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VALORANT Champions 2023 Tips & Outright Predictions – Can Anyone Stop Fnatic?

By Tit Krajnik

05 Aug 2023

Tit Krajnik 05 Aug 2023

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VALORANT Champions 2023 kicks off on Sunday, August 6
Fnatic are the favourites to win
EDward Gaming with a point to prove

VALORANT Champions (Getty Images)

VALORANT Champions 2023 Predictions

VALORANT Champions 2023 is the final Valorant esports tournament of the 2023 season, welcoming the world's top 16 Valorant teams vying for the coveted trophy and the largest slice of the $2.250,000 prize pool.

VALORANT Champions 2023 Predictions
VALORANT Champions 2023 Odds
VALORANT Champions 2023 Teams To Watch
An Outsider That Can Impress

But even though VALORANT Champions 2023 will feature many excellent teams, most of the attention is directed towards the leading three favourites – Fnatic, Paper Rex, and Evil Geniuses as three of the most successful Valorant esports teams of the 2023 season.

Yet even in this small group of squads, the spotlight is on Fnatic, who are just one step away from winning every international Valorant event of 2023. But can they do it?

Fnatic have won every tournament of 2023 except for EMEA League (2nd)
Paper Rex will enter VALORANT Champions 2023 with its full roster
Evil Geniuses carry the North American flag as live outsiders to win the tournament

VALORANT Champions 2023 Odds

Despite featuring some of the best teams in the world, there is a clear divide between the main candidates to win the tournament and the rest. Fnatic (2.10) lead the way as the clear favourites, followed by Paper Rex (4.00) and Evil Geniuses (5.50).

NRG Esports (8.00) and LOUD (8.00) round up the list of the five teams priced at single digits, dividing the teams with a realistic chance to win the tournament and the rest. EDward Gaming (13.00), who looked incredible at VCT Masters Tokyo, could make some noise, while Team Liquid (19.00) should not be entirely ignored either.

However, the rest of the field consists of squads with no notable accomplishments on the international stage or domestically, suggesting that the VALORANT Champions 2023 will indeed be contested between only a handful of squads.

VALORANT Champions 2023 Teams To Watch

Fnatic enter VALORANT Champions 2023 as the clear favourites to win the tournament, and rightly so. The Black & Orange have looked incredible this season and have been essentially unbeatable.

This isn't entirely true since Fnatic lost the EMEA League finals against Team Liquid, but that was also their only defeat of the year, boasting an insane 20-1 record. Moreover, 16 of those 20 wins were all clean sweeps, including their 3-0 VCT Masters Tokyo finals victory against Evil Geniuses.

Are Fnatic really unbeatable? Likely not, as it's not like they're significantly stronger than the other two favourites, but based on what they've produced this season, it seems like it'll take a lot for Fnatic to slip and fall.

Paper Rex are priced as the second favourites to win VALORANT Champions 2023, and that sounds about right. The Pacific League representatives had a rough start to the year, with a 17th-32nd place finish at VCT LOCK//IN Sao Paulo, but have since looked much improved.

Paper Rex won the VCT 2023 Pacific League and finished the VCT Masters Tokyo in third place – despite missing their star player Ilya "something" Petrov. And considering something is confirmed to compete at VALORANT Champions 2023, it's only fair to assume that Paper Rex will be even stronger. But how much stronger?

With something returning, Paper Rex are expected to do better, yet it remains to be seen if something's return will be enough to propel Paper Rex above Fnatic.

Evil Geniuses are priced as third favourites to win the VALORANT Champions 2023 largely due to their strong performance at VCT Masters Tokyo, where they nearly defeated Fnatic in the upper bracket finals (1-2) and then played a competitive series against Fnatic in the finals (0-3).

The issue with Evil Geniuses is that their remarkable run at VCT Masters Tokyo was also their only notable result of the year. The North American squad finished VCT LOCK//IN Sao Paulo in ninth-16th and placed third in VCT Americas League, which isn't too inspiring.

So their bronze medal from VCT Masters Tokyo can either be viewed as a sign of improvement or a complete fluke.

An Outsider That Can Impress

Out of all the underdogs heading to VALORANT Champions 2023, EDward Gaming are the most interesting team. The Chinese squad weren't expected to accomplish much at VCT Masters Tokyo, but they ended up making it out of the group stage, eliminated LOUD (2-0) and nearly edged past Paper Rex (2-1), which is seriously impressive.

But most importantly, EDward Gaming have looked much improved in the VALORANT Champions 2023 Chinese qualifiers, suggesting that they're ready for another miracle run. I don't see EDG winning the championship, but priced at 13.00; they might be a bit underrated.

Assuming Paper Rex aren't much stronger with something and Evil Geniuses indeed overperformed at the VCT Masters Tokyo, it's easy to consider EDward Gaming as the better team. This is a big "what if", but at the offered betting odds, EDward Gaming are an interesting outsider pick.

Verdict

VALORANT Champions 2023

Even at 2.10, Fnatic are the clear choice to win VALORANT Champions 2023. They've been phenomenal this season, losing just one series the entire year, and unless something goes terribly wrong, Fnatic should be just as dominant at the world championship.

Another team I'm interested in is EDward Gaming, who performed surprisingly well at VCT Masters Tokyo and have since looked even better. They're still not at the same level as Fnatic, but EDward Gaming can defeat Paper Rex, so taking the Chinese squad to win Group A at 2.75 is an easy choice in my book.