Five players to watch out for at VALORANT Champions 2025

Winning VALORANT Champions 2025 is a crowning moment for players, many of whom have battled through their respective international leagues and jumped many hurdles on their way to Paris.

The largest VALORANT tournament of the year is packed with rookies eager to prove themselves and veterans aiming to set new records.

As these competitors gear up to make an impact, Esports Insider takes a look at five players to watch out for at VALORANT Champions 2025.

Zheng ‘ZmjjKK’ Yongkang is returning to the international stage hungry to become the first back-to-back VALORANT Champions winner together with his team EDward Gaming (EDG). 

Last year, the squad claimed the Champions trophy in Seoul with a 3-2 victory over EMEA Grand Final opponent Team Heretics. The result not only established EDG as the first Chinese team to win a global VCT competition but also saw event MVP ZMjjKK leave his mark as an exceptional Jett player.

The 2025 season began in a similar fashion, with EDG winning China’s Kickoff event and reaching third place at Masters Bangkok. Following the departure of Hsieh ‘S1Mon’ Meng-hsun, however, EDG saw its regional dominance stripped away by XLG Esports in Stage 1 and Bilibili Gaming in Stage 2. 

Stage 2’s EDG looked disconnected and lacked expertise on Yoru, a crucial agent for the new popular double-duelist meta. While ZmjjKK appears not nearly as comfortable on Yoru compared to his dominant Jett performances of the past, he’s now had three weeks to improve in his new role.

Fans will have to wait until his opening match against NRG to find out whether ZmjjKK can return to former glory.

Patrick ‘PatMen’ Mendoza is the newest member of Pacific powerhouse Paper Rex (PRX). Having previously competed for NAOS Esports in the Challengers Southeast Asia circuit, PatMen joined PRX in March as a sixth player after the team’s disappointing run at Kickoff.

The rookie’s arrival and the eventual transition of veteran player Aaron ‘mindfreak’ Leonhart into an Assistant Coaching role were fundamental to PRX’s third-place finish in Stage 1. This unexpected momentum shift of the roster was dubbed the ‘PRX train’ by the VALORANT community.

PatMen has adapted seamlessly to his new team’s aggressive playstyle and reliably stepped up when PRX needed him to be a playmaker. His consistency as an initiator/flex player has earned him the Masters Toronto trophy in his first year of franchising and the VCT Pacific Stage 2 title.

In today’s opening Champions match against XLG Esports, PatMen is now looking to prove himself on the biggest global stage in VALORANT esports. 

If PatMen can help PRX secure another international title, his team would join the ranks of Fnatic and Sentinels as double global trophy holders. This achievement would also undoubtedly make PatMen the VCT rookie of the year.

Miłosz ‘westside’ Duda has been a dark horse within VCT EMEA since he made his tier-one debut under GIANTX at this year’s Kickoff event. 

While the team was eliminated early from both Kickoff and Stage 1, westside has always impressed with his deadly aim and high headshot percentage. Despite only competing in VALORANT since late 2023, the sentinel player frequently out-aims veteran legends within his region. 

Thanks to the additions of Eduard-George ‘ara’ Hanceriuc and Karel ‘Flickless’ Maeckelbergh in April, GIANTX has managed to upset regional giants on its path to a second-place finish in Stage 2.

Although the two newest GIANTX rookies have taken most of the spotlight throughout Stage 2, westside remains a reliable component of his team that is very much capable of fragging out when needed.

This player is also incredibly entertaining to watch, and it will be interesting to see how his aim performs versus some of the biggest talents from other VCT regions. The pressure is certainly on as westside and his rookie teammates will face VCT Americas third seed Sentinels in their first match at Champions today.

Hailing from the same region as westside, Emir ‘Alfajer’ Beder was once the duelist prodigy scouted by Fnatic in 2022. Three years later, he has accomplished what most VCT rookies dream of: to make a name for themselves on VALORANT’s largest international stages.

Alfajer’s most notable achievements date back to Fnatic’s global dominance throughout 2023. In that year, the EMEA team became the first to win two consecutive international titles with its results at LOCK//IN and Masters Tokyo. To make this happen, Alfajer transitioned to the sentinel role and handed the duelist spotlight over to Nikita ‘Derke’ Sirmitev.

Despite the role change and the singing of a new duelist rookie, Kajetan ‘kaajak’ Haremski, for the 2025 season, Alfajer continues to be one of Fnatic’s highest-fragging members. At Masters Toronto in June, the Turkish player was in contention to be given the event’s MVP Award, although Fnatic lost the Grand Final to Paper Rex (1-3).

That being said, Alfajer and his team have also suffered a slight slump ahead of Champions 2025. After concluding the Group Stage in second place, Fnatic was promptly eliminated in the Playoffs. This has reignited discussions about the waning dominance of the roster in the face of stronger regional rivals.

However, Alfajer appears unaffected by such theories. On X (formerly Twitter), the player renamed himself to ‘Paris Final Boss’, as he gears up for his first Champions match against Pacific’s Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ).

On September 15th, Alfajer will have his first opportunity to silence doubters and prove that he still has what it takes to win a third international VALORANT trophy.

The final player on this list is another deadly sentinel expert, Nathan ‘leaf’ Orf. The former Counter-Strike athlete began his VALORANT journey in 2021 with Cloud9 and later moved to G2 Esports after the team won 2023’s Americas Ascension tournament.

Although G2 is more of a well-oiled machine that rarely relies on the performance of a single member, leaf has often been praised for his mechanical consistency, game awareness and communicative role on the roster. His efforts have certainly paid off as G2 won all three Americas trophies of the year (Kickoff, Stage 1, Stage 2).

However, an international title has eluded the Ascension team so far. At Masters Bangkok, G2 lost the Grand Final to Pacific underdog T1 (2-3), followed by a fourth-place finish at Masters Toronto.

It is also noteworthy that leaf missed out on the majority of Stage 2 due to health complications. After his recovery, he dismantled his regional rivals, achieving a 241 average combat score (ACS) in the Upper Grand Final against Sentinels (2-0).

It seems like leaf is ready to bring out his top performance for Champions 2025, which will definitely be necessary if his team is to defeat his first Group Stage opponent, Team Heretics, on September 14th and finally lay claim to an international trophy.