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VALORANT Champions Tour 2021 Challenger Series 1 Matchup Odds and Picks – NRG Favored Against Gen.G

Jarrod Langford

by Jarrod Langford in eSports

Updated Mar 12, 2021 · 12:49 PM PST

League of Legends
Spectators watch the final of League of Legends tournament between Team G2 Esports and Team FunPlus Phoenix, in Paris, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
  • Valorant Champions Tour 2021 Challenger Series 1 begin on February 4th, 2021 at 03:00 PM EST
  • Double Elimination Bracket where the top four guarantees an automatic spot in Challenger Series 2
  • Read below for odds, analysis, and my best bet for one of the biggest events in Valorant history

Valorant Challenger Series 1 is the first of three Challenger Series events in what is known as the Valorant Champions Tour 2021. Each Challenger series begins with an open qualifier bracket that fields 128 teams. The top eight teams in the open qualifier will play in a double-elimination bracket to crown a Challenger Series 1 Champion.

Alongside a prize purse that tops at $20,000 for first place, the top four finishers in Challenger Series 1 will have an automatic bid into the Challenger Series 2.

Having an automatic bid into Challenger Series 2 puts a team one step closer to playing in the Valorant Master Series. The top four teams in Challenger Series 2 will have a spot in the coveted Valorant Masters Series on March 13th, 2021. The remaining teams will have one last chance to qualify for masters by competition in the Challenger Series 3.

With the amount of overall talent in the North American Valorant scene, this tournament will hold more weight than the most recent First Strike event. The limited amount of overall spots in the Valorant Masters North America will truly put many newly formed rosters to the test. Will they elevate themselves? Or will they simply crack under the mounting pressure?

Valorant North America Challenger Series 1 Odds

Team Spread Moneyline Total
NRG eSports -1.5 (+180) -140 O 2.5 (-115)
Gen.G +1.5 (-260) +120 U 2.5 (-120)
Team Spread Moneyline Total
Sentinels -1.5 (+150) -215 ) 2.5 (-105)
Luminosity +1.5 (-180) +150 U 2.5 (-125)
Team Spread Moneyline Total
Immortals -1.5 (+150) -140 O 2.5 (-110)
XSET +1.5 (-235) +125 U 2.5 (-120)
Team Spread Moneyline Total
Envy -1.5 (+140) -220 O 2.5 (+100)
Andbox +1.5 (-170) +160 U 2.5 (-130)

Odds as of Feb. 3

Luminosity Look to Repeat the Upset

Coming off the back of one of the best underdog runs in Valorant history, Luminosity look to keep moving forward. Having faced off against Sentinels in the Nerd Street Gamers Winter Championship finals on January 17th, Luminosity managed to upset Sentinels 3-2 in an intense best-of-five.

After a much-needed roster overhaul, Luminosity has risen from the ashes with the addition of YaBoiDre, and recent CS:GO player transition Moose. This has added some much needed firepower to the struggling core that has opened up Thief to play a more aggressive role. With official contracts still in the works, this tournament is a further proving ground for the two new additions to earn a permanent spot in the lineup.

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Sentinels come into this match with the proverbial chip on their shoulder. Having once been known as the best Valorant team in North America, have they been knocked off their throne? Not in my opinion.

This is an ideal bounce-back spot for Shazham and his Sentinels. While Luminosity did manage to win the last matchup between the two teams, what they did show in this past open qualifier is they do not like to play Haven.

In their past five maps on Haven, they have lost three times. Two of those losses were in dramatic fashion holding them to under five rounds in total. Sentinels go into this matchup daring Luminosity to prove them wrong. This line opened around -190/-200, so jump on it now before the odds get shorter.

Pick: Sentinels ML (-215)

Best Play of the Day

With the addition of Infinite and Shanks to fill out the remaining spots in the roster, NRG has been trending upwards. NRG and Gen.G battled a week ago to decide seeding for the Challenger Series Quarter-Finals where they ended up drawing each other once again.

NRG managed to grasp early onto the style of attack Gen.G was focusing on, especially on bind. Shawn focused on a double blast pack attack through the smoke for the most part. He acted as a decoy to pull attention away from the primary prongs of the attack. While the style of play is interesting, to me it shows a complete lack of team play. Focusing primarily on individual plays and gimmicky movements is not a winning strategy.

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It comes as no surprise to me that Gen.G significantly struggled on the offensive side. Gen.G lacks a true OP presence on their team, which means NRG is not scared to act aggressively on defense. NRG showed their ruthlessness especially on Bind, where they continuously pushed and brought the fight to Gen.G.

Daps took full advantage of the communication struggles from Gen.G. Understanding that they are coming into this tournament with a brand new coach and a newly signed fifth player. Fighting off a coordinated aggressive attack strategy without an OP to warn them off was too much for them in the end.

Overall, gimmicky attack setups are hit or miss. Gen.G could get some early momentum off the back of raw skill and aggression, or they could be shoved into the meat grinder again. I will back the team with better chemistry. NRG opened as +125 underdogs, and have been bet all the way down to -140.

Pick: NRG eSports ML (-140)

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