Newcomers: NA Valorant Challengers League Split 1 Week 1, Day 2 Recap
Out with the old guard.
The North American Challengers League 2023 is comprised of 12 teams competing over 2 splits during the year. The first split, set to run from the 1st of Feb until the 17th of Mar, will culminate in attendance to the Mid-Season Invitational.
TSM make their mark with their first win of the split and BreakThru emerge victorious after a bloody series against Oxygen Esports. MAD Lions have an impressive debut series, despite their loss, taking TSM down a peg with an early 13-2.
Here’s a complete cover for everything you might have missed from Week 1 of the 2023 Valorant NA Challengers League Split 1. (Day 1 Recap here)
Current NA VCL Standing (Week 1)
NA VCL Group A Week 1 Standings. Screengrab Strafe Esports.
NA VCL Group B Week 1 Standings. Screengrab Strafe Esports.
Day Two Match Results
TSM vs MAD Lions [2-1]
MAD Lions struck first with a deadly 13-2 blow on their own map pick, however, veteran experience on TSM quickly reasserted control on the second map Bind. TSM star Johann “seven” Hernandez had a stellar map on Jett as well with multiple multifrag rounds and a 21/13/3 scoreline.
When swapping over to defense, “seven” managed to post a 14/5/1 half and going 4-0 in opening engagements. Ascent was the same close affair. Across the series, TSM’s veteran players provided the stability and power to close out Maps 2 and 3. Nicholas “NaturE” Garrison and James “hazed” Cobb ended up topping the boards with 44/37/21 and 51/43/25 respectively.
Strafe Player of the Series: TSM NaturE
BreakThru vs Oxygen Esports [2-0]
Heartbreak for Oxygen as they run out of breath in an exceptionally long series. The first map of Ascent ended the half at 9-3 in favor of Oxygen, however, the curse struck once more as BreakThru ran it back with 9 rounds straight to bring back the series in overtime. Breeze became a case of déjà vu as once more the half ended 9-3 for Oxygen before BreakThru brought it back to win overtime 14-12.
Young gun Logan “skuba” Jenkins felt like the sole positive note for Oxygen for much of the series. Dropping a combined score of 51/28/20, he went +23 and +3 in opening engagements while playing as Controller. Oxygen showed some tactical promise, but it appears their strategy book lacks depth and volume at the moment.
Strafe Player of the Series: BRK sym
Notable Stats for NA VCL Week 1
- “valyn” is currently the highest posted player on vlr.gg, at 277 ACS and a 1.7 KD.
- Both rookies, “OXY” and “clear” had stellar debut series with the former posting a 312.7 ACS and 1.22 KD, and the latter posting 229.5 ACS and 0.94 KD.
- “skuba” ascends to second place with a 266 ACS and 1.82 KD despite his team’s loss. The former-Knights rookie shows great promise.
- TSM vs MAD Lions is currently the longest series of the split at 61 rounds played.
Today’s Matches
Shopify Rebellion vs Turtle Troop [1600 EST/ 2100 GMT]
M80 vs OREsports [1900 EST/ 0000 GMT]
Image credit: Knights Arena