The first week of the group stage of VALORANT Champions 2025 has come to a close. Each of the 16 teams has played its first match of the tournament. The teams that secured a victory have gotten one step closer to qualifying for the playoff stage of the tournaments. The teams that lost will now play in the first round of elimination matches. In this VALORANT Champions elimination matches preview we take a look at the matches and which teams are the favorites.
The first match is between Xi Lai Gaming and Sentinels. Before the tournament began, many believed Xi Lai Gaming would be one of the first teams to get eliminated during VALORANT Champions 2025. They faced off against Paper Rex in their first match and got demolished 2-0.
Sentinels, on the other hand, had quite a shocking performance. They lost to GiantX with a scoreline of 2-1.
During VCT EMEA Stage Two, GiantX made a dream run to the grand finals. This helped them secure their spot in VALORANT Champions 2025. Many believed this dream run would come to an end during this tournament, but it didn’t. Sentinels, while securing one map win during the series, failed to secure the win.
In the elimination match between Xi Lai Gaming and Sentinels, Sentinels are the clear favorites. This is in line with the Valorant odds and community consensus. If Xi Lai Gaming secures the win, it is one of the biggest upsets one can see in VALORANT Esports.
Group B has some of the fastest matches we have seen during the entire tournament. RRQ got dominated by FNATIC as boaster had one of his best games ever on the map of Abyss. Both MIBR and FNATCI won their games in a comfortable 2-0 clean sweep. It was shocking to see RRQ lose that easily, as this team is one of the best in VCT Pacific. Having recently even won VCT Pacific Stage One.
In the match between Bilibili Gaming and RRQ, we are going to see two teams fight for their survival. One must note that according to the sportsbooks, RRQ are the favorites to win this face-off. This is the first time we will be seeing these two teams face off against each other.
Only time will tell if the VCT CN Stage Two winners (Bilibili Gaming) will be able to defeat the VCT Pacific Stage One winners (RRQ).
Image credits: Riot Games (@ValorantEsports on X)
In the eyes of many, Group C was the toughest group drawn during VALORANT Champions 2025. Before the tournament started, many believed the weakest team in the group was DRX. Surprisingly, they went on to defeat the VCT EMEA Stage Two Champions Team Liquid 2-0
Following that, we, NRG, defeated the VALORANT Champions 2024 winners EDward Gaming. Before the match, Kangkang had spoken about having a more relaxed outlook on this event in the pre-event press conference. While the matches were close, no one expected EDward Gaming to lose 2-0.
Now, EDward Gaming face off against Team Liquid to continue their run in the tournament. EDward Gaming might secure a sneaky victory against Team Liquid in this game. According to most though, the favorites to win this upcoming game are Team Liquid.
One would be lying if they expected to see G2 Esport be in this position. Many expected G2 Esports and T1 to win their games and face off against each other. Instead, G2 Esports, the team that completed the 3-peat, lost to the EWC X VALORANT Champions Team Heretics 2-0. During the match, Team Heretics knew how to shut down the momentum of G2 Esports.
Now G2 Esports will face off against Dragon Ranger Gaming. One won’t be lying if they say that G2 Esports might just dominate Dragon Ranger Gaming and still hold hope to qualify for VALORANT Champions 2025.
Image credits: Riot Games
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