After a miraculous reverse sweep in yesterday’s semifinal and almost a year to the day since their failed VALORANT Champions Tour Ascension bid, you’d think the scriptwriters had M80 penned for redemption against 2Game. Unfortunately for the North American roster, it wouldn’t be their day—again.
Brazilian underdogs 2GAME will instead earn the coveted VCT 2025 Americas slot after a narrow 3-2 grand final victory at the Ascension tournament yesterday. M80 was up 2-1 in the final and were one solid Haven away from tasting top-flight VALORANT next season, but the Brazilian squad rallied to take the fourth and fifth map with relative ease, consigning the North American team to another year in the Challenger circuit.
“The feeling of not knowing what comes next for my career is eating me alive,” M80’s Brendan “BcJ” Jensen said following the loss on X/Twitter, with his teammates issuing similar messages regarding the squad’s future. The Canadian core of the roster including Gianfranco “koalanoob” Potestio, Marc-Andre “NiSMO” Tayar, and captain Alexander “Zander” Dituri all suffered through last year’s defeat to The Guard in the same series.
“My dream was to make VCT so I can try to prove myself in the last couple of years I have as a player,” NiSMO said. “Months and months of hard work all to finish second again… I didn’t accomplish my goal as a father and that’s what hurts me the most,” he concluded, reiterating his target of joining the Americas league and leaving behind a “draining” Challengers schedule.
M80 was all but flawless throughout the final season of Challengers 2024. The team dropped one map on the way to the North American championship and the spot in Ascension, where they defeated all to take a top seed in the playoffs. It’s there where they floundered in the opener against 2GAME, meaning they’d need to fight through the lower bracket to make it to the VCT.
Fight they did; M80 took down Galorys before pulling off a miracle reverse sweep against All Knights to book a rematch against 2GAME. It’s there where their 2025 plans for VCT promotion were put to bed.
On the flipside, it was utter jubilation for 2GAME who finished third in both splits of the Brazilian Challengers division this year. They began strongly at Ascension but losses to All Knights, Galorys, and M80 at the end of the round-robin stage had them limping into the playoffs. But when they needed to step up the most, they did, running the bracket to the final win over M80.
“I really have no words to describe it. We were just there at the right time with the right people and we just made it,” finals MVP Brenno “zap” Roberto said post-game. “We were the underdogs, we will be again in VCT, but the other teams will need to respect us and our region.”
They’ll need to maintain their form through the offseason and into the VCT Americas league, which begins with KICK//OFF in January 2025. “We’re on our best level and you can expect a lot more from us next year,” Caio “silentzz” Morita said.
As for M80, it’s back to the Challengers circuit for another year—but from the sounds of things, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see the same five kick off their VALORANT season in 2025.
