Stage 1 of the Valorant Champions Tour China (VCT CN) has concluded and Wolves have a lot to be proud of but still a lot to improve on.
VCT CN is a brand-new league in a new region with newly formed teams so not much was known coming into the very first stage in terms of who will perform well and who might struggle.
The only teams with any real experience in competitive Valorant was EDward Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix but as for the rest it was really anyone’s guess as to who would do well.
The stage was split into two groups, Group Alpha and Group Omega. Teams from Alpha would only play teams from Omega and vice versa with the results of these games determining the standing of their groups.
The aim of the stage was to finish inside the top three and qualify to the playoffs for a shot at making it to Masters Shanghai.
Wolves, consisting of players aluba, Coldfish, pl1xx, Spring and Yuicaw, came into the stage with a certain amount of promise surrounding them having picked up what many saw as a very talented roster full of quality.
This promise did not, however, turn into reality as the team struggled to close off maps and secure the points they needed to reach the top three. The team ended up finishing last in their group.
However, this paints a rather more negative picture than the team deserve. They finished last in their group solely on map difference. Nova Esports, Bilibili Gaming and Wolves each finished the stage on two wins and four losses. However, Nova and Bilibili won more individual maps than Wolves so finished ahead of them in the overall standings.
While the team miss out on qualification to Masters Shanghai the time between now and the beginning of Stage 2 will give them the opportunity to work on themselves, their strategies and assess where they fell short in Stage 1.
Stage 2 is a fresh start and will be a chance for Wolves to realise their potential and provide a stronger performance and show the world what the pack is truly capable of.
It is worth noting this is the very first season of the VCT CN and while there has been a lot of promise shown by all the teams there has also been a lot of naivety and learning on display.
It will take time for VCT CN to catch up in terms of overall quality to the rest of the more established regions in the scene, but it is expected the CN region will come on quickly and soon become a major global player on the Valorant Champions Tour.
