On December 30, DRG won the 2023 Valorant CN League Promotion Tournament (VCT CN ASCENSION) championship with a 3-1 victory over its opponent RA, and the first Valorant CN League promotion tournament that lasted about a week officially came to an end, and it also marked the official qualification of DRG for a temporary seat in the two-year Valorant Champions Tour CN League (VCT CN League).
As the last chance to enter the VCT CN League this year after the official announcement of the 10 long-term partner teams of the VCT CN League, a total of eight teams participated in the Valorant CN League Promotion Tournament, all of which were the teams that had not been able to become long-term partners of the VCT CN League and were the top teams in the Valorant CN Evolution Series event held from September to November this year.
As for the teams such as RA and ASE that have performed well in the previous Evolver Series Open, but unfortunately failed to obtain long-term partner seats, whether they can get the only temporary VCT CN League seat this year also makes fans who support each team particularly worried.
The early group stage of the tournament lasted from December 23 to December 25, and the eight teams were divided into two groups to play a double-elimination tournament within the BO3 group, among which four teams, RA, NIP, ASE, and DRG, successfully advanced to the semifinals. The subsequent knockout stage lasts from December 27 to December 30 and will continue in a double-elimination format. In the knockout round, RA continued its unbeaten streak in the previous group stage, defeating DRG and ASE 2-0 successively, and took the lead in getting the first ticket to the finals with a complete victoryThe other ticket to the finals was won by DRG, who fell into the lower bracket and won the two teams of NIP and ASE, and finally stood out from the encirclement. It can be said that after defeating the team ASE that had participated in this year's Tokyo Masters with a score of 3-2, DRG not only broke into the finals with a "dark horse trend", but also really entered the field of vision of many audiences.
On December 30, on the day of the finals, BO5, DRG faced its fierce rival RA. The two teams met on the first day of the knockout stage, when RA won comfortably 2-0 against DRG. In addition, RA has reached the finals twice in the previous Evolver Series Open, and its strength in the field is undoubted among the teams in the current CN division. In the face of a strong opponent, DRG did not flinch at all, in the figure.
1. Figure 2 scored two points in a row, which also put RA in a situation where he could not be defeated again. Picture 3 came to RA's self-selected map again, and in the face of a desperate situation, RA showed great resilience and won Figure 3 with an absolute score of 13-0. At this point, the big score came to 2-1.
In Figure 4, RA player Viva boldly selected a hero who rarely appears in the professional game to face the opponent, which surprised many viewers, and in the game, he successfully took away DRG player TvirusLuke through the "One Battle" ultimate, creating a big advantage for the team. Then RA scored consecutive points, and under heavy pressure, DRG achieved a "shocking reversal", defeating RA 13-11 in Figure 4 with a score of 13-11, and also fixed the big score of the finals at 3-1. This also means that DRG not only won the championship in this CN League promotion tournament, but also won the only temporary seat in the VCT CN League, and got the last chance to go to the VCT CN League this year.
Not many people may have expected such a result before the game, and in the interview after the final, the coaches and players of the DRG team also choked up for a while. But just as the DRG club quoted a line through social media before the game - "In the face of a strong opponent, knowing that you are invincible, you must resolutely show your sword." Even if it falls, it will become a mountain and a ridge. And they did it, like a fairy tale coming to life, and they were the ones who had the last laugh.
At this point, the team pattern of the first year of the VCT CN League has also been settled. Ten long-term partner teams AG, BLG, EDG, FPX, JDG, NOVA, TE, TEC, TYL, WOL, and one temporary league team DRG, a total of 11 teams will compete on the same stage in the future VCT CN League, and continue to present exciting and exciting Valorant professional esports events to the audience.
Text: Beijing Youth Daily reporter Wang Lei.
Edited by Qiao Ying.