Even with the goal to balance out regions and talent for the early stages of Champions 2023, Riot Games couldn’t prevent one of the strongest groups we’ve ever seen at an international event.
After all the Last Chance Qualifiers came to an end, the Champs teams are finally set. Riot did its official draw for the group stages at Champions on July 23, and even the new 2023 draw system couldn’t prevent a ‘group of death.’
Avid fans will recognize the Champions 2023 draw system, first introduced at Masters Tokyo earlier this year. From start to finish, groups are drawn with the goal of not having two teams from the same region in the same group. If the draw led to that scenario, the team would move to the next viable slot.
As usual, one group always stands out as the most dangerous. One of the best examples was Champions 2022, when Group D was the strongest, with Fnatic, DRX, 100 Thieves, and FURIA Esports. Even then, when FURIA were clearly the weakest team, Group D in Champions 2023 looks especially strong from front to back, with plenty of world champions (Team Liquid, NAVI, DRX, and LOUD).
When it comes to Group D’s players, more than half of them have won an international tournament in VCT. NAVI, who have the former core of FunPlus Phoenix, won Masters Copenhagen in 2022 and added Mehmet “cNed” İpek in the off-season, who was part of the original world champions Acend in 2021. LOUD are still one of the best teams in the world, thanks to a Champions win in 2022 and a finals finish at LOCK//IN earlier this year.
Liquid and DRX are the lesser accomplished teams, which is weird to say when Liquid have two former world champions on their roster. Both Redgar and nAts were crucial to Gambit’s dominance in 2021 and were part of the only team to have taken down Fnatic in a tournament in 2023. DRX are the weakest international performers out of the four but are also known for their ability to get out of group stages easily in international tournaments. This group will prove to be their toughest test to date, with two teams who topped their regional tournaments facing off against each other.
Related: Unthinkable comeback sees KRÜ Esports through to VCT Champions
Group A
- Paper Rex
- KRÜ Esports
- EDward Gaming
- Giants Gaming
Group B
- Evil Geniuses
- FunPlus Phoenix
- FUT Esports
- T1
Group C
- Fnatic
- ZETA DIVISION
- NRG
- Billibilli Gaming
Group D:
- Team Liquid
- NAVI
- DRX
- LOUD
Each group has a double elimination format, with two spots to make it to the playoff stage.
The matches for this group stage, determining which two teams from the group of death get sent packing, begin on Aug. 6.
