GC Update #1: Approaching Champions

Strap in, this is a big one, as we have covered six regions, so feel free to skip around and read section by section.

EMEA

After the Series 2 Group Stage, 8 teams emerged victorious and continued on to the playoff stage, which started on July 25 and concluded on July 31. Based on their seeding, each team was placed differently — the first seed of each group received a BYE, while the teams that placed 4th in each group were put in the lower bracket.

In the first round of the upper bracket we saw Acend Rising challenge Tiger Anonymo. Although with a close 2–1 (9–13 Bind, 13–7 Haven, 13–11 Split) series, Acend knocked Anonymo down to the lower bracket and secured a matchup against KPI Shine, the Group A first seed.

On the other side of the upper bracket, Case Hydra and G2 Gozen battled it out to see who would meet BBL Queens, the first seed from Group B. Gozen showed why they are the reigning champions of EMEA, demolishing Case on Split 13–4 and winning Lotus in a close 13–11 match.

On day 2 we saw four matchups take place — two in the upper bracket and two in the lower bracket. The first of the lower bracket matchups was between Futbolist and Tiger Anonymo, two teams who ascended from Contenders and qualified for the Main Event. Futbolist came out victorious however, winning the series in 2–0 fashion.

The other clash saw Odd 1 OUT and Case Hydra fight for a chance to stay in the competition. Although O1O was a fairly new roster, while also being an F/A team, they exceeded expectations by making the Main Event and shocked us yet again by defeating Case for the second 2–0 of the day.

The other two games happened in the upper bracket, the first one being ACE vs KPI. The first map, Ascent, went the distance, ending in quintuple overtime with a 19–17 win for Acend. Possibly fatigued from the long first map, KPI couldn’t close the second map out, as they lost 7–13 and Acend secured a top 3 finish.

The last clash of the day was between BBL Queens and G2 Gozen. Gozen got their revenge from Series 1, winning 2–1 and sending BBL into the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals.

Day 3 took place entirely in the lower bracket, seeing two major upsets happen. Futbolist was put against BBL Queens. They overcame the challenge by winning the series 2–1 and eliminating BBL after a very dominant GC1 run. The other side saw Odd 1 OUT obliterate KPI Shine in a 2–0 series, once again going above and beyond and advancing into the Lower Bracket Semifinals.

Day 4 pitted the final four teams at opposite ends of the bracket to determine knockouts, advancements, and eliminations. FUT and O1O brawled in the lower bracket, clinging onto life as they battled it out til the end. However, the F/A team’s run would finally come to an end, finishing 4th. Their efforts were not in vain, as this is the farthest a Free Agent team has ever made it in the Main Event of GC EMEA. The other matchup saw Gozen once again prove their title as Champions by defeating Acend in a 2–1 series and advancing to the Grand Final.

The Lower Bracket Final happened on Day 5, as ACE and FUT fought to the finish for the Grand Final spot. Futbolist continued their Cinderella run, going above and beyond by winning all three maps 13–9, eliminating Acend and moving to the Grand Finale.

Finally, Day 6 presented us with the anticipated Finals between Futbolist and G2 Gozen. Although FUT was expected to finally defeat the titans of EMEA, G2 would not budge, defeating FUT 3–1 and winning yet another Game Changers event, their second of the year, and their sixth as a team (including last year’s world championship).

LATAM

In the Latin American Game Changers circuit, teams have been battling all season long to qualify for the playoffs in September. The regional format of the regular season for both North and South Latin America is a particularly grueling league, featuring a Open Qualifier, a Closed Qualifier, and then a rigorous six-team Double Round Robin main event. The top two teams from the main event qualify for the LATAM North or South Playoffs while 3rd, 4th, and 5th place teams are sent to the Last Chance Qualifier and the 6th is dropped to the relegation tournament to fight for their league spot. Two teams from the Last Chance Qualifier will have the opportunity to compete in the playoffs to be their sub-region’s representative in the head-to-head fight in Colombia for the sole LATAM spot in this year’s international Game Changers Championship.

