VALORANT Champions 2025 Group B: Upset heaven for Fnatic?

VALORANT Champions 2025 is true across the nook, with 16 of the perfect groups throughout the VCT competing for its $2.25m (~£1.66m) prize pool.

Esports Insider’s second deep dive into this 12 months’s rivals takes a have a look at Group B, that includes Bilibili Gaming, Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ), Fnatic and MIBR. With every competitor having its fair proportion of challenges this 12 months, these 4 unstable variables undoubtedly make fan decide’ems tougher, but in addition enhance the chance of upsets.

Earlier than diving into Group B, don’t overlook to atone for Esports Insider’s VALORANT Champions Group A preview about Paper Rex, GIANTX, Sentinels and XLG Esports.

The group’s highest seed, Bilibili Gaming (BLG), finds itself matched towards three opponents that might all feasibly topple the VCT China Stage 2 champions. Though the Chinese language crew has been among the many prime performers in its area this 12 months, it has arguably stayed under its full potential till the later components of the season.

In prior VCT China seasons and its two earlier Champions appearances in 2022 and 2023, BLG turned recognized for its explosive playstyle spearheaded by the roster’s duelist Wang ‘whz’ Haozhe.

Nonetheless, the beginning of the 2025 season noticed BLG undertake extra systematic macro gameplay that’s most well-liked by Western groups. Given the roster’s underperformance regionally and at Masters Toronto, inserting Ninth-Tenth, there was an argument that the brand new playstyle didn’t go well with BLG’s gamers.

Throughout Stage 2, although, the crew has seemingly discovered a center floor which balances its signature fast-paced chaos with methodical macro sport plans. 

Whereas it stays to be seen whether or not this newfound look might be aggressive on VALORANT’s greatest international stage, BLG actually has the firepower to shock its first opponent, MIBR, on September fifteenth and set itself up for a deep event run.

The story of Group B’s second seed, Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ), is pretty much like BLG’s, with the VCT Pacific Stage 2 runner-up navigating completely different strategic approaches. In RRQ’s case, the ache level was this 12 months’s ever-changing meta, particularly relating to Tejo.

The initiator was notably essential to RRQ’s rise throughout VCT Pacific Stage 1. As an example this, the Pacific crew misplaced each Kickoff matches in January utilizing Tejo-less crew compositions after which received Stage 1 when VCT groups, together with RRQ, found Tejo’s power.

To RRQ’s demise, Tejo obtained his notorious ‘agent-killing’ nerf forward of Masters Toronto. What adopted was the crew’s early elimination from the event, possible attributable to the return to crew compositions with out the agent.

Nonetheless, RRQ learnt from these disappointments to conclude its Stage 2 regional run with a newly formed id. As an alternative of merely aligning with agent line-ups from international VCT position fashions, RRQ has developed its personal consolation crew comps. The crew has experimented quite a bit with double-duelist combos centred round Waylay and has even discovered success with a Tejo comp on Ascent. This type of play helped RRQ navigate a gruelling lower-bracket VCT Pacific Stage 2 playoff run, earlier than in the end falling to a powerful Paper Rex crew.

Regardless of the roster’s inconsistency all year long, RRQ’s stress-proven teaching workers may need ready simply the suitable technique to out-play its first opponent, Fnatic, on September fifteenth and redeem itself on the worldwide stage.

As the one organisation to qualify for each VALORANT Champions occasion up to now, Fnatic brings its long-standing legacy and expertise to Paris. For a number of years, the crew was thought of a reduce above the remainder of the EMEA area.

Though the roster missed out on the primary 2025 Masters competitors in Bangkok, Fnatic was as soon as once more EMEA’s final hope at Masters Toronto, making it to the Grand Closing earlier than dropping to Pacific’s Paper Rex. 

Nonetheless, the as soon as evident hole between the UK-based crew and its fellow VCT EMEA rivals has been shrinking. On the identical time, Fnatic’s power seems to be stagnating.

Nothing appears to show this concept greater than the crew’s Stage 2 run. After a powerful Group Stage efficiency, Fnatic skilled two consecutive upsets, first towards BBL Esports (1-2), adopted by GIANTX (0-2), and was eradicated early from the Playoffs. The roster nonetheless secured its Champions spot by way of VCT Factors, nevertheless it was a demoralising conclusion nonetheless.

To make issues worse, the brand new map pool takes away Fnatic’s greatest map, Icebox, whereas Lotus, arguably its second-worst map, stays.

So why does Fnatic nonetheless have a fairly good shot at making it out of this Group Stage? Properly, regardless of all its weaknesses, that is an efficiently-managed roster led by in-game chief (IGL) Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett with high-fragging potential throughout the board from the remainder of the roster.

Furthermore, Group Stage matches are solely best-of-threes (BO3s), which means that Fnatic can possible keep away from its weakest maps till later components of the event. On this group of shaky groups, Fnatic would possibly simply have the expertise and flexibility to make it out alive.

The ultimate crew of Group B is VCT Americas’ fourth seed, MIBR. The Brazilian organisation first made waves final 12 months with the signing of 2022 Champions winner and duelist legend, Erick ‘aspas’ Santos.

Joined by two hard-hitting rookies and former NRG participant Andrew ‘Verno’ Maust, the brand new MIBR roster reached third place at VCT Kickoff and Stage 1. At Masters Toronto, nevertheless, the crew hit a brick wall. Just like RRQ, MIBR recognised the necessity to transition away from Tejo within the post-Tejo meta however couldn’t sustain with the crew comp improvements made by different Toronto contestants. 

After an early elimination from the occasion, MIBR trialled completely different roster members on Yoru as a key element of in style double-duelist comps. This led MIBR to lose out on a Playoffs spot in Stage 2. It was solely due to its VCT Factors and an early playoff elimination from rival KRÜ Esports that MIBR certified for Champions.

Regardless of this bitter finish to the 2025 VCT Americas season, MIBR did look higher in its closing Stage 2 matches. Aspas appears to have accepted the Yoru position within the present roster, and lacking out on Stage 2 Playoffs ought to have given him further time to enhance on the agent within the shadows.

Contemplating the volatility of the upper seeds in Group B, MIBR followers can nonetheless hope for an upset and a possible Playoffs look by their favorite crew.

Followers can tune into VALORANT Champions Paris 2025 by way of VCT’s official Twitch and YouTube channels, beginning on September twelfth.