VALORANT esports has entered a new era as of 2023, but before the international leagues have started and the partnered teams begin to play, the action is already kicking off across global Challengers leagues that make up a robust tier-two ecosystem.
One of the most exciting Challengers regions, in regard to player talent depth and high-profile organizational involvement, is North America. Twelve teams stacked with talent make up the NA VALORANT Challengers League, and these teams will do battle across two splits of round-robin group stage play, culminating in do-or-die playoffs that will determine who goes to Ascension.
After week one, the action is already off to a breakneck pace, with some dominant performances coming from the top teams, and a handful of potential breakout stars already making highlights.
Here are the top plays from the first week of the NA VALORANT Challengers 2023 season.
Top plays from NA VALORANT Challengers 2023
OXY hits unreal transfer through Cascade during dominant G2 win over FaZe on Icebox
The most-watched clip from this first week comes via Francis “OXY” Hoang, who had a star-making performance in G2’s win over FaZe to kick off the season. After losing map one, G2 came back red hot on Icebox, and this play from OXY was the icing on the cake.
Down 12-4, FaZe forced up Stingers, and Dicey tried to use his Cascade wall so that his team can get the ultimate orb in front of the A site. But Rossy was revealed by a Recon Dart, and while OXY did well to eliminate him quickly, the real highlight was the unreal transfer onto babybay, who was on top of the site. To cap it off, he got a third on POISED after an audacious zipline.
Will clutches a one-vs-three pistol from the grave
The MAD Lions organization spoke very highly of Will Cheng and was very involved with the former Dark Ratio players’ process of bringing him into the group. After a successful qualifier run, the former 100T duelist showed off what the hype was all about in their opening round vs. TSM.
On Icebox, Will faced a one-vs-three post-plant scenario during the pistol round. He got the first kill on Rafters and then wisely used his Blast Pack to deter a second opponent before repositioning. He grabbed a second kill onto Corey with the tiniest window before getting traded. And just before the Shock Dart got him, he underhand tossed his grenades. Will’s death caused NaturE to instinctually move toward the spike for a defuse, but he didn’t have time to avoid the Paint Shells.
Sym rescues BreakThru from Oxygen anti-eco
Losing a round is one thing, but losing a round when you have a man advantage and weapon advantage in a post-plant when you’re already losing the map is something else. Oxygen were looking to send the series with BreakThru to a map three, and they were about to take a 12-8 lead in one of the unlikeliest of rounds before BreakThru duelist Tyler “sym” Porter came up huge for his team.
Oxygen turned a four-vs-five retake into a three-vs-one thanks primarily to Verno’s Guardian, and it was Sym shooting the Yoru clone that resulted in at least one of his teammates going down. But he instantly made up for it, hugging the wall on B, getting a nice flick on randySAVAGE, an dthen catching the remaining two Oxygen players holding the same angle, saving his team from what was almost a disaster.
NA VALORANT Challengers resumes on week two starting on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