After eleven weeks of competition, the Main Event leagues for both LATAM North and South have concluded. In LATAM North, FiRePOWER and SkullCracker Quartz qualified for the playoffs as the top two teams, managing to repeat their impressive first and second place finishes from the 2022 season. They tied with an 8–2 match record to qualify, but FiRePOWER clinched first place with a 17–4 map record compared to SKC.Q’s own 16–5. In 3rd-5th were Leviatán GC (6–4), Fusion X (5–5), and Akave Esports Black (3–7), who will play in LCQ at the end of the month for the two remaining playoff spots.

The sixth team that qualified for the league at the beginning of the season was Awake Gaming Female, which unfortunately was forced to exit the league as their organization’s owners decided to withdraw from Game Changers. As a replacement team, Six Karma Feminil was brought into the league in June but were not able to produce the results they wanted, ending in sixth place and being sent into relegation.

In the South, KRÜ BLAZE, the reigning representative of LATAM from the 2022 Game Changers Championship, tore through the competition with a spotless 10–0 match record. In second place was Globant Emerald Team (7–3), an emerging roster formed earlier this year from the previous core of Undead Gaming Female. In the LATAM South LCQ will be SunXet Fem (5–5), Optix Fem (4–6), and 9z Team GC (3–7). Dropped to the relegation tournament was Cruzados Esports Fem (1–9), which will have to prove their worthiness for their continued participation in the circuit.

For those looking to keep up with the circuit, the next events in LATAM are the Relegation Tournaments, which will occur on August 21st (South) and August 22nd (North) and determine next year’s league teams. For the teams still in contention for this year’s championship, the North and South Last Chance Qualifiers will take place from August 28th-30th.

APAC

APAC Open 3 was the last tournament to decide who would be going to APAC Elite. It started on 20 July with an Open Qualifier, where 8 teams emerged triumphant and moved onto the Playoff Stage on 26 July.

On day 1 of the Main Event we saw great performances from Fullspeed Sapphire, Team SMG, SCYTHE NWJ and RRQ Kaguya, all defeating their opponents in a 2–0 manner.

Day 2 would see the defeated teams battle it out in the lower bracket — here both Orangutan X and Deviant Topaz proved their worth by defeating Anomaly No Charms and Global Esports Phoenix respectively.

However, that would not be the end of this round as the upper bracket teams battled it out to advance into the Upper Bracket Final. SMG, who matched with SCYTHE and FS, who fought against RRQ both showed up and advanced into a meet-up for a spot in the Grand Final.

Day 3 would happen entirely in the lower bracket — here Kaguya performed a masterclass against Topaz, beating them 13–3 on Lotus and 13–3 on Pearl. They would continue to face off OGX, who also won their match against SCYTHE, losing 7–13 on Bind, but then coming back with a 13–10 Ascent and 13–6 Pearl.

On day 4 we saw the long anticipated battle between SMG and FS initiate. SMG, looking to take another first place, disassembled Sapphire with a 13–6 Pearl and 13–3 Bind and progressed to their third Grand Final in a row, looking to put a third Open win under their belt aswell. The other side of the bracket featured OGX and RRQ clashing to cling onto life in the playoff stage.

After a long series, RRQ came out on top, winning 2–1, ready to face Fullspeed, which would be the last game of the day. Kaguya showed diligence, and although the series went to the finish line with a 14–12 Pearl and 15–13 Lotus, they still emerged triumphant, upsetting FS and advancing to the Grand Final, something their current roster had not achieved as of then.

At long last, day 5, The Grand Final, where the top two teams, RRQ and SMG, collided to decide the victor of Open 3. With great performances from enerii and Alexy, Team SMG secured themselves another Open champion title, without dropping a single map.

With that the Open season for APAC concluded, confirming the six teams that qualified for Elite, with two more joining them after a Last Chance Qualifier.

Brazil

The Second Open Qualifier in Brazil concluded on 5 August, with one of the most interesting storylines the country’s Game Changers circuit has seen yet.

The Qualifier began on 2 August in a single elimination bracket with 16 teams. This round didn’t see many upsets, except mustang2023, who consist of star players like ex-LOUD let and ex-MIBR Badgal, winning against Cleiteam, previously known as Black Dragons.

Round two saw some very interesting matches — the most intriguing one being 00Nation versus Team Liquid Brazil. TL, who have cemented themselves as a titan in the BR GC scene would be upset in a 1–2 series against ZeroZero, winning Haven 13–10, but then losing Bind 7–13 and Ascent 10–13. This placed them at 5th-8th — their lowest placement to date. LOUD, who were also known as a very formidable opponent, were taken the distance when fighting against w7m. They almost lost the first map, Pearl, but eventually came out triumphant in Overtime, winning 14–12. The second map saw them dismantling their opponent in a 13–4 match on Split.

