VALORANT Champions 2023: What to know about the final four at the Forum

August 22, 2023

by Brian Bencomo

We’re down to four teams still competing to win VALORANT Champions 2023. The 16-team field has been whittled down to Paper Rex, Evil Geniuses, LOUD and Fnatic, who will all compete at the KIA Forum in California this week. The four teams represent a spectrum of regions from around the world, making this a truly global esports event.

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Each team has looked excellent throughout the tournament and very much capable of becoming the next VALORANT world champion. Before the upper bracket finals and lower semifinals get underway, here’s a primer on each of the four teams, including why they will win, why they won’t, a key player and a fun fact.

Evil Geniuses

Americas

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Why they will win Champions:

Evil Geniuses have proven game after game that they are one of the best teams in the world. It’s evident seeing them onstage and in the postmatch press conferences that they’re playing with a high level of confidence and are having fun. EG have only lost twice -- both to Fnatic at Masters Tokyo -- in their last 11 matches. They might not face Fnatic at Champions, but if they do they’ll have the map pick advantage. If they win the upper final against Paper Rex, a team they beat in Tokyo, they’ll enter the grand final with a huge map pick advantage against any opponent. Plus, Evil Geniuses are the last remaining North American team and should receive a nice crowd buff playing in front of an NA friendly audience at the KIA Forum.

Why they won’t win Champions:

Even though EG beat Paper Rex in Japan, it was a close 3-2 victory and PRX were without their star player Ilya "something" Petrov. Something is playing in Los Angeles and Paper Rex have looked even better than they did in Tokyo. If EG lose to PRX, they will be sent down to the shark-infested waters of the lower bracket where they will have to face either LOUD or Fnatic to reach the grand final. Neither team would present an easy matchup.

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Key player:

The team’s star player Max "Demon1" Mazanov has been playing even better in Los Angeles than Tokyo, but EG’s ace in the hole might be Ethan “Ethan” Arnold. Ethan has been a quietly underrated initiator player who has the third-best rating among all players at Champions, the highest KAST (kill, assist survival rate) and APR (assists per round), and the fourth-highest clutch rate at 30%.

Fun fact:

There’s no second-place curse for Evil Geniuses. Since the very first VALORANT global event in Reykjavík in 2021, every single team that has finished second has encountered bad luck. Some teams either didn’t qualify for or bombed out of the next global event, and other teams disbanded. Evil Geniuses, however, are guaranteed to finish no lower than third at Champions following their runner-up finish in Tokyo. The VALORANT timeline really was broken when MIBR’s André "Txozin" Saidel knifed 100 Thieves’ Sean “bang” Bezerra.

Fnatic

EMEA

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Why they will win Champions:

They’ve already won two international trophies this year and came into the tournament as the favorites to win a third. There’s no doubt Fnatic have some of the best players in the world, and Fnatic have only lost twice this year. If there’s a team who can pull off an epic lower bracket run and win the grand final with a map pick disadvantage, it’s Fnatic. With two trophies already this year, this team surely isn’t feeling as much pressure to win as they were entering the year. If anybody can cook up some game winning strats to help push Fnatic over the edge it’s in-game leader Jake “Boaster” Howlett and head coach Jake “mini” Harris.

Why they won’t win Champions:

They have to fight through the lower bracket. They’re already won two lower bracket matchups, but they still need to win two more, including a best-of-five, just to reach the grand final. If they do get that far, they won’t get to ban any maps. Oh, and their next matchup is against LOUD, the team that sent them to the lower bracket in the first place. Yes, Fnatic did beat LOUD at LOCK//IN, but it was a close 3-2, and LOUD dominated Fnatic 2-0 in the upper quarterfinals of this tournament. LOUD have proven they can beat Fnatic and might be able to do it again.

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Key player:

Emir "Alfajer" Beder is a superstar. The 18-year-old was the Masters Tokyo MVP and is once again putting up MVP-caliber numbers in Los Angeles. He has the best K/D at Champions and the second-best rating. Perhaps the most interesting thing is he’s not the team’s primary duelist, so he’s not constantly playing Jett like a lot of the other top fraggers at the tournament. Instead, he’s putting up these numbers as a sentinel player and as a Killjoy main.

