Game Changers Series 1 Preview

Following Riot’s announcement of a shorter offseason than previously expected, many organizations scrambled to find their roster for the upcoming Game Changers year, while others released their talent, citing the shorter offseason as a reason they could not sign a roster up to their standards in time.

This resulted in a surge of free agency, as many top teams disbanded, rendering many top players unsigned talent, ready to create the challengers of 2024, looking to take the region’s crown from Shopify Rebellion.

Ahead of the Series 1 main event, we decided to bring together a preview of each team, giving viewers a chance to familiarize themselves with the names that will be lighting up their screens this week.

Shopify Rebellion

The champions are back from Brazil and after a shorter than expected break, they turned their eyes towards the first open qualifier.

As the top seed in the qualifier, they would not miss a beat from their world championship, winning their first four matches by an average of 10.25 rounds per map.

They would drop their first map of the year against Passion Project, but they would advance nonetheless to the grand finals, where they would face the newly formed FlyQuest RED roster, taking them down 2–1 to secure the top seed in the main event.

After securing their spot in the main event, they would return to action only days later, trying to qualify for the North American Challengers league. In their first attempt, they would fall to Winthrop University, the eventual qualifiers, and 1337, who would come one series away from qualifying. They would end placing 9th-12th.

They would forego the second Series 1 open qualifier, as they had already qualified, instead looking forward to the second Challengers qualifier, where they would fall to Mochi Fanclub and 5donkeyshehe, placing 25th-32nd and ending their qualifier hopes.

Shopify Rebellion will play Supernova Galaxy in the first round of the Main Event.

Passion Project

After Complexity and Disguised left the Game Changers scene, the players were left with decisions on how to band together to take on 2024.

Jazzykins and Karra from Complexity came together with lazylion and unstable from Disguised to make a formidable roster, rounded out with experienced smokes player cbui, recently a member of Supernova Galaxy.

Starting in the first open qualifier, they would drop a total of eight rounds in the group stage, advancing to the bracket stage, dropping their first map against Shopify Rebellion in the semifinals, where they would fall 1–2.

They would continue their momentum in the second open qualifier, dropping 15 rounds in the group stage, and not dropping a map until the grand finals, where they would defeat FlyQuest RED, taking the second seed in the main event.

Shortly before the main event kicked off, an announcement was made that Karra would be leaving the team to pursue their education, and in their place Passion Project would field PowerPixele, formerly of Evil Geniuses and Complexity GX3.

Passion Project will face Infinity X in the first round of the Series 1 Main Event on March 5.

FlyQuest RED

After being unable to qualify for the Cozy Clash main event in the off-season, FlyQuest RED decided to rebuild their squad, joining Shopify Rebellion as one of the few organizations fielding rosters in Series 1.

In early January, the organization parted ways with emluo and it not han, with mle moving to a content creator position later in the month, leaving only athxna and dodonut as members of the roster that made a miracle run in 2023’s Series 1, playing from multiple different facilities following CLG’s acquisition by NRG.

On January 22, FlyQuest announced their retooled roster, with three members who have attended a Game Changers Championship in sonder, formerly of Shopify Rebellion, and Theia and StarBound, formerly of Evil Geniuses. RED would continue their star-studded signings by adding L4CE from Complexity, alongside keeping dodonut as their primary duelist.

The new roster would breeze through the first open qualifier, not dropping a map until the grand finals, where they would face off against the reigning world champs, Shopify Rebellion, losing 1–2.

In the second open qualifier, they would once again start strong, although they would drop a map against Supernova Galaxy. They would also be unable to win the finals once more, losing to Passion Project 1–2, although they secured the third seed in the Main Event through their consistent performance in both qualifiers.

FlyQuest RED will face YFP X in the first round of the Main Event.

Decimate

Competing under the banner “misu’s qts” the roster of rise, karie, emluo, xann, and misu took down their first four opponents in the first open qualifier without dropping a map, including main event adversaries YFP X and Infinity X before losing to FlyQuest RED in the semifinals.

They would once again make it out of the group stage cleanly in the second open qualifier, and take down mesos millionaires in the bracket. However, they would fall in the quarterfinals to Passion Project, the eventual victor.

