EDG’s and China’s successful Valorant debut

Final scores of #VALORANTChampions Day 1! pic.twitter.com/zICsgm3AGQ

— VALORANT Champions Tour 🇹🇷 (@ValorantEsports) August 31, 2022

#VALORANTChampions 2022 saw the best start in the history of the discipline🤩🔥
Find out how many viewers the first day of group stage attracted, and why the second day can be even more successful👇 https://t.co/nbTFkMFsDV pic.twitter.com/fuABBnOXmd

— Esports Charts 🇺🇦 (@EsportsCharts) September 1, 2022

EDGs youth power

In the world of Riot esports, EDG is already a household name. Since 2014, the team has consistently ranked among the top two teams in the LPL, China’s premier League of Legends league, and are the reigning champions after their glittering run at Worlds 2021.

In some of the game’s most well-known regions, such as North America and EMEA, the top teams are a mix of veteran talent coming out of CS:GO and young players getting their first taste of professional esports. But EDG is all about youth. The average age of the starting squad is just 19, below the average age of the other Champions teams, who are in their early to mid-20s.

EDG play exactly how you would expect a young, talented team to play — aggressively and with the belief that they can beat anyone. It’s worked so far, but against world-class talent from other regions, there’s a risk that their over-aggression will play right into the hands of Team Liquid or Paper Rex, as we’ve seen in their opening match. Despite not being able to win on their debut, the event was still a success for the Valorant esports scene.

EDG outplayed by Paper Rex

In the Valorant Championship 2022 opening match of Paper Rex against EDG, the former turned out to be stronger. The duel began on Pearl and started with an equal fight until the break. From the second half, EDG clearly lost ground, while the Singaporean players quickly took advantage of that, defeating the opponent with a score of 13-11 and taking the lead in the series.

The second Icebox became a revenge map for EDG. It seemed that after taking the opponent’s pick, Paper Rex can easily take their map choice and go to prepare for the next game day with a score of 2-0. However, EDward Gaming didn’t let their opponents breathe for a minute. The first half was dictated by the Chinese team with a score of 10-2, and after the break, they easily leveled the score in the series to 13-5.

The third game moved to the deciding map Haven. Even before the break, Paper Rex managed to get a minimal advantage in their favor, and after the change of sides, they only increased their advantage, having managed to squeeze the opponent to a winning score of 13-8.

Header: EDward Gaming