The first day of the VALORANT Champions 2025 group stage will take place on September 12th. Before the first day of the tournament, Riot Games hosted the VALORANT Champions Pre-Event Conference with players from the 16 participating teams. Here we bring you some of the major takeaways.
The VALORANT Champions 2025 Pre-Event Conference was hosted with the 16 VALORANT qualified teams in the tournament. Based on the teams within the four groups, players were allocated a given time period. The first batch of players we saw was from Group A. This includes players like f0rsakeN and Zellsis. The first player to answer a question was Zellsis. When asked about the current morale of the team, he answered the following:
The ending to our VCT Americas Stage Two, wasn’t what we wanted. I think we had a good team talk about resetting the mental of the team. We brought up that when you have a new tournament, your team needs to be in form for a small period of time. So I think for us, we didnt lift the trophy during VCT Americas Stage Two but there was a lot of good take aways and process in our gameplay – Zellsis
When asked about the teams that the players will be keeping an eye on during the VALORANT Champions Pre-Event Conference, teams like Dragon Ranger Gaming and NRG were mentioned. A primary reason for Dragon Ranger Gaming is due to the addition of Demon1 to their roster for this tournament. The former VALORANT Champions winner will be playing this year’s tournament for the VCT CN team. A lot of teams from the VCT Pacific and CN region are taking time to get used to the food of Paris.
In the second batch of players, we got to see the likes of ZmjjKK and nAts. When ZmjjKK was asked about his headspace before the tournament, he answered the following:
I feel like this year, the mentality going into this event is totally different., I know how to play on the biggest stages in VALORANT and perform. Honestly, we are the third seed from the VCT CN region, so I don’t feel like the defending champion – ZmjjKK
One of the players who has quite a storyline leading up to this tournament is nAts from Team Liquid. He was a part of Gambit Esports back in 2021. His team finished as runners-up during VALORANT Champions 2021. Now that he is back, he is in the biggest VALORANT tournament this year. When asked about the changes in the VALORANT Esports ecosystem back in 2021 and in 2025, he had this to state:
If we particularly take about the game, there are a lot more changes now, and the way people see VALORANT. It is not that easy to surprise people, especially now that each VCT player plays a different form of VALORANT. There isn’t a lot of difference between the competitive scene in 2021 and now. One must not just adjust to the playstyle of teams but also the meta agents in some regions. The main takeaway is that teams must be open to adapting a lot more now to all forms of play styles – nAts
One of the teams that fans believe to be the favourites during VALORANT Champions 2025 is G2 Esports. When asked about the pressure of losing their spot if they don’t perform, G2 Valyn had this to say:
Being the VCT Ascension team in the region, we do have that pressure of trying to make champions or be better than the other team. That pressure helps and motivates us during the year. It’s like we have a carrot on a stick in front of us. You can never get complacent because if you do, your job is gone – G2 Valyn
The veterans, such as Boaster, Aspas, and nAts, will be facing off against the new stars in VALORANT Esports, including Valyn and Hyunmin. Thus raising the hype for the tournament and all the matches from this event.
ICYMI: Ahead of the event Riot Games announced a new feature called VALORANT Shotcall, where players can make real-time predictions and win in-game cosmetics.
Featured image credits: Riot Games
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