Today’s decider matches at VALORANT Champions 2025 left EMEA fans with mixed feelings as Team Liquid was eliminated from the event while GIANTX qualified for the playoffs.
As a result, Team Liquid’s opponent, DRX, advanced to the playoffs while GIANTX eliminated VCT China’s final representative XLG Esports.
Team Liquid Falls to DRX
VCT EMEA Stage 2 champion Team Liquid has become the only EMEA team to not reach the Playoffs at VALORANT Champions 2025. The roster lost its Group C rematch versus VCT Pacific’s fourth seed, DRX, 0-2.
For the first map, Team Liquid picked its statistically worst map, Corrode. Not only that, but Corrode saw Liquid’s in-game leader (IGL), Ayaz ‘nAts’ Akhmetshin, play duelist for the first time in his five years as a VALORANT competitor at an event.
Although this decision seemed like a solid curveball at first, Liquid suffered heavily from its lack of preparation. On the back of a pistol round win, the EMEA squad achieved a solid 6-6 attack half. Notably, Team Liquid struggled against DRX’s defensive Operator and Vyse wall on B, but converted several rounds thanks to set executes on A and prodding on B.
However, the tides turned when DRX won the second pistol and the bonus round in the second half. Liquid couldn’t hold the B site for several reasons. First, its set Waylay plays on defence often looked disjointed. More importantly, though, Liquid didn’t seem prepped to deny DRX’s fast Waylay entries, despite having access to demos of the dash pathing. DRX abused these gaps to steal Liquid’s map pick 13-8.
DRX chose to head to Abyss next, where the team had previously defeated Team Liquid. After a pistol round win, DRX struggled to defend against Liquid’s slower attack pace compared to the fast site hits the EMEA squad preferred during the prior Abyss showing. However, Cho ‘Flashback’ Min-hyuk on the Operator and brave Omen teleport plays from IGL Kim ‘MaKo’ Myeong-kwan helped DRX even out the halftime score (6-6).
In the second half, DRX showcased its diligent preparation for the rematch against Team Liquid. For instance, the Korean roster exploited Liquid’s KAY/O knife to sell a B-hit and secure its attack pistol round on A. On top of these planned micro changes, the team drew out much of Team Liquid’s defensive utility by unpredictably alternating the pacing of its sit hits. The result was another Abyss victory (13-7).
Flashback concluded the series with a kill-death ratio (KDA) of 40/26/5 and 180 average damage per round (ADR).
GIANTX Eliminates XLG Esports
The day continued with the Group A decider match between VCT EMEA Stage 2 runner-up GIANTX and China’s third seed XLG Esports. This time, it was the EMEA representative that came out on top to eliminate its opponent from the tournament (2-0).
XLG had a strong start on its map pick, Bind, where it was well equipped for the opponent’s aggressive defence tendencies. On the back of a pistol round win and bonus conversion, the Chinese team scored an 8-4 attack half lead.
GIANTX’s attack, however, saw the EMEA squad retaliate with a bonus round conversion of its own. Fuelled by two crucial thrifty-round wins and a successful force-buy, GIANTX persevered through a scrappy second half to reach overtime.
Although both teams had previously looked more comfortable on Bind’s defence side, GIANTX had the stronger strategies in overtime. For its defence round, the team surprised its opponent with a sneaky player insertion in the deep A-main corner. On the attack, GIANTX then exploited a misplaced Brimstone molotov to burst out of A and win 14-12.
Facing early elimination from Champions, XLG had to prove itself on one of GIANTX’s best maps, Ascent. Unfortunately for the Chinese team, a 7-5 defence half wasn’t enough to make a comeback happen. GIANTX already showed promise on attack where it won another pistol round.
Whilst XLG’s Teng ‘happywei’ Min-wei could hold off the enemy with his Cyper trapwires in the first half, his attack side was quieter. It was once again GIANTX that claimed the second pistol round. Moreover, Eduard-George ‘ara’ Hanceriuc on Jett wielded a deadly Operator to punish XLG’s site entries. Whenever the rookie wasn’t around, his teammates stepped up and delivered impressive multi-kills.
Still, ara was by far the best-performing player on the roster, scoring a combined kill-death ratio (KDA) of 54/31/4 and a 304 average combat score (ACS). He sealed GIANTX’s Playoffs qualification with a knife kill in the final round on Ascent (13-10).
Only Two Playoffs Spots Remain
Following the teams’ victories today, DRX and GIANTX have qualified for the VALORANT Champions 2025 Playoffs, starting on September 25th.
The organisations join Paper Rex, NRG, Fnatic and Team Heretics, which have already advanced to the Playoffs thanks to their undefeated Group Stage runs.
However, two Playoffs slots are still up for grabs, which will be assigned based on the results of tomorrow’s decider matches. At 2 PM BST, Group D’s T1 and G2 Esports will fight for survival at Champions. Afterwards, Group B’s MIBR and RRQ will take the stage.
