With VCT North America Game Changers 3 coming to an end, the results have been locked in. Here is what you need to know about the tournament. The tournament’s format was a double-elimination bracket for a best two out of three games in the winners or loser's bracket. The upper bracket quarterfinals were the start of the series, giving a chance for each team to show off their skills. The winners would be one step closer to the Grand Finals; however, the double-elimination bracket grants any losing team a second chance for a spot. Eight teams competed for a prize pool of $50,000 that would go to the participants by their placement.

Image courtesy of Liquipedia Valorant

Here is the list of teams:

Cloud9 White: Alexis, Annie, Jazzyk1ins, Katsumi, and MeL.

Shopify Rebellion: Flowerful, Diana, Panini, KP, It Not Han, and Lorri.

Dignitas: Emuhleet, Rain, Theia, Showliana, and Stefanie.

Gen.G Black: Carlee, Hannah, Leelee, Tiraye, and Lynn.

Counter Logic Gaming Red: Benita, Rise, Clawdia, Amnesia, and Bungee.

TSM Female: Athxna, Cath, Mle, LeahPanda, and Dodonut.

XSET Female: Arianarchist, Starriebun, ArtstaR, Maryna, and EllieTwitches.

Polaris: Zoessie, Starlight, Katriggered, Lunah, and Kxtieoh.

The first game kicking off the series at playoffs was Dignitas versus TSM; both teams had previously played each other in the Open Qualifier and later in the play-ins. The roster for Dignitas has been together for a long time. Specifically, Emily and Rain have played together since 2014, showing their skillful abilities in the rematch. These ladies work hard and correct their mistakes; they somehow bounce back and recover whenever their backs are against the wall. They are not just competitive in their matches but blow the opposing team out of the water to win. The map Ascent was chosen by TSM while Dignitas chose Breeze, with Bind as the decider; Haven and Icebox were banned out.

By the half on Ascent, Dignitas claimed nine rounds out of the 12 on the defending side, and TSM claimed three on the attacking side. What was most effective for Dignitas in the first half was not only the fundamentals but Theia fragging as Killjoy. She was able to get multi-kills either on the site she is defending or retaking. TSM started to turn the game around during the half claiming rounds 16-18. They tried to close the gap near the 19th round; Cath was put into a one-on-one situation with Theia, but Theia clutches the round, ending the map 13 to 6.

On the second map, Breeze, Dignitas starts on the attacking side and TSM defending. The first half was incredibly close; Rain was lurking as Omen and was consistently behind enemy lines. She was able to control the middle of the map multiple times using the hallways and found success. Before the first half ends, TSM pulls a flawless round, with Dodonut taking three kills before the swap.

TSM had a five-man stack to push on the B site at the beginning of the second half, but Dignitas had their setup to nullify them. Rain and Stefanie both played aggressively to counter TSM’s plan with an Omen blind and Jett dash. However, Mle shut them down, picking up two kills, making it a five versus three. But Theia cleaned up three kills afterward when TSM tried to push onto the site after what seemed to be a clean early execution on two players. Showliana and Dodonut ended the round in a one versus one situation, but Showliana jigglepeeks the corner at the elbow, clutching the round.

TSM closes the gap again in the second half, winning six rounds in a row and even bringing the match into overtime. Dignitas takes the first win in overtime and sets up match point. TSM plays it slowly, trying to get a pick on the opposing team, but with 30 seconds left on the clock, they force themselves onto a site. Unfortunately, Showliana and Rain shut down the plant of LeahPanda and Cath. The time was running out for Athxna and Dodonut to replant the bomb, and the clock hits zero before they're able to. Dignitas wins in some of the more unique ways, and they keep it that way against TSM taking both maps in a 2 to 0 fashion.

An anticipated early match was Cloud9 White versus XSET, and many looked forward to watching Cloud9 White because they are the defending champions. They won Series 1 and 2, which put immense pressure on them to see if they could hold their title. Their in-game leader executing these plays is MeL, who is an incredible mechanical player. She may not consistently be topping the leaderboards as a Sentinel, but she controls the map incredibly well, especially on Haven. The live stream on Twitch and YouTube shows a clear favorite in the audience, Cloud9 White, but XSET does have fanfare behind them with this new organization backing them. Previously known as NOTHING2LOSE, the organization picked them up before the main event. Bind was chosen by XSET Female and Haven selected by C9 White, with Ascent as a decider.