Round three was less of a nail-biter, as the games were rather one sided. LOUD met their match with MIBR, winning 13–9 on Fracture and devastating yet another team on Split, winning 13–3 and moving onto the Grand Final. The other side of the bracket saw 00Nation prove why they are a force to be reckoned with — they sweeped Project Z in a quick 13–4 (Haven) 13–3 (Pearl) series and advanced to clash with the First Qualifier winners in the Grand Final.

The Grand Finals went the distance, with very good performances from LOUD’s jelly and ZeroZero’s SRN. But in the end, with a miracle run, 00Nation came out as the victors, putting them 2nd at point distribution, only behind LOUD. This is a major improvement for this team, compared to their last Qualifier run, where they came in 5th-8th.

Japan

The Series 1 Main Event of the Japanese Game Changers began on 28 July, starting off with four teams that fought their way through the Open Qualifier, those teams being Reignite Lily, DRX Changers, ZETA DIVISION GC and UxMi ACE. This is a drastic change from last year, as three of the names mentioned had not ever participated in a GC event under their current organisation, with the odd one out being RIG. Another unexpected outcome we see is the absence of FENNEL, the winners of last year’s East Asia tourney, which decides who goes to the Game Changers Championship.

The format of the Main Event was a double elimination bracket, where only the winner would advance to Series 2. On day one ZETA and RIG advanced their way through the upper bracket, defeating ACE and DRX respectively.

Day two saw three matches in total, with the first one being DRX Changers versus UxMi ACE for the battle to stay in the competition. DRX came out victorious, defeating ACE in a 2–0 series. We then saw the brawl between ZETA and RIG — ZETA conquered their way to the Grand Final, with a 13–6 win on Ascent and 13–4 win on Split. With that, Reignite was set for their rematch against DRX. This time the cards were not in their favour though, as The Changers dismantled Lily in a quick 2–0 fashion.

The last day concluded on the 30th and presented us with the Grand Final to decide who is the best of the best and would qualify for Series 2. The first map was very convincing for DRX, as they won 13–3 on Ascent. On the second map however, the tables turned as ZETA won 13–8 on Haven and would win the other two maps 13–7 (Lotus) and 13–6 (Pearl), making them the victors of Series 1.

Korea

Korean Game Changers Series 1 kicked off with an open qualifier spanning July 22 and 23. Day 1 would consist of a ten team, single elimination bracket, with the top two teams advancing to the Main Event, and the remaining eight fighting for another chance in Day 2, with another single elimination bracket giving two more teams a spot in the Main Event.

On Day 1, Beyond Stratos Gaming and Lunatic would qualify for the Main Event, with Obelisk and Gen.G Global Academy securing their spots on Day 2.

The Main Event would be a double elimination four team bracket, with the top two teams automatically qualifying to Series 2. LH and Obelisk won their opening matches and secured a top three finish. Their victories would set them on a crash course towards each other, with a spot in Series 2 on the line.

LH won their match 2–0 against Obelisk, and secured their spot in Series 2, sending Obelisk for their shot at redemption, awaiting the winner of the first lower bracket match between Beyond Stratos and Gen.G.

In the first round of the lower bracket, BSG would advance with a 2–0 victory over Gen.G, winning 13–3 on both Split and Ascent. BSG now looked towards Obelisk, who was laying in wait from the upper finals.

The lower final between Obelisk and BSG would go the distance, with each team fighting for a spot in Series 2 and a top 2 finish. Each team stole their opponent’s map pick, and on the decider, Lotus, Obelisk would win 13–9, and secured their spot in the Grand Finals, which would be a rematch between Lunatic Hai-Flax and Obelisk.

Lunatic Hai-Flax would fully utilize their upper bracket advantage, banning two of Obelisk’s best maps in Split and Lotus. They would win 13–9 in their pick of Bind, squeaking out a 16–14 victory on Obelisk’s pick of Ascent, and would close out the series with a 13–5 victory on Pearl, taking the Series 1 championship with a 3–0 Grand Finals victory.