On the third day of
VALORANT Champions 2026, Group B saw its first matchups;
Team Vitality made a spectacular debut by pulling off an insane upset against Pacific’s first seed, Global Esports. However, the most impressive team of the day was surely
LOUD, who had one of the best international debuts ever made by a rookie team as they completely dismantled the 2024 World Champions
Edward Gaming.EMEA’s fourth seed, Team Vitality, started strong against Pacific Champions Global Esports, who couldn’t set their pace on the first map, Abyss. Vitality forced their opponents into a slow, steady game, which suits the region best. No one on EMEA’s team stood out on the first map; every member finished with a similar score, but Dawid "PROFEK" Święć, the player no one expects to shine, delivered an incredible 1v4 clutch that built strong momentum in attack.
However, Global Esports tied the series thanks to an incredible performance from PatMen on Ascent, their best map, where they posted
an 80% win rate across all of Pacific Stage 2. Even though the game was close, GE’s team play was more decisive than individual clutch plays from Elias "
Jamppi" Olkkonen, who was Vitality's standout performer.
The last map, Summit, was probably the craziest one of the whole tournament. Vitality swapped Nikita "
Derke" Sirmitev onto Chamber and gave Timofey "
Chronicle" Khromov Neon, an agent we don't often see him play. However, the decision paid off. Even though it was clear Chronicle wasn't confident on the agent, he still delivered an incredible performance with a
26/18/4 score, proving he is one of the most flexible players in the world.
Historical match for LOUD, EDG drag China’s faith down
Enzo "
tkzin" Zimiani, who delivered one of the best first-time international performances in the game’s history, for the first international match of LOUD since 2024. The Brazilian duelist finished
28/12/3 and scored two aces on the first map, Lotus, which EDG picked.
The second map was even more dominant, as tkzin seemed unstoppable that day. LOUD completely dominated their opponents on Summit, and the Brazilian duelist even broke the record for most aces in a single series at
VALORANT Champions with three. With a total
KDA of 42/24/7 across the two maps, tzkin’s debut on the international stage is probably the most impressive one in the game’s history.
On the other hand, Edward Gaming, China’s biggest hope, didn’t manage to improve the region’s situation. With 0 maps won in the entire tournament, China looks like the weakest region by far, and a scenario where all the teams get knocked out in the first elimination match is always more likely. With today’s results,
EMEA sits at 2-1 thanks to Vitality and KC’s victories, while Americas teams are still undefeated in the tournament.
Team Vitality will play their qualification match against LOUD on September 30 at 2:00 pm CEST. Meanwhile, EDG will fight for their lives on October 2 against GE in a series that will see one of the tournament's potential winners get knocked out.