The match on Bind started with XSET attacking with a five-man stack and fast push onto the A site. Arianarchy gets the first blood on MeL, followed by ArtStar, who gets two headshot kills onto Katsumi and Chobo. The rest of the Cloud9 team defending B site slowly makes their way over from defender spawn. Jazzyk1ns manages to get one kill onto Maryna, but the remaining Cloud9 is shut down by Arianarchy getting three kills on the pistol round. The first half is tied up at 6 to 6. Cloud9 was pushed around at the beginning but could get back to their winning ways.

The swap between the team comes through, and slowly Maryna and ArtStar push through the showers on A site. Alexis holds a tight corner near the attacker’s spawn, shooting one of them, and MeL follows up to get the second pusher. Cloud9 had a complete setup across the map and XSET’s plan crumbled in that beginning pistol round. From there, Cloud9 wins every round to close the second half out 13 to 6.

On the second map Haven, C9 White claims the pistol round attacking. However, XSET capitalized their rounds in the first half, taking the lead against Cloud9. There is a two-round deficit for Cloud9 heading into the second half of Haven, but they claim a flawless pistol round on the defense side. XSET manages to bring the game to a match point during round 20, Arianarchy claiming her quadra-kill in a one versus one situation against Katsumi. Except Cloud9 was not backing down from this match; they won four rounds in a row, bringing the game into intense overtime. Cloud9 then continues to take both rounds in the overtime, playing for picks on both defense and attack.

The third match was Gen.G Black versus Polaris. Both teams continuously ran it back from losses to wins in the lower brackets in the Open Qualifiers, gaining their spots in the main event. Zoessie on Polaris built the team from the ground up; the roster had been together for two weeks before qualifying. They are an experienced squad of players who are not yet experienced together, and it is impressive how far Polaris has come in such a short time. During map selection, Breeze and Haven are banned, while Polaris picks Icebox and Gen.G Black selects Ascent, with Bind as a decider.

The first pistol round on Icebox was a complete retake for Polaris on the defending side, and Lynn prevented Polaris on the defuse with four kills. Gen.G does not hold back in the first half, winning seven rounds in a row; however, Gen.G still plays the offensive side carefully, fully recognizing how dangerous Polaris can be. In the eighth round, Polaris finally puts a number on the scoreboard by committing defending against an A hit. Katriggered managed to stop the plant on LeeLee, but Tiraye traded her teammate trying to continue the plant. Except Kxtieoh spamming the Odin spray into Tiraye’s Viper Pit, and the planter goes down. The first half ended with a 10 to 2 favoring Gen.G, unfortunately, an eight-round deficit for Polaris, but they played differently as they switched over to the attacking side.

Katriggered has first blood in the swap onto Lynn during the pistol round, but a clutch comes from Hannah with three kills. Both teams forcebuy the next round, especially Polaris, to make this investment and win the match. Unfortunately, they lose it, and that sets Gen.G at match point. Unexpectedly, a sudden shift changes in Polaris winning ten rounds in a row. They fight flawlessly to their last breath and almost flip the game, but their win streak comes to an end by not holding down the A-site strong enough. Carlee closes the map with three kills strong and brings her team one win away to advance.

On the last round of the second map's first half, Ascent, Gen.G has a slow start trying to make sure they can secure the best at the half. Tiraye uses her Astra ultimate, faking a play on the A site, but Katriggered is defending the entrance close with a Judge shotgun. However, she hears the opposing team’s footsteps stray away from the A site, instantly calling out the quick rotation. Polaris had already given up the B site leaving Lynn to lurk through the defenders’ spawn and kill Lunah. However, Gen.G only had ten seconds left on the clock to plant, but Leelee cleaned up two kills on Zoessie and Starlight at the mid-market. She catches the remaining Polaris players on the rotate, saving her team the time to plant and winning the round to close the half 10 to 2.

Polaris could make another comeback, such as the first map winning 10 in a row. They beat the pistol round and even secured the next round with their force buy, with Lunah picking up three kills as Reyna. Gen.G decides to shut down their early game as Carlee has an Odin in hand and Hannah’s lockdown ultimate as Killjoy. Gen.G Black’s 13 to 4 victory on Ascent will find an overall two to zero success on the series. Not only do they send Polaris down into that lower bracket, but they look to play Shopify Rebellion ahead.

Lastly, Shopify Rebellion versus CLG Red. Both teams had seen roster changes and a lot of new players since their previous matches. Shopify Rebellion has a six-player roster, which is ordinarily not ideal, but it works for their team due to the flexibility it offers. They've been making the changes and improvements against tough opponents consistently. These teams have a history in the previous Game Changer events, meeting in the Upper Bracket semifinals and then again in the Lower Finals of Series 2. The maps Bind and Split were selected by Shopify Rebellion and Icebox by CLG Red.

