VALORANT Champions 2024 Grand Finals: Head to Head, Maps, Preview and Prediction

Tomorrow, the Incheon Arena will witness the coronation of a new VALORANT Champion. Starting 04:00 PM KST, Team Heretics from VCT EMEA will take on VCT CN #1 EDward Gaming for the prestigious title and US$1 Million.

Will the European powerhouse finally get to be the bride after being bridesmaid for three times or will EDward Gaming complete their undefeated run to lift the trophy. Let’s go over what the VALORANT Champions 2024 Grand Finals have in store for us.

The Story So Far

Putting China on their Backs: EDward Gaming

VCT 2024 officially introduced VCT CN as a fourth region in addition to EMEA, Pacific and Americas. While Chinese teams have been competing since 2022, an official Chinese client was introduced in 2023, and China was inducted as an official region.

Being a younger region as compared to the rest of the World, Chinese teams have been generally considered weaker as compared to their International peers. The VCT CN team's performance at VCT Masters Madrid and Shanghai only reinforced the belief that they are still a developing region.

While FunPlus Phoenix did put forth a commendable challenge against Team Heretics and Gen.G at Shanghai, it was not enough to overturn the global sentiment, especially with EDward Gaming never making to top 4 of an event.

Coming into VALORANT Champions 2024, Chinese teams or EDG weren’t considered a top candidate. But the group stage of the tournament changed it all.

The series of upsets started with Trace Esports, who defied expectations after qualifying as the first seeds of their group over Leviatan.

EDward Gaming also qualified over their International rivals in Paper Rex. FunPlus Phoenix only narrowly lost to Team Heretics but were eliminated by Sentinels. But their resilience and talent was on full display.

Now in the Playoffs, many teams were favored over EDward Gaming, but the Chinese side prevailed, taking down Trace Esports, Sentinels and Leviatan to secure VALORANT Champions 2024, establishing China as a solid competitor on the International stage.

The EU powerhouse/ Los Niños: Team Heretics 

Coming to their opponents, the Los niños had a terrible 2023. They struggled to keep up with their peers, failed to qualify for a single International event. In an attempt to 'turn tables', they retained the coaching staff, Boo and BenjyFishy, releasing the rest of the squad.

The roster was filled with young and upcoming talents in MiniBoo, Wo0t and ReiNs. Unfortunately, with Wo0t still being 17, they played Kickoff with Patitek and placed second behind Karmine Corp. At Madrid, they bailed out of the group stage.

Wo0t joined the roster for VCT EMEA Split 1, where they finished second in the Playoffs behind Team Heretics. Due to ongoing exams, MiniBoo could not compete with the squad in Shanghai and they once again played with Patitek and finished second, after losing to Gen.G in the Grand Finals.

MiniBoo returned for VCT EMEA Split 2, while the team put up strong performance during the regular season, they struggled in the Playoffs, finishing third behind Team Vitality and Fnatic.  VALORANT Champions 2024 was their first International expedition with the full squad, but doubt’s hovered over the team, as they mentioned burnout during the last stages of VCT EMEA Split 2 playoffs.

But as the tournament started, Team Heretics secured first seed ahead of Gen.G, Sentinels and FunPlus Phoenix, while the team did not sweep their opponents, they prevailed in both the group stage games. Their only loss came to Leviatan in the Upper Bracket Semi Finals and they exacted their revenge in the Lower Finals, when they defeated the Americas Champions 3-1 earlier today.

Tomorrow Team Heretics will play the fourth final this year and it will be their last chance to finally secure first place and end the 2nd place curse.

EDward Gaming vs Team Heretics: Head to Head

The two teams have clashed once before at Shanghai. In the game, Team Heretics completely outclassed EDward Gaming. The main deciding factor in the series was EDG being unable to keep up with TH’s team fighting and decision making.

But as expressed by Neilzinho, Team Heretics’ Head Coach, The Chinese squad has improved a lot since their Shanghai form.

"I think EDG have improved a lot from Shanghai when we played them last time. So for me, it's a completely different team that we played in Shanghai. I'm expecting it to be a very good match. And we're going to have to do our best to win, to be honest. There's no easy games in Champions, right?... Literally every single game we've played, every single game that anyone's played at this tournament has been a battle. There's not been any walkovers."

EDward Gaming’s improvement was especially evident against Leviatan, a team with mechanically gifted players. In the Bo3 series, the VCT CN #1 came back on the final map to close the series, displaying their newfound mental fortitude and depth.

They have also defeated a similar team in Sentinels earlier in the series and with a veto advantage, the game can easily swing to their favor.

For Team Heretics, the game will be similar to that of Leviatan, where if they stick to their fundamentals and play with utmost composure, their fundamentals will surely carry them over the finish line.

Especially with ReiNs, MiniBoo and Wo0t looking in top form, it’d be very hard to stop Team Heretics once they start rolling.

VALORANT Champions 2024 Grand Finals: Preview and Prediction:

With EDward Gaming coming in as the higher seed, they will be getting a veto advantage. The first map they will veto out is likely Ascent, a map they haven’t played at the event.

They will also veto out Icebox, a map that is a stronghold for Team Heretics, especially after today’s performance.

EDG can try to take out Sunset too, as it has been a strong map for Team Heretics with 100% WR at the event, while choosing to tread an uncharted territory in Ascent. It will be extremely risky to go that route.

With veto out of the way, the maps played will be:

• Abyss
• Sunset
• Bind
• Haven
• Lotus

EDG is likely to start on Abyss, they came back on to defeat Leviatan, especially after seeing Team Heretics’ Abyss multiple times.  TH will start on Sunset, their strongest map followed by EDG’s Bind, TH’s Haven leaving Lotus as the decider for the teams.

EDward Gaming have to start strong and capitalize on their veto advantage. They have to land the first blow, before their opponents find their footing. Stylistically, the TH's playstyle has a massive advantage in the fixture. They also heavily eclipse EDG in terms of synergy and team play.

Nerves will also play a big part in the series, and the team that can conquer their nerves first will definitely have an advantage.

We have Team Heretics as our pick to win the series. 65% Strafe voters also agree with our pick. 

The series starts with an opening ceremony featuring a live performance of Superpower, followed by the two teams giving it their all to win the VALORANT Champions 2024 title.

Catch the action live on Twitch and YouTube. You can also watch the tournament on VALORANT Esports Website. You can also follow the games on Strafe. 

Follow Valorant Champions Tour on X/Twitter for latest updates on Champions 2024.

Stay tuned on Strafe YouTube for exclusive interviews, press conference and more.

Featured Image Credits: Strafe / Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

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Team Heretics Eliminate Leviatan, advance to Grand Finals in VALORANT Champions 2024