Top Valorant teams heading into the NA Challengers League

Valorant’s NA Challengers League: Split 1 is set to kick off today, so here are our picks for the upcoming event.

The Valorant’s Challengers League: North America is set to begin with Split 1, which will start on February 2. With a number of notable players expected to attend, the competition promises to deliver top-notch Valorant action. Twelve teams will compete against one another in two different groups during Split 1.

The bottom two teams from each group will then be eliminated, leaving eight teams to go to the Mid-Season Invitational. Since there is so much excitement surrounding the event and there are so many strong teams with exceptional skill sets, it is difficult to pick a favorite, but we have picked the top three teams that are expected to win the NA Challengers, given their strengths on paper.

G2 Esports

G2 Esports, once one of the top EMEA teams, made the decision to move to North America after being turned down for a spot in the franchised Valorant competition. However, with the addition of superstars like the former Sentinels duo of  Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan and Michael “dapr” Gulino for the forthcoming challenger league, G2 appears to have a promising future. 

Several former players from Version 1, one of the top NA teams during the VCT 2021, are also on the all-new Valorant roster. These include former players Maxim “wippie” Shepelev, Erik “penny” Penny, and coach Ian “Immi” Harding, while the final player, Francis “OXY” Hoang, joined the team from the Dark Ratio. It would be interesting to watch how other teams prepare for G2 esports since they are unquestionably one of the top teams entering Split 1.

G2 Esports Valorant roster for 2023 Challengers

• Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan
• Michael “dapr” Gulino
• Maxim “wippie” Shepelev
• Erik “penny” Penny
• Francis “OXY” Hoang
• Ian “Immi” Harding (coach)

The Guard

One of the biggest surprises of 2022 in North American Valorant was The Guard. They emerged from relative obscurity at the beginning of the year with a young lineup and won the VCT Stage 1 Challenger to qualify for the Masters Reykjavik. The team outperformed many popular teams and ended their campaign in 7th to 8th place. 

The Guard had a strong start to the year as they won the Ludwig x Tarik Invitational competition, Valorant’s first event of 2023, with the new recruit Ian ‘tex’ Botsch, who took the place of duelist Ha ‘Sayaplayer’ Jung-woo. They destroyed Valorant-partnered teams T1 and Sentinels on their way to the championship game against TSM. 

In the championship game, the seasoned IGL Jacob “valyn” Batio pushed Guard to an incredible 2-1 triumph after falling behind early on 0-1 in the game. A synchronized lineup coupled with great momentum heading into the Challengers indicates that the Guard will undoubtedly be the top contender to win it all.

The Guard revamped roster for NA Challengers:

• Trent “trent” Cairns
• Jonah “JonahP” Pulice
• Michael “neT” Bernet
• Jacob “valyn” Batio
• Ian “tex” Botsch
• Josh “JoshRT” Lee (coach)

M80

The former core of the Ghost Gaming lineup, which made waves in the 2022 VCT NA Stage 2 Challengers last year, will make its Valorant Challengers debut with the brand-new organization founded by XSET co-founder Marco Mereu. The former Ghost Gaming core, which included Marc-Andre “NiSMO” Tayar, Gianfranco “koalanoob,” and Mohamed “johnqt” Amine Ouarid, made it to the Stage 2 Challengers playoffs, but they were ousted after losing their group stage form.

Version1’s former in-game leader, Alexander “Zander” Dituri, who led Version1 to a pristine 5-0 performance in Stage 1’s group stage will take the IGL duty for the NA team. The last member of the new M80 squad, Daniel “eeiu” Vucenovic, previously represented NRG Esports, another North American team that didn’t perform well in VCT 2022. Fans will be watching to see if the team can find similar success under a new banner.

M80 Valorant roster: 

• Mohamed “johnqt” Amine Ouarid
• Gianfranco “koalanoob” Potestio
• Marc-Andre “NiSMO” Tayar
• Daniel “eeiu” Vucenovic
• Alexander “Zander” Dituri

Shopify Rebellion

After joining the male Valorant esports scene with the former members of Luminosity Gaming, Shopify Rebellion created a wave in the scene last year. The team finished in the top six of the VCT NA Stage 1 Challengers thanks to some strong performances and a lineup that was mostly consistent. Tanner “TiGG” Spanu left Shopify after the franchising system for 2023 went into effect, and he was replaced by up-and-coming star Victor “v1c” Truong.

The new Shopify Rebellion team now has a solid combination of young and experienced players. They will be a strong contender for the NA Valorant Challengers League championship, now that the already stable team has some additional firepower to work with, in the form of V1c. They are moving in the right direction as evidenced by their recent success in the Knights Arena Freezeout, an online competition that included other NA teams like TSM and Oxygen.

Shopify Rebellion Valorant roster:

• Adam “mada” Pampuch
• Will “dazzLe” Loafman
• Brandon Michael “bdog” Sanders
• Kaleb “moose” Jayne
• Victor “v1c” Truong

Header: Riot Games