After the conclusion of the qualifiers, the official Valorant Esports NA account on X released a preview of the bracket, replacing misu’s qts with Decimate, with an official announcement coming on March 4.

Decimate will begin their run in Series 1 against The Boys.

The Boys

Starting their tournament run in Group L of the first open qualifier, the roster of asuya, angie, miyara, maple, and Australis was able to make it out without dropping a map, defeating Cinnabuns and Teddy Tactics. However, in the bracket, they would fall to unpaid dogs 1–2, ending their run in the first open qualifier.

They would need to put together a strong run in the second open qualifier to qualify for the main event, starting against Tea Guzzlers and Endure White, taking them both down 2–0 to advance to the bracket stage. They would then take down Cherry Bomb and Serendipity 2–0, and 2–1 respectively before losing to FlyQuest RED.

They would acquire enough qualifier points to qualify to the main event, taking the fifth overall seed in the main event and the third spot in the points qualifiers.

The Boys will begin their run in Series 1 against Decimate.

YFP X

YFP X secured themselves a spot in the Main Event for the first time ever after an astounding showcase in the second closed qualifier, making it to the semifinals.

The roster consisting of Sekkya, korosu, Kazler, Raven and nekoaimer, broke the barrier with commendable games against Neons Quartz (2–0), Decimate (0–2), fish with no eye (2–0) and Teddy Tactics (0–2) in the first closed qualifier. They got eliminated in the Round of 16. This however was not the end of their journey.

In the second closed qualifier they came prepared and ready to prove the doubters wrong. They went on an amazing winning streak against Endure White (2–0), unpaid dogs, who consist of the previous Misfits core (2–0) and Infinity X, who also made it to the main event (2–0). They finally fell to Passion Project, who would end up winning the qualifier, in the Semifinals.

Although a fairly new team, YFP X has lots of cards up their sleeves. They will debut their Series 1 Main Event against FlyQuest RED.

Infinity X

Infinity X, an established name in the North American Game Changers scene, starting in series 2 of last year, with a roster of sadeel, lyla, ramenluvr, ashl3y, and Car. However, in the offseason they would part ways with their existing roster and head for a complete rebuild. Their new roster would consist ofElab0rate, Pyro, caya1, speq, and drea.

The new roster would begin in the group stage against A Forgotten Kingdom, who they would defeat twice to get out of the group, following a defeat at the hands of unpaid dogs. They would continue their run against Bumble Bees and Supernova Galaxy, before falling to misu’s qts in the quarterfinals.

Having secured a decently high finish in the first qualifier, a strong second run would allow them to qualify for the main event. They would begin their quest against AST Luminescent, taking them down 2–0, then once again defeating Bumble Bees to advance to the bracket. They would defeat :3 2–0 in the round of 16, but fall at the hands of YFP X in the quarterfinals.

Infinity X will begin their Series 1 run against Passion Project.

Supernova Galaxy

Supernova Galaxy is a well known name in the Game Changers scene. Coming out of a dominating win in The Cozy Clash, beating Complexity 3–1 in the Grand Finals, they were looking better than ever.

They had a perfect run in the group stage, not having lost a single map. In the first closed qualifier however, having a first round BYE, they lost their very first battle against Infinity X (1–2) in the RO16.

The roster composed of JULIA, evv, panday, avery and rayne made it out of the group stage in the second qualifiers as well, however they would need at least a top 8 finish to have a chance of making it to the Main Event. They achieved this task by having a first round BYE again and later defeating Getting Info in a convincing 2–0 series. They tried to secure their spot in the Closed Qualifier Semifinals against FlyQuest RED but ultimately lost in a very close 1–2 series.

After the qualifiers SNG were tied for 8th place, the last to make it to the Main Event, with four other teams. In the end, Supernova won the tiebreaker and advanced to pit their wits against the other teams.

SNG will make their debut in the Series 1 Main Event against the Game Changers Championship winners — Shopify Rebellion.

Bottom Line

The North American Game Changers Series 1 main event will kick off at 2 pm PST on March 5, with Shopify Rebellion vs Supernova Galaxy and Decimate vs The Boys.