Today marked the end of the quarter finals at the Red Bull Campus Clutch Valorant tournament world finals in São Paulo, Brazil. Over the last two days, 48 international student teams have been whittled down to just four, all competing for the €20,000 grand prize. TheGamer is reporting live from the event and has everything you need to know about today's matches.
Egypt won the first Campus Clutch last year, with Anubis Gaming delivering a shocking victory and establishing itself as an esports team to be reckoned with. it has since split into two, RA'AD and Bravado. Bravado made it into the tournament through a last-chance qualifier, but unfortunately didn't make it out of the initial group stage. RA'AD got off to a slow start today, losing its first match to Indonesian BaTagoR. The team rallied however and managed to win the second match with some difficulty, and the third and final match with ease, beating Indonesia 13-2 on the Haven map.
Egypt then faced off against Canada in the quarter-finals. There's a lot of buzz surrounding Canadian team o7 in the arena, and after their easy win against the Danish team ESP, it's easy to see why. They beat them 13-3 and 13-2, and gave Egypt a tough ride, beating the former champions 13-7 and 13-9, the closest matches we've seen in the quarter finals.
Peruvian team Nitrous Gaming sent the UK home in a close 2-1 victory. Nitrous took the first match by three rounds, lost the🦹 second 5-13, and then pulled it back for the final match winning by a hair, 13-11. They then faced off against the Polish black team on the main stage, where Poland wiped the floor with Peru, beating them 13-5 and 13-6.
Team USA's Northwood university is a favourite among both commentators and rival teams, and they beat Chilean CONDORIT0 13-7 and 13-2. They then fought Czech NARODNI GARDA, who had no trouble beating Pakistan's Team Mystic 13-6 then 13-5. Northwood came out on top however, beating CONDORIT0 13-5 and 13-6, proving people were right to put their faith in them.
Perhaps the biggest surprise from this year is the strength of the North Macedonian team OBK. They beat New Zealand's E Blacks 13-7 and 13-4. The E Blacks were marked as ones to watch by caster Velly, who told TheGamer that player signed was "a demon on the sticks." North Macedonia were favourites of recently eliminated Bravado, and it's clear whatever the Egyptian team saw in them has helped them get to quarter finals to face off against Jordani, the Slovenian team. OBK beat Jordani in a fairly close 13-8 and then a decisive 13-3. North Macedonia could be the new Egypt and win it all. They'll be up against Northwood in the semi-finals tomorrow - it's impossible to predict the outcome as both teams have been phenomenal throughout.
Tomorrow, it's USA v North Macedonia - a must-watch - and Canada v Poland. You can watch the tournament live on , , and .