Fun fact:

Fnatic have already won two trophies this year and could finish out the year with a third at Champions. They’re already the only team in VALORANT history to hoist two international trophies and to do it in back-to-back fashion. If they win Champions it’ll be a historic accomplishment and will likely mark this Fnatic team as one of the greatest VALORANT teams of all time. It’s also worth noting that Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov could win his fourth trophy and reach his fifth global final. He has reached the final of every global VCT event he has competed in.

LOUD

Americas

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Why they will win Champions:

LOUD won Champions last year and look to be in championship-winning form. They made it out of the Group of Death with wins over Team Liquid and NAVI. Then they pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when they handed Fnatic only their second loss this year. LOUD will face Fnatic again in the lower semifinals, and if they get through that, they would have to go through Evil Geniuses and Paper Rex. It won’t be easy, but LOUD have proven they can win when their backs are against the wall.

Why they won’t win Champions:

Can LOUD really beat Fnatic a second time at Champions? The lopsided nature of LOUD’s win over Fnatic is probably not indicative of how closely matched these two teams are. There’s a good chance Fnatic learned a lot in watching back the VODs of their loss and will be well prepared for the rematch. Even if they beat Fnatic again, LOUD will still have to beat both Paper Rex and Evil Geniuses in best-of-fives while being at a map pick disadvantage. It’s a tall task even for the defending champions of this tournament.

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Key player:

Despite being one of the youngest members of the team, Felipe "Less" Basso has stepped up for LOUD with some incredible games at Champions. He put up 68 kills -- 12 more than any of his teammates -- in LOUD’s Group D decider match win against NAVI. He was particularly deadly in the third and deciding map when he had a K/D/A of 28/12/5. He also had a spectacular Map 2 against Paper Rex with a line of 24/7/5 and a mind-blowing 424 ACS. Overall, he’s had the fifth-best rating and K/D of any player at the tournament.

Fun fact:

The five most-watched matches at Champions have all involved LOUD. It’s a testament to how popular this organization is globally and how much of an impact this team is having on viewership numbers for this tournament. With four Brazilian players and one Argentine, no wonder the team’s online audience is huge. Yet, it stands in sharp contrast to the lack of support the team has been getting onstage in Los Angeles.

Paper Rex

Pacific

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Why they will win Champions:

Frankly, Paper Rex look like the best team at Champions. They’ve only lost one map and beat a hot LOUD team that had just beaten Fnatic. Next, Paper Rex will face Evil Geniuses, a team they lost to at Masters Tokyo. This time, they will have Ilya "something" Petrov in the lineup, which could prove to be the edge they need to beat EG and reach the grand final. If they reach the final, they would, of course, have a huge map pick advantage and be well-positioned to beat either EG, LOUD or Fnatic.

Why they won’t win Champions:

Paper Rex are in a similar scenario as Evil Geniuses. Win the upper final and enter the grand final as huge favorites to win the tournament. If they lose, however, they get sent down to the lower bracket where they would face either LOUD or Fnatic. Either team could beat Paper Rex. LOUD just barely lost in the upper semis and might be favored in a rematch. Fnatic beat PRX in Tokyo and have been the favorites this year no matter who they face.

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Key player:

This has to be something. Paper Rex fell short of winning Masters Tokyo without him, and he might be the key piece for this team at Champions. He hasn’t been quite as spectacular as some of the other duelists at Champions, but he has consistently led the way for his team. Against LOUD, something was the only Paper Rex player with a positive plus/minus as he put up 55 kills against 46 deaths. His 1.24 K/D is sixth-best among all players at this tournament.

Fun fact:

Paper Rex have the longest-tenured core of any of the final four teams at Champions. Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee, Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto and Aaron "mindfreak" Leonhart have been with the team since February 2021, and Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie joined in September of that year. This will be the team’s last dance with Jingg though, as head coach Alexandre “alecks” Sallé confirmed that he will be off the team next year to perform his mandatory military service for Singapore. Paper Rex’s best finish at a global VCT event was second at Masters Copenhagen last year. They’re guaranteed back-to-back top three finishes at Masters Tokyo and now Champions and have been one of the most successful groups of players in VALORANT history over the past two years.

Lead photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games