Reigning VALORANT Champion EDward Gaming was defeated in its opening match at VALORANT Champions 2025 by Group C’s dark horse NRG.
In the second series of the day, one of the event favourites, Team Liquid, suffered an unexpected upset at the hands of the group’s fourth seed, DRX.
NRG Defeats Reigning Champion EDward Gaming
In the first series of the day, reigning VALORANT Champion and VCT China’s third seed EDward Gaming (EDG) delivered an inconsistent performance versus VCT Americas Stage 2 runner-up NRG.
Although NRG’s rookies were making their international debut on one of EDG’s historically strong maps, Abyss, the players resiliently secured the series 2-0.
Both teams were more comfortable on Abyss’ attack side, allowing EDG to achieve a dominant 10-2 half. The Chinese roster also showcased how the recent Sage buff helps to get more value out of the agent. However, after a devastating defence and shaky gun duels, NRG successfully deployed set attack strategies and ultimates to snowball its way into overtime.
The Americas team persevered through several back-and-forth rounds to conclude overtime with a bold push past the A backsite. Despite losing both pistols, NRG stole EDG’s map pick 17-15.
On Corrode, NRG’s Waylay comp had an uncannily weak defence half (6-6) as it struggled to gain momentum after losing the first pistol round. Moreover, EDG’s diverse attack approaches smartly navigated around the enemy Odin and Operator to convert explosive site executes.
Like in the previous map, NRG once again came to life on the attack. The North American squad won its first pistol of the series, followed by successful site pops and hero plays to reach match point. While EDG tried to bring it to overtime, its members were caught isolated too many times, and ultimately lost Corrode 11-13.
DRX Secures Upset Against Team Liquid
The second series saw two of the historically best Abyss teams take the stage. Despite being favoured in the match-up, VCT EMEA Stage 2 champion Team Liquid went 0-2 against a well-prepared Pacific third seed in DRX.
Today’s Abyss saga continued with an impressive display from DRX on its new Yoru/Waylay double-duelist team composition. Using DRX’s old double-initiator comp, Team Liquid had a slow start on the defence, but then evened out the score 6-6 by running it down for several rounds.
During DRX’s defence half, Kim ‘MaKo’ Myeong-kwan brought back a once commonly used one-way on-site Omen smoke to lock down B. On the back of two pistol round wins, DRX became the first team to defeat Liquid on Abyss (13-8).
Liquid’s map pick, Bind, began scrappy as both traded rounds through numerous thrifties and chaotic teamfights. While Team Liquid occasionally succeeded with aggressive plays on its defence, its double-initiator team composition also struggled against DRX’s Yoru/Waylay combo. Waylay’s ability to push enemies off their sites directly counters Liquid’s game plan of fighting on said sites.
Following an even half, Liquid secured its first pistol of the series. The EMEA team successfully executed creative attack strategies until it found itself disrupted by Cho ‘Flashback’ Min-hyuk on the Operator. By defusing the spike right under Team Liquid’s nose two consecutive times, DRX reached match point and claimed Bind one round later (13-10).
Group D Debuts Tomorrow
Following the first round of Group C matches, today’s winners, NRG and DRX, will face off on September 18th. Two days later, EDG and Liquid must fight for survival in the group’s lower bracket.
However, VALORANT Champions will already continue tomorrow with the debut of all four Group D teams. The day will kick off with a best-of-three (BO3) series between VCT China Stage 2 runner-up, Dragon Ranger Gaming (DRG), and Masters Bangkok champion T1.
Afterwards, VCT Americas Stage 2 winner, G2 Esports, and EMEA’s fourth seed, Team Heretics, will take the stage.
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