The main event of the year, VALORANT Champions 2025, is in full swing. After ten days of competition, half of the teams have left the tournament, and only the best of the best remain. While viewers are in for a two-day break before the playoffs begin, we decided to compile the most interesting moments from the group stage for you.

General information about the tournament

The group stage of VALORANT Champions 2025 took place from September 12 to 22 in LAN format at Les Arènes. Sixteen teams were divided into four groups: A, B, C, and D, which competed against each other in a double-elimination format, where two losses meant elimination from the tournament. A total of 2 teams from each group were eliminated, leaving 8 teams in the playoffs. The next stage will begin on September 25 and will last until October 5.

What made the group stage memorable

In addition to the intense matches in the group stage of VALORANT Champions 2025, there were several notable moments that characterized a particular team or an entire region. We will tell you about them below.

The complete failure of the Chinese region

The first thing that all the spectators paid attention to was the performance of the Chinese teams. In the group stage, each region, including China, represented 4 clubs, and it was the representatives of China who showed themselves the worst. EDward Gaming, Dragon Rangers Gaming, BiliBili Gaming and XLG Esports proved to be the weakest in their groups, and left the tournament in 9th-16th places. Here are the results each of them showed:

• EDward Gaming is China's strongest team and last year's tournament champion. Although the current season has not been very successful for the club, viewers and fans hoped that the team would redeem itself in the current tournament. However, this did not happen. EDward Gaming lost both matches against NRG with a score of 0:2 and Team Liquid 1:2 and, despite being the reigning champion, left the tournament.

• BiliBili Gaming could be considered the top 2 in the region. The high personal skill of the players, qualification for two international events during the season (EWC 2025 and Masters Toronto), and victory at China Stage 2 made the team a formidable opponent. But in the end, it turned out differently. BiliBili lost to MIBR 0:2 and RRQ 1:2 and also left the event.

• Dragon Rangers Gaming was considered an underdog due to its lack of experience, mediocre results, and the replacement of its main player, so this result is quite logical. The team lost both matches without winning a single map, 0:2 against T1 and 0:2 against G2.

• XLG Esports is the only team in the region to win a single match in the tournament. Despite the fact that the club only started competing in the VCT in 2025, XLG players performed well and proved to be better than other Chinese clubs. During the group matches, XLG initially lost to Pape Rex 0:2, but later defeated the favorites Sentinels 2:1. However, in the decisive match, the team lost again to GIANTX 0:2 and was eliminated from the tournament.

This means that China became the only region with no teams advancing to the playoffs. In general, it is clear that the Chinese region is considered weaker than others for a number of reasons, including the later release of the game and the creation of VCT China a year later. However, it is still unclear why such strong teams as world champions EDward Gaming and BiliBili failed.

MIBR's unexpected results

The second interesting thing to watch during the group stage was MIBR's performance and how the underdog confidently defeated stronger teams and advanced to the playoffs. MIBR had a fairly mediocre season, finishing third twice in Americas Kickoff and Americas Stage 1, but failing in Americas Stage 2 (9th-10th place), as a result of which they advanced to the current championship with great difficulty and a margin of 1 point.

The second reason why experts believed the team didn't stand much of a chance was MIBR's roster, which is mostly inexperienced. The fact is that only Aspas and Artzin from the current roster have played in the VCT before. The other three players competed in the Challengers tier 2 league before the start of the season.

But even so, MIBR surprised everyone, including our editorial team. The team first defeated BiliBili Gaming 2-0 in the group stage, then lost to Fnatic 1-2, and in the decisive match defeated RRQ 2-0, thus advancing to the playoffs. Entering the top 8 for such an inexperienced team is already an incredible result, and it seems that MIBR does not plan to stop there.

Current team results

Although the tournament is still ongoing, the last places from 9 to 16 have already been determined, so below we will show all the teams that were the first to be eliminated from the Champions and what prizes they earned.

• 9th-12th places – XLG, RRQ, Team Liquid, T1 – $30,000 per team
• 13th-16th places – Sentinels, BiliBili, EDward, DRG – $20,000 per team

The Valorant Champions 2025 playoffs will begin in a few days, on September 25. You can follow the event, match results, and news related to the championship on our website at the link.