Top 10 moments from VALORANT Champions

Champions, the final event of the VCT 2021 season, is over and Acend have been crowned the winners. The tournament had a lot of surprises, unexpected storylines and great moments throughout.

Between funny walkouts, incredible plays and on-stage banter, there are plenty of moments to look back on throughout the course of the tournament. Here are 10 of the best moments of Champions 2021.

KRÜ eliminate Sentinels from the tournament

Out of all of the celebrations that happened in the tournament, this one is perhaps the most hype of them all. KRÜ Esports, a Latin American team, exceeded expectations throughout the tournament, and shocked the North American region when they ousted one of the favorites to win the tournament, Sentinels.

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Vivo Keyd and Acend taunt each other after Acend win map rematch

The group stage for Vivo Keyd and Acend was a tumultuous one. The match between the two was rife with controversy after Riot changed the outcome of the match in a competitive ruling. In the end, Riot changed their decision and instead of handing Acend a win over Vivo Keyd, they had the teams replay the map with Acend starting up 7-0. Acend almost lost the rematch, and with emotions on both sides running high, both sides started taunting the other after Acend won the map.

Fnatic tease NA

It wouldn’t be Fnatic if they didn’t do some kind of rehearsed celebration after a win. The NA vs. EU narrative has been talked about all year, and this was the first win for EMEA over NA region in the tournament. After beating Cloud9 Blue in groups, Jake “Boaster” Howlett pulled out a piece of paper that said “When does TSM play?” TSM has been the butt of many jokes after they didn’t qualify for the tournament, but it seems it was all in fun for both sides, after TSM posted “pog, we made it to Champions” on Twitter.

Chronicle gets an unlikely ace

In Gambit’s match against KRÜ Esports, with KRÜ up 11-9 on Map 3 and on offense, Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov was in their path. Chronicle was in a position where it looked like at least one of the KRÜ players would manage to take him down, but the opposite happened. He killed all four players coming through the threshold by pushing through the smoke and clicking heads. He then turned around to kill a fifth player, and the ace was his.

Zombs clutches a 1v3

It’s rare that a player can clutch a 1v3, but it’s really exciting when it does happen. This time it was Jared “zombs” Gitlin in the high-pressure situation against Team Liquid, with TL one round away from winning the map. Sentinels had already planted the spike, and Team Liquid were defusing it when zombs came around the corner and killed all three TL players to win the clutch.

Team Secret has an epic walkout

It was disappointing when Team Secret, formerly known as Bren Esports, couldn’t make it to Masters: Berlin because of visa issues, and it was even more heartbreaking when Bren Esports disbanded. Luckily, the roster was picked up by Team Secret, and they were able to make it to Champions. During their walkout, one of their players stopped and started twerking, while the other jumped over him leapfrog style and dabbed. Although Team Secret didn’t make it past Acend in the playoff bracket, they sure were entertaining.

Vanity gets an uncontested defuse and sends FULL SENSE home

The game between Cloud9 Blue and FULL SENSE in the elimination match was in overtime on the second map, and with Cloud9 on match point, FULL SENSE needed to make a play to stay in the game. Four FULL SENSE players were alive, but Anthony “vanity” Malaspina was defusing the spike, and FULL SENSE seemingly didn’t notice and were sent home for their mistake.

ScreaM wins a 1v3 and gets an ace

Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom didn’t just get an Ace, he also got it while he was the last player standing on his team. With two Acend players on the high ground and one at his level, ScreaM spotted all three of them and quickly eliminated them to win the round and put Team Liquid on the board.

ScreaM shows off incredible aim in a disadvantageous position

Although TL didn’t make it past the semifinals, ScreaM has proved time and time again that he is an incredible player. He’s so good that he gets a second spot on our top moments list. ScreaM was defending Site B in TL’s game against C9 when he turned to look toward a flash that Erick “Xeppaa” Bach threw. He quickly realized that Xeppaa was headed down to kill him, and flicked back toward him and handed him a reverse Uno card, eliminating him from the round.

Boaster knifes vanity from behind

If there were ever a bromance in VALORANT Champions, it would be between Boaster and vanity. However, took a knife to their relationship when Boaster came up behind vanity on Fracture and stabbed him right in the back. Cold, Boaster, cold.

Lead photo credit: Riot Games