ESL Challengers Valencia complete results

After featuring an exciting matchup between the top eight CS:GO Challenger teams, the 2022 ESL Challengers Valencia has finally come to a close with Movistar Riders as Champions. While the event was for the most part dominated by the four invited teams, underdog teams also astonished fans with some incredible performances.

Participating teams

• Outsiders
• Sprout 
• 00 Nation 
• FURIA Esports
• Movistar Riders
• Rare Atom 
• MIBR
• HUMMER Esports

Group Stage

	Group A
1	Outsiders (Q)	2-0
2	Sprout (Q)	2-1
3	00 Nation	1-2
4	FURIA Esports	0-2

The group stage was mostly dominated by Outsiders and the Spanish squad Movistar. The Russian team topped Group A, winning two consecutive matches with the help of combined team efforts. While Petr ‘fame’ Bolyshev and Evgenii ‘FL1T’ Lebedev helped the team overcome 00NATION in the opening match, the duo of Dzhami ‘Jame’ Ali and David ‘n0rb3r7’ Danielyan outperformed Sprout in the second match. Sprout also made it to the playoffs with a win over 00NATION in the deciding match.

	Group B
1	Movistar Riders (Q)	2-0
2	Rare Atom (Q)	2-1
3	MIBR	1-2
4	HUMMER Esports	0-2

Although Movistar Riders ruled the group stage securing two consecutive wins over HUMMER and MIBR, the exceptional performances from Rare Atom were the true highlights of the event. Despite losing the opening match to MIBR, Rare Atom mounted a stunning comeback, thrashing HUMMER 2-1 in the elimination round and MIBR 2-0 in the thrilling decider match.

Playoffs

Outsiders and Movistar continued their domination in the playoffs. In the first semifinals, Outsiders swept Rare Atom 2:0, taking Inferno 16:12 and Vertigo 16:14. Outsiders consistent duo fame and FL1T again put on a spectacular showing, posting a K/D of 46/38 and 51/34, respectively. A stellar performance from Rare Atom’s Jingxiang ‘Mercury’ Wang and Andrew ‘Kaze’ Khong, while impressive, wasn’t enough to defeat Outsiders’ mighty team.

• Outsiders 2:0 Rare Atom
• Movistar Riders 2:0 Sprout

Movistar thrashed Sprout in the second semifinals without facing much resistance. The team adopted an offensive approach at Inferno, teasing Sprout with a relentless counterattack. Rare Atom bounced back in the second map on the back of a terrific performance from the lone warrior lauNX, who posted a K/D of 27/22. When the game reached its second half, Alex and Alvaro ‘SunPayus’ Garcia came to the rescue again for Movistar, winning eight straight rounds to secure the map and series.

Final Results

Place	Team	Prize Money (USD)
1st	Movistar Riders	$80,000
2nd	Outsiders	$20,000
3rd-4th	Rare Atom  Sprout	$10,000

The best-of-three match finals pitted the two fan-favorite teams of the league, Outsiders, and Movistar. Thanks to stellar performances from Fame and Alexey ‘Qikert’ Golubev, Outsiders were able to keep Movistar on the back foot on the first map. However, Outsiders’ big guns were silent on the second map, which gave Movistar a chance to mount a comeback.

As the match went to the third and final map, Vertigo, both teams upped their game. After a prolonged, back-and-forth struggle between the two teams, SunPayus and mopoz of Movistar, a heroic duo, finished the map at 16:14 with an outstanding late-game performance. Alexey “Qikert” Golubev’s game-saving performance was overshadowed by mopoz’s game-changing performance as Movistar reverse swept Outsiders to win the ESL Challengers Valencia.

Header: ESL