VALORANT - Champions 2025: Dragon Ranger and Bilibili Gaming are eliminated, VCT China in trouble

Day 8 was decisive at VALORANT Champions Paris, with two BO series that had the feel of survival. RRQ, who were roughed up early on by BLG, drew on their renewed discipline and flashes of individual brilliance, led by Maksim “Jemkin” Batorov and Cahya “Monyet” Nugraha, to turn the series around and earn themselves a playoff qualifier against MIBR. Later, G2 imposed their will on DRG with a clear game plan, led by Alexander “jawgemo” Mor, Nathan ‘leaf’ Orf, and Trent “trent” Cairns, for a confident 2–0 victory.

The teams start on Sunset with RRQ picking first, a nightmarish start for RRQ. Bilibili Gaming validates pistol and anti-eco, sets up a compact defense, and stifles the mid-rounds. Lu “Levius” Yinzhong and Liu “Knight” Yuxiang find key multikills to prevent any comeback, and BLG closes out the map cleanly 13–6 to lead 1–0.

Second map Lotus, BLG picks and RRQ's immediate reaction sets the tempo on offense with clean executes and post-plant discipline that breaks the Chinese economy. On defense, they string together controlled retakes to widen the gap and even the series. Momentum regained, it's time for the decider.

Abyss the decider map, RRQ keeps the upper hand with pistol, anti-eco and then surgical map control. Maksim “Jemkin” Batorov opens up constant gaps while Cahya “Monyet” Nugraha locks down the end of rounds. BLG hangs on but fails to overturn the economy. RRQ wins 2–1 and will play its playoff qualifier against MIBR, while BLG leaves Champions Paris as the bottom team in group B.

For this first map of the Best of Three, the teams will start on Lotus with DRG picking. G2 takes the pistol round, then quickly establishes control, with Nathan “leaf” Orf making an impact on the holds and Alexander “jawgemo” Mor punishing DRG's aggressive timing. Max “Demon1” Mazanov is contained, and G2 rolls out patient attacks before locking down on defense to finish 13–7.

After taking the first point on DRG's map, G2 gave themselves a chance to finish the match on Abyss, which was their pick. Pistol + anti-eco launched the Americans, then G2 won DRG's crucial first buy and definitively broke the Chinese economy. Trent “trent” Cairns and Jonah “JonahP” Pulice scored the opening kills and the post-plant 3v5s that made the difference. The map went to 12–7 before the final A capture sealed the 2–0 victory and eliminated DRG.