The VALORANT Championship Tour 2022 EMEA Challengers 1 open qualifiers made for an action-filled three days for fans in Turkey. Now, the heat is turning up as eight teams are locked in to battle for the chance to represent Turkey in future high tier tournaments — and only one can do so by winning the first VCT Turkey Challengers closed qualifier.
But before the games begin, here are the teams competing and what you need to know about them.
Invited Teams
Futbolist
Futbolist are one of, if not the, most successful VALORANT team in Turkey. Now they have the chance to prove they will rival, maybe even surpass their streak of first place finishes of early 2021.
“Our restructure in 2022 allowed us to make a powerful roster,” said Futbolist’s VALORANT Team Manager Dağhan “da1mon” Eryılmaz. “This will let us fight to be at the top of our region like we were last year.”
To do that, they must first prevail against 2L8 tonight in the first match of VCT Turkey Challengers Closed Qualifier 1.
BBL Esports
As one of the most interesting teams of this year in Turkey — nay — in EMEA, BBL are the closest team to be the best in Turkey after Futbolist. With the addition of SMB’s star Melih “pAura” Karaduman and Doğukan “QutionerX” Dural, they want to make 2022 their year in the eyes of the world. This is the tournament to take the first step toward that. All that stands between them and the golden ticket to higher tier tournaments are four series against their top seven opponents.
Fire Flux Esports
In this exact tournament last year, Fire Flux Esports made it out of open qualifiers but did not manage to advance out of closed qualifiers. Now, they skipped the open qualifiers part, so it’s up to them to make it out this time. This is a chance at redemption for the four out of five players who couldn’t qualify last year, and a chance for Emre “JN3v1cEEE” Bekçe to prove himself.
Zero Zone
This tournament gives everyone who participates a chance at what they need. For Futbolist, it is a chance to keep the crown. For Fire Flux, it is a chance at redemption. But for Zero Zone, it is a chance at revenge.
They are faced up against SuperMassive Blaze, who knocked them to lower bracket during last year’s Stage 3 Challengers. Now is their shot to send them packing.
Open Qualifier Advancements
SuperMassive Blaze
Speaking of SuperMassive Blaze, they climbed through the ranks of open qualifiers with one of the most experienced rosters in Turkey. In an especially close match against Surreal Esports, they won 2-0 and earned their ticket to the closed qualifiers. Against Zero Zone, they will try to beat them once again, just like they did last year during Stage 3 Challengers.
Fenerbahçe Esports
Things did not work out as well as they could have been for Fenerbahçe Esports in 2021. At least as VALORANT pro play started in 2022, they did overcome their first hurdle in open qualifiers. This could be their year, for better or for worse. They only have to reach and grab it.
Galakticos
Some might say Galakticos got the easy ticket to closed qualifiers, but the important thing isn’t how you get there — it’s that you get there. As a newer team in the VALORANT scene, this might be the best chance they have to kick off their legacy by making their mark.
2L8
The biggest upset of the tournament so far, 2L8 are here after their impressive 2-1 victory over Thunderbolts Gaming. Now against the biggest teams of Turkey, they have to prove they deserve to keep their seat at the table. This is the beauty of open qualifiers — they allow for the most interesting of timelines to happen, provided teams have what it takes.
Tournament Schedule
The epic clash of the top eight teams to determine who will be the first TR representative start today and end on Monday. The schedule goes like this:
- Jan 13, 2021 – 10:00 a.m.
- Futbolist vs. 2L8
- Fire Flux Esports vs. Fenerbahçe Esports
- Jan 13, 2021 – 13:00 a.m.
- BBL Esports vs. Galakticos
- Zero Zone vs. SuperMassive Blaze
It’s always exciting to see the teams of a passionate region compete for the right to play in the big leagues. Now, the only thing to do is to sit back and see who prevails.