The first map Bind kicked off as a complete retake on the A site for CLG, giving up space and letting Shopify take over. The pistol round ends as It Not Han’s getting the last kill on Clawdia, an excellent start for Shopify. By the ninth round, Shopify had claimed eight rounds in a row, but CLG finally gets one as Amnesia secures the kill on Flowerful in a one versus three situation. They take one more before the swap, the score starting the second half was 10 to 2. Shopify only needed three rounds to claim victory on Bind, but CLG made a short comeback in the second half, winning five rounds back-to-back. However, KP shuts down her opponents’ rotation from the teleporter by holding an Operator in the A site showers. She picks up not only three important kills but the map as well.

The following map, Split, which is Defender-sided, can be a game-changer for either team. However, CLG started on the attacking side but managed to win in the first half with another 10 to 2. Shopify began the second half strong, executing onto site because of Astra’s two picks on KP and Viper on Panini. CLG could fly around that combo on attacking, but Shopify is doing just as well with their double setup. Shopify gives KP as Astra with that flexibility; she can try to fake them out with her stars or pull something sneaky off. CLG puts an end to Shopify’s win streak by purchasing an operator and putting it in Benita’s hands. She got picks off of mid, an aggressive B garage push, or retaking the A site towards the end of the game. Benita closes things out for CLG; they see the dominant win by Shopify in the first match, and they do it just one better by 13 to 6.

The last map, Icebox, determined who would advance into the semi-finals. Shopify Rebellion took total control over the map that CLG had chosen and took the series 2 to 1. Shopify breaks the curse and wins two maps; they expected CLG to take them in Icebox, but it is clear that they put in the prep work. Lorri came online during Icebox playing as Jett, and she was sitting at the top on the scoreboard because she created space for her team. The matchup is fighting for that number one contender spot, and Shopify was doing just that, putting CLG in the lower bracket.

The eight teams fight for a winning streak, but only four teams can advance. Cloud9 White, Dignitas, Gen.G Black, and Shopify Rebellion will face each other in the semi-finals. However, a second chance is given to XSET Female, TSM Female, Polaris, and CLG Red.

The top four teams that impacted the remainder of the Series are C9 White, Shopify Rebellion, Dignitas Female, and XSET Female. The reigning champions in the Game Changers North America, Cloud9 White, dominated in the Upper Bracket, taking out both Dignitas and Shopify Rebellion in 2 to 0 fashion. But while Dignitas lost to Cloud9 White during the semifinals, they phenomenally used their second chance in the lower bracket. They overcame CLG Red and XSET Female, climbing their way towards the lower bracket final.

Dignitas and Shopify Rebellion both are seeking revenge against Cloud9 White. There was a lot on the line for both teams, hoping to stretch out their records. Shopify Rebellion has gotten third place in the last two Game Changers, and Dignitas had already shown a better result than the previous two tournaments. On both maps for Dignitas versus Shopify Rebellion, they went into intense double overtime. The games were incredibly close, and while there were a couple of moments on the map where the teams needed to adjust micro situations and put into an uncomfortable spot, they had to make those speedy calls. Indeed, these teams delivered quite a performance, and scores like 12 to 10 can go into any teams’ favor. However, the road ends in the VCT Game Changers 3 for Dignitas, placing third overall. Shopify takes both maps Bind and Haven and advances into the Grand Finals against Cloud9 White.

The Grand Finals are not only a rematch but a chance to take home the first-place title. Shopify Rebellion versus C9 White is a best of five with a fight coming from both sides and nothing to lose mentality. However, the favorites throughout the tournament are Cloud9 White, who had not dropped a map until the third game. They looked untouchable at first, but Shopify Rebellion was able to claim at least one, Haven. C9 White claimed the first, second, and fourth map in the Grand Finals, and the reigning champions continue to hold their title for VCT Game Changers North America Series in a 3 to 1.

Conclusion

It’s one thing to become the champion, but we now have a three-time Game Changers champion in Cloud 9 White. They have created a legacy for themselves and defended their title once again. Shopify Rebellion prepared themselves to the best of their abilities, the score lines being closed, and even took a map off C9 White. Katsumi even mentioned the games had felt different since they last played in the Upper Bracket finals.

The level of competitiveness and the work ethic of each team is apparent. Yes, the results went to C9 White again, but these games have been the closest so far throughout the Series. The level of competition in the future Game Changers will be thrilling to watch because whether it was from Shopify Rebellion or the teams that fought their way through the playoffs from the likes of XSET, CLG Red, Dignitas, etc. There is so much talent amongst these women waiting to be seen.