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The first round of play-offs is underway at VALORANT Champions 2023. At stake is $2,250,000, a percentage of sales from the Champions Bundle, and a world title.
It's a nice prospect, but only 1 team will be able to take it all. There will be 8 teams, including DRX and Bilibili Gaming.
Both teams can be safely called "dark horses", but both clubs are already in the play-offs, which only adds to the importance of the match and is an argument in favour of watching the match. An Asian derby to reach the semi-finals of the top flight, what could be better?
Let's try to see which of the teams will continue their march through the top flight and meet the winner of the EG/EDG pairing in the next round, and who will head to the lower flight to play for survival at the championship.
Ahead.
DRX Form.
Let's open the match with an analysis of DRX's form. In this match the team will play the first number one.
Bookmakers believe in the success of the Korean club. The odds on the victory of the first number of the South Korean region is at 1.2.
There is no need to be surprised by this state of affairs. DRX had an impressive performance in the group stage of Champions 2023, and before that, they took high places in third-party championships, including international championships.
The South Korean first team had a fruitful previous year. It won literally everything it could at home and made three appearances on the international stage.
DRX played the Masters twice, first in Reykjavik and then in Copenhagen. Both times they finished in the top 6.
The main achievement was Champions 2022. DRX Ledge and Optic Gaming in the match for the Grand Final and left the tournament on the third line.
- DRX roster: stax, Rb, Zest, BuZz, MaKo, Foxy9.
DRX came to Champions 2023 with 6 players in the core. The latest addition to the team is Foxy9, and the five of stax, Rb, Zest, BuZz and MaKo have been playing together since last January.
Before Long Conner Champions 2023, the team made a Top 4 appearance at LOCK//IN Sao Paulo, and 2 more placings at VCT 2023: Pacific League. There was also an appearance at VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo, but like LOUD, they failed to jump above the top 8.
In the first match, DRX faced the titular LOUD. The Koreans managed to run over their Brazilian counterparts 2-1: Lotus (13-15), Split (13-6) and Ascent (13-8).
For the top 1 in the group had to cope with NaVi on three maps: 15-13 Bind, 9-13 Split and 14-12 Lotus.
DRX Mappool
DRX's favourite map is Fracture. The team played 10 matches on it, winning 6 of them.
Next were Ascent and Haven with identical indicators. Both maps were played 9 times and two of them won 5 times each.
The worst situation is on Bind. There the team has 7 matches, but only 2 wins.
Bilibili Gaming form
We continue the match breakdown with the analysis of Bilibili Gaming's form. In the first round of play-offs BLG play the second number.
Bookmakers confirm the pre-match state of affairs. The odds for BLG to win are at around 4.
To deny the pre-match quotes is foolish. BLG is only on its way to becoming a top team, while DRX already has significant results in its portfolio.
Before reaching Champions 2023, Bilibili Gaming played exclusively on the home stage. At the same time, often Ledgeali more status compatriots.
Playing on the professional scene began at the beginning of the year with an appearance at the FGC Valorant Invitational. Then Bilibili Gaming took the top 10, which is difficult to call a decent result.
In May 2023, Bilibili Gaming jumped into the top 2 of the FGC Valorant Invitational 2023: Act 2. Ledgeili EDward Gaming in the finals, and that's an indicator.
- BIlibili Gaming lineup: whzy, rin, Kai, Knight, Yosemite, LostMe, Biank .
We got to Champions 2023 thanks to VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: China Qualifier. There we met EDward Gaming again in the grand-final and lost again, but we made it to Champions 2023 and that's the main thing.
In the debut match on the international stage BLG met NRG, the top 4 Masters, for a second. However, the high score in Tokyo did not help NRG earn a win against BLG and the Chinese club celebrated a 2-0 victory.
Buoyed by their victory over NRG, streaming on The International post-match preview, BLG travelled to play Fnatic and quickly received a cold shower. The European Grand closed out their Chinese counterparts with a 2-0 score.
Bilibili Gaming faced NRG in the match of their lives at the tournament. Being an absolute outsider, the Chinese managed to run over the American grands with a score of 2-0, thus guaranteeing themselves a place in the play-offs.
Mappool Bilibili Gaming
The most pickable players are Haven (17 games, 47% wins) and Lotus (15 matches, 67% wins).
Ascent (12 games, 67% wins) and Pearl (10 games, 60% wins) are also in the pool.
Among the weak peaks are Fracture (43% wins with 7 matches). Not playing Breeze.
History of head-to-head meetings DRX - Bilibili Gaming
This match is the debut face-to-face meeting of two Asian clubs.
Predicted result of the match DRX - Bilibili Gaming at VALORANT Champions 2023
Both teams showed a very nice performance through the group stage, and this hints at the thought of a cool first round play-offs match. However, the winner seems to be clear.
DRX are not only performing well at the prestigious events in the 2023 season, they managed to top Group D - the group of death - at Champions 2023. BLG in turn also did a good job, leaving NRG behind them in Group C, but still looked anything but ultimates.
I don't deny that BLG will take the map, but it will be extremely difficult to close the current DRX twice.
Bottom line: DRX win.
