VALORANT Champions 2025 recap: The best Champs ever?

VALORANT Champions is the most prestigious international tournament in the game’s annual esports calendar. Its fifth edition brought 16 teams to Paris, France, to compete for the event’s $2.25m (~£1.66m) prize pool and the coveted Champions trophy.

From September 12 until October 5, VALORANT fans were treated to unexpected underdog runs, highly competitive head-to-heads and record-breaking results. 

Here’s everything that made VALORANT Champions 2025 a contender for the best Champions event we’ve seen so far.

As the largest annual tournament in the game, VALORANT Champions is currently only open to teams competing in the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT), Riot Games’ franchised tier-one circuit.

This ecosystem is divided into four regional leagues (EMEA, Americas, Pacific and China), which culminate in three annual global competitions: two Masters events and the season-ending Champions tournament. To qualify for Champions 2025, VCT teams had to either achieve a top-two finish in a regional Stage 2 competition or accumulate enough VCT Points throughout the year.

These qualification methods allowed both consistent teams and late-year bloomers a shot at glory. For instance, two of the favourites heading to Paris, G2 Esports and Paper Rex (PRX), couldn’t be more different. G2 had been a dominant force within the Americas region all year long, securing the VCT Kickoff, Stage 1 and Stage 2 titles. However, the Ascension 2023 team had never laid claim to an international trophy.

Pacific’s PRX, on the other hand, looked back at a rocky season. The roster failed to qualify for the first global tournament of the year, Masters Bangkok, but then gained speed towards the end of Stage 1, leading to a surprising Masters Toronto trophy.

Similarly, other VCT teams across the world only came alive in Stage 2 with Champions qualification on the line. Despite being packed with rookies, Americas team NRG and EMEA’s GIANTX went on miracle runs to reach second place in Stage 2 competitions.

With this being the fifth Champions tournament in the history of the young esports title, the 2025 championship also saw the return of many veterans to the international stage, looking to set new records. Fnatic and Sentinels were aiming for their third global title, while three former members of Evil Geniuses’ 2023 championship-winning roster hoped to lift a second Champions trophy under their new organisations:

Perhaps most notably, last year’s Champions winner, EDward Gaming (EDG), had the chance to become the first back-to-back VALORANT Champions in history.

Kicking off on September 12, four rosters from each VCT region began in the Champions’ double-elimination (GSL) Group Stage. Only the top two teams from each of the four groups could advance to the Playoffs.

Sharing its group with Pacific powerhouse Paper Rex (PRX), Sentinels was dealt a bad hand at Champions. After a solid start to its season, the Americas team looked shaky during its Stage 2 run. 

To the disappointment of its passionate fandom, Sentinels went winless in Paris, losing both its Group Stage matches to GIANTX (1-2) and XLG Esports (1-2). PRX emerged as Group A’s first seed, followed by GIANTX.

Similar to fellow Americas squad Sentinels, MIBR had a weak season finale within its region. Despite low expectations for its Group B run, MIBR cleanly took out VCT China Stage 2 champion, Bilibili Gaming (2-0), and Rex Regum Qeon (2-0).

The team’s newfound success was thanks to a new identity, which saw duelist legend Erick ‘aspas’ Santos prove himself on Waylay. Only Group B’s first seed, Fnatic, managed to take a series from MIBR in the Group Stage (2-1).

Group C featured perhaps the most unexpected results in the Group Stage. Not only was EDward Gaming (EDG) deprived of its back-to-back Champions record, VCT EMEA’s Stage 2 winner Team Liquid also failed to advance to the Playoffs.

Instead, it was two dark horses, NRG and DRX, who emerged as the top two seeds, respectively. DRX’s accomplishment was astounding as the Korean team only qualified for Champions via Rex Regum Qeon’s victory over TALON in the VCT Pacific Stage 2 Lower Bracket Final.

Group D was the most stacked group at Champions, featuring another event favourite, G2 Esports. However, it was EMEA’s fourth seed, Team Heretics, who rose to lead the group into Playoffs.

G2 still finished in second seed but suffered a humiliating 0-2 defeat versus the Spanish opponent in its opening series in Paris.

Meanwhile, the winless Group D performance of China’s Stage 2 runner-up, Dragon Ranger Gaming (DRG), sealed its fate in the Ascension derby against XLG Esports. With XLG surviving longer at Champions, the Chinese team locked in its VCT slot for another year, whereas DRG must defend its tier-one rights at this year’s Ascension tournament.

Taking place at Paris’ Accor Arena from October 3-5, the VALORANT Champions Playoffs featured another double-elimination format for the remaining eight competitors. 

With relatively even Playoffs representation across all regions (except for China), this year’s Champions highlighted the competitive excellence of the local VCT leagues. 

Moreover, the Playoffs were full of highly competitive matches. Out of the 14 Playoffs matches played in total, only four were 2-0 sweeps. Combine this with several upsets and reverse sweeps, and you get one of the most entertaining esports experiences VALORANT fans have seen so far.

The opening Playoffs match already pitted giants Paper Rex (PRX) and G2 Esports against one another, forcing G2 to immediately drop to the lower bracket (2-1). 

Among the many dark horses in the Playoffs, it was DRK who continued to defy expectations. After a close loss to Fnatic (1-2), the Korean roster eliminated both G2 (2-1) and PRX (2-0) during its lower bracket run. However, DRX ultimately lost its rematch versus Fnatic (3-1) to finish in third place.

While DRX defeated some of the biggest names in VALORANT esports to survive in the lower bracket, fellow underdog NRG steadily inched towards the Grand Final through the upper bracket. Its flawless Playoffs journey against GIANTX (2-0), MIBR (2-1), and Fnatic (2-0) led to a record-breaking result in the Grand Final.

In yesterday’s best-of-five (BO5) rematch versus Fnatic, NRG remained resilient in the face of a comeback attempt by its rival to achieve a 3-2 victory. With this result, NRG’s three rookies, Adam ‘mada’ Pampuch, Logan ‘skuba’ Jenkins and Brock ‘brawk’ Somerhalder have scored a Champions title within their first year of tier-one competition.

Furthermore, the roster’s in-game leader (IGL), Etha, has become the first player to lift two VALORANT Champions trophies.

Although different VCT regions can develop signature identities and team compositions, previous global events have often rewarded either the globally most used style in a current meta or the most disruptive playstyle.

This year’s VALORANT Champions felt different as the tournament featured a diverse range of successful team compositions. Fans had the opportunity to watch double-duelist rosters, traditional flash initiator picks and a variety of sentinels be played at their highest potential.

Such a diverse meta also positively impacts the level of competitiveness within a tournament since it forces teams to prepare and adjust to whatever opponents have in store.

Interestingly, the meta diversification seen at Champions 2025 not only applied to agent selection. Players also relied on a larger pool of weapons. In addition to the common Vandal and Phantom purchases, Odins, Outlaws and Stingers became increasingly popular throughout the 2025 season.

For instance, VALORANT Champions 2025 MVP, brawk, made waves in the game’s esports community with his precise Odin gun play.