G2 Esports and RRQ survive at VALORANT Champions 2025

VCT Americas giant G2 Esports and VCT Pacific’s Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ) have survived another day at VALORANT Champions 2025 by winning today’s elimination matches.

As a result of their victories, Bilibili Gaming and Dragon Ranger Gaming have been eliminated from the competition, leaving XLG Esports as VCT China’s final representative.

The first match of the day saw VCT China Stage 2 champion Bilibili Gaming (BLG) suffer elimination at the hands of Pacific’s Stage 2 runner-up, Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ). Despite BLG’s early lead in the Group B elimination match, RRQ came back 2-1.

BLG had a strong start to the series, winning both pistol rounds on Sunset. Whilst RRQ showed some creative Waylay/Breach setplays on its defence, its opponent found success by exploiting gaps on the map and taking mid-control. The result was an even 6-6 half.

In the second half, BLG took full control of the map. Cautious site hits from RRQ were reliably shut down as BLG’s Lu ‘Levius’ Yinzhong scored multi-frag after multi-frag. The Cyper player finished the map with a kill-death ratio (KDA) of 26/15/5 and 196 average damage per round (ADR). Meanwhile, RRQ only won one of its attack rounds, losing its map pick 7-13.

On Lotus, RRQ showed first signs of life with a pistol round win. This momentum remained as the team read many of BLG’s attack plans to deploy suitable trap plays. To interrupt RRQ’s winning streak, in-game leader (IGL) Marcus ‘nephh’ Tan stepped up for BLG. His ACE and impactful Omen utility made a 5-7 half comeback possible.

Although BLG appeared to make a comeback in the second half, RRQ secured a crucial thrifty in response to its opponent’s bonus round conversion. The resulting economic advantage and early ultimates allowed the Pacific team to snowball several rounds. In the final round, RRQ’s Cahya ‘monyet’ Nugraha then achieved an ACE of his own to seal the deal (13-8).

The final game of the series saw BLG play Abyss for the first time at Champions 2025. After another pistol round win, the Chinese squad struggled to shut down RRQ’s site executes, particularly on B. Moreover, its site retakes looked disjointed, leading to a 4-8 defensive half deficit.

On the other hand, RRQ had convincing retake protocols during its defence, featuring well-timed KAY/O flashes and Sova recon darts. The Pacific team kicked off the second half with its second pistol win of the series, while its opponent never managed to gain much value from its Harbour pick. 

RRQ’s Maksim ‘Jemkin’ Batorov also outfragged everyone on the server. His 26/10/4 KDA contributed to a near-flawless 13-4 victory.

The day continued with Group D’s elimination match between VCT Americas Stage 2 champion G2 Esports and China’s second seed Dragon Ranger Gaming (DRG).

This series also saw two former members from Evil Geniuses’ 2023 Champions-winning roster face each other on two new teams.

In the end, it was G2’s Alexander ‘jawgemo’ Mor who triumphed over his former teammate Maximilian ‘Demon1’ Mazanov (2-0) to earn another shot at a second Champions trophy.

DRG’s map pick, Lotus, was up first. Using its signature Vyse/Breach/Waylay team composition, the Chinese team forced G2 to prioritise slow defaults on the attack. Its strong defensive game plans were further reinforced by convincing retakes and precise gun play.

Zhang ‘Akeman’ Haoran, in particular, had an impressive defence half, delivering a kill-death ratio (KDA) of 17/7/0 and 214 average damage per round (ADR).

However, once G2 stabilised on the back of a Stinger force-buy and a successful A-fake, it swiftly went downhill for DRG. The 6-6 half was followed by G2’s first pistol round win and absolute dominance on its defence. Duelist jawgemo and his teammates were clearly warmed up now. They out-aimed and out-strategised their way towards a 13-7 win on map one.

Abyss saw a similar trajectory as the first map of the series. This time, it was G2’s turn to have a strong start following a pistol round win on defence. Although Abyss is considered a heavily attack-sided map, DRG had trouble securely entering sites and converting post-plant scenarios. Though in the latter stage of the half, its double-duelist team composition made a slight recovery to tie the score 6-6.

Just like on Lotus, G2 did not hold back in the second half of the map. The roster converted the majority of site executes, layering the strong post-plant utility provided by its unique Deadlock/Astra/Tejo agent combination. Taking only one round on its defence, DRG conceded Abyss 13-7.

Jawgemo once again contributed significantly to his team’s success. He secured the second pistol round on Abyss with a 1v4 clutch and scored KDA of 39/27/15 throughout the series.

Following the elimination of BLG and DRG, today’s winners have earned a second chance at qualifying for Playoffs. The decider matches will take place on September 22nd, with G2 Esports facing off against T1 and RRQ playing against MIBR.

DRG’s results at Champions also impact its regional standing as an Ascension team. As fellow Chinese Ascension team, XLG Esports, has already secured a higher placement at Champions, DRG will have to defend its VCT slot at this year’s Ascension tournament. XLG, however, has now guaranteed its VCT right for another season.

In the meantime, VALORANT Champions 2025 will move on to its first round of decider matches tomorrow. The Group C rematch between DRX and Team Liquid will kick off the day at 2 PM BST, followed by Group A’s GIANTX and XLG.

Fans can tune into all VALORANT Champions games via VCT’s official YouTube and Twitch channels.