Eyes on the prize – VCT 2022 EMEA Challengers Playoffs

The wait is finally over. VALORANT Champions Tour 2022 EMEA Stage 1 Challengers Playoffs starts on March 22.

The competition features the six best teams in EMEA, highlighting the greatest rivalries during the season. At the beginning of the event, two close matchups await us: M3 Champions (Gambit) meets Guild Esports, while G2 Esports faces Team Liquid.

Let’s dive into the details of the upcoming showdowns.

@valesports_emea

M3 Champions vs Guild Esports

The opening series of the playoffs is an absolute banger. CIS’ best team is against one of the hottest names of Europe. In addition, both teams feature their own storylines. Starting VCT 2022 EMEA Challengers with high hopes, Gambit Esports had to face serious obstacles due to the conflict in Ukraine.

After being unable to compete in the league for two weeks, Gambit’s roster returned to the contest under a different independent name: M3 Champions. The return of CIS’ kings was wild, winning the rest of their matches in the group stage by dominating their opponents. Despite facing difficulties along the way, M3 Champions’ players found a way to improve themselves in those weeks that they couldn’t compete. M3 Champions came back with different agent compositions and a better version of themselves. And it’s the favorite against Guild Esports. We will see if Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov can continue his outstanding performance in the playoffs.

Guild Esports, on the other hand, started the VCT 2022 EMEA Stage 1 Challengers in a full swing. Following the flawless run in the qualifiers, all eyes were on them coming into the event. Obviously, the team didn’t disappoint anybody with its quick victories against BBL Esports, Acend, and SuperMassive Blaze which put it to the top of the table.

However, the break ended up with Guild losing its perfect score in the league. In week 5, the squad tasted its first loss against G2 Esports and then fell short versus Fnatic once more. Guild was looking like a completely different team in those losses, a worse version of itself.

If the roster doesn’t recover and return to its initial version, this would be a quick triumph in favor of M3 Champions.

G2 Esports vs Team Liquid

The second matchup of the first day brings two big rivals together. Even though both teams aren’t the best contenders for the trophy, they will produce a banger for viewers for sure. G2 Esports is one step ahead in the series without a clear favorite team.

Subsequent to a successful journey in the qualifiers, G2 managed to take place in VCT 2022 EMEA Stage 1 Challengers. But, the team was far away from being among the best teams in the event. Beginning the tournament with a loss against Fnatic, the European giant was defeated in two matches out of the first three.

The upsetting results led the team to make a roster change, bringing mixwell back to the active roster. The alteration impacted the team’s playstyle immediately and it grabbed a crucial win versus Turkish BBL Esports. Then, G2 Esports retained the momentum it had and got another victory versus Guild Esports in its last match in the regular season, putting in a convincing performance. Having three wins, G2 ended the group stage in second place of Group B.

Similar to last year, Team Liquid continued to be a second tier team in Europe. Regardless of attending major tournaments since it was established, Liquid is still struggling in protecting its form. Although the roster doesn’t lose while playing against a weaker team, it can’t steal a W from a better opponent either. And this makes Team Liquid unreliable.

It’s likely that we’re going to see the third map in this series, but G2 Esports is the forefront team because of its current increasing form.

Those interested in Valorant betting, would find Team Liquid and M3 Champions as the odds favorites in both matches. Our analysts tend to agree. Tying both matches into an outright accumulator should earn you x3.2 return over at GG.BET.