VALORANT Champions 2026 have finally begun with the Group C matches.
Paper Rex, made their tournament debut with a win over
Team Liquid. Meanwhile, Americas' No. 4 seed
G2 Esports pulled off the upset by comfortably defeating
TYLOO, the No. 1 seed from VCT China, in front of their home crowd. The Chinese team is already in a difficult position in its bid to qualify for the playoffs.
One of the competition's favorites despite a more difficult Stage 2, Paper Rex got off to a solid start against Team Liquid. After an easy win on the first map, Ascent (13-4), TL bounced back on Haven to level the series (7-13). Rookie Ognjen "GSR" Bondžić made his debut with the team and was fairly convincing, occasionally showing some impressive individual plays. He is also the only player on his team to finish the series with a rating above 1.00 (1.06).
On the other side, Paper Rex were carried by their Duelist Ilia "something" Petrov, the best player of the BO3 with 58 kills and just 33 deaths on Yoru. However, he revealed on X that he had already received a warning for violating the rules. During the first map, the player shot dead bodies at his opponents, a behavior Riot Games had addressed before the start of the competition, explaining that it would be prohibited at this event. Despite this, powered by their Russian player and with the series eventually closed out by an Ace from Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee, PRX won Lotus 13-10 to take the series.
G2 bounce back, TYLOO beaten on debut
In the other match of the group, which followed shortly after, G2 Esports defeated TYLOO thanks to a strong team performance, completely outclassing their opponents on the second map, Sunset (13-3). Given that, as previously reported by Sheep Esports, Andrej "babybay" Francisty and Jacob "valyn" Batio will not remain with the team next season, there were questions about what state of mind G2 would bring into the competition. The players instead showed that they were playing with plenty of freedom and confidence today.
On the other side, despite their recent excellent form, which had allowed them to win Stage 2, TYLOO ran into a wall in their first international match. Their lack of international experience proved costly, as the players began making a series of mistakes from the second half of the first map onward, putting themselves on the back foot and just one match away from elimination in the group stage.
TYLOO will therefore play for their tournament lives against Team Liquid next Thursday, while the winners' match between PRX and G2 for a spot in the playoffs will take place on Tuesday, September 29. The competition continues tomorrow with the Group D matches. First, Masters Santiago winners Nongshim RedForce will face defending champions NRG. Then, the second Chinese team, Xi Lai Gaming, will make their debut against Karmine Corp, the No. 1 seed from VCT EMEA.
