable. Valorant’s tier-two NA Challengers League is attracting talented players and significant companies seeking promotion to the worldwide league.
There will be two rounds of open qualifying for the North American Valorant Challengers League in the first month of the season. Fans will have to wait until February to see some of the second-tier Valorant clubs that will receive direct invitations to the league.
Listed here are all of the major clubs that will be entering the North American Valorant Challengers League this season.
G2 Esports
G2 Esports revamped their active squad ahead of the VCT Americas Challengers after being left out on the franchising spot by Riot. The revamp saw the European team pick up ShahZam and dapr while signing ex-Version1 players, penny and wippie.
The team is as follows :
- Shahzeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan
- Michael ‘dapr’ Gulino
- Erik ‘penny’ Penny
- Maxim ‘wippie’ Shepelev
- Francis ‘OXY’ Hoang
TSM
To everyone’s surprise, even TeamSoloMid failed to make the cut for the franchising seed but with some changes to their squad, they seem to have made the vow to rise back in prominence.
The team is as follows:
- James ‘hazed’ Cobb
- Johann ‘seven’ Hernandez
- Anthony ‘gMd’ Guimond
- Corey ‘corey’ Nigra
- Nicholas ‘NaturE’ Garrison
The Guard
Duelist Ha “Sayaplayer” Jung-woo (T1) and head coach Matthew “mCe” Elmore were the only two members of The Guard’s team that were let go as a result of the team’s inability to advance to the partner league. The Guard was nevertheless able to maintain the remainder of their roster. The team is as follows :
- Trent ‘trent’ Cairns
- Jonah ‘JonahP’ Pulice
- Michael ‘neT’ Bernet
- Jacob ‘valyn’ Batio
- Ian ‘tex’ Botsch
M80 Esports
M80 is the new club around the block and only time will tell what they got in the store for the viewers. The playing five headlining the team is as follows :
- Alexander ‘Zander’ Dituri
- Daniel ‘eeiu’ Vucenovic
- Mohamed ‘johnqt’ Amine Ouarid
- Gianfranco ‘koalanoob’ Potestio
- Marc-Andre ‘NiSMO’ Tayar
Shopify Rebellion
Since June, when they signed the whole Luminosity Gaming team, Shopify Rebellion have been a regular presence in the Valorant scene. After finishing in the top six of VCT NA Stage 1 Challengers, the team received a lot of attention, but they eventually fizzled out as the season progressed. The team is as follows :
- Adam ‘mada’ Pampuch
- Will ‘dazzLe’ Loafman
- Brandon ‘bdog’ Sanders
- Kaleb ‘moose’ Jayne
- Victor ‘v1c’ Truong
FaZe Clan
Since the Valorant Champions last-chance qualifier, FaZe has remained dormant, although they nonetheless qualified for the Challengers League. Only babybay and poised are known to be active members of the LA-based organization, and they have yet to reveal their lineup for the tournament.
So far, just babybay and poised are the two players who hold a permanent spot on the roster. The team is as follows :
- Andrej ‘babybay’ Francisty
- Kevin ‘poised’ Ngo
- Quan ‘dicey’ Tran (inactive)
- Xavier ‘flyuh’ Carlson (inactive)
- Phat ‘supamen’ Le (inactive)
Dark Ratio
Dark Ratio were the last team to make it through the open qualifier. They did so by getting their own back on Stewie2The K’s Nation in a series that was intensely competitive. In order to secure a position in the Challengers League, the squad had to prevail in four challenging elimination matches. The team is as follows :
- Justin ‘Trick’ Sears
- Adam ‘Ange’ Milian
- Anthony ‘ZexRow’ Colandro
- Taylor ‘drone’ Johnson
- William ‘Will’ Cheng
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