WYLDE re-entered the French VALORANT league Challengers France : Révolution for 2023 with a re-evalutated strategy and a new hunger for success in the most competitive VALORANT Challenger League. Our signature blend of seasoned talent in Hype and Foxie, mixed with some upcoming names in Sevire and MAGiK, and a 16 year-old prodigy in Hiro and experienced coach Fields at the helm. Despite the league being named for the French scene, it extends into additional geographies to include the Benelux region, which is where WYLDE found our future stars with the majority of the roster hailing from The Netherlands.
With the league kicking off on Saturday, Jan 14th 2023, the team had little time to prepare, but results in practice looked incredibly promising, with each member bringing their own unique abilities to the table. Our first game was against the recently revived orgnaization 3DMax. WYLDE took a 4 round lead to kick things off before dropping one, only to kick straight back with back-to-back rounds to make it 6 – 1, but things slowed down as 3DMax found footing and we finished the half with a 7 – 5 lead.
The second half didn’t start as well as the first, with 3DMax leveling the scoreline before we could answer back, but once the ball got rolling, it was over for the French side, WYLDE locked in our first win with a 13 – 9 scoreline!
Day 2 found us against the Coup de France runners up, HEET. It wasn’t quite as smooth sailing as our first match, but after having a 5 – 7 scoreline at the half, we were still confident we could take the match. Just as HEET reached match point, we began to mount a comeback but it wasn’t meant to be, thanks to some heroics and close clutches from the opposition, we couldn’t force OT and dropped the map 10 – 13.
Despite the loss, we were still confident, and the feeling of the loss awoke the beast in the team and next in line was a team stacked to the brim with now-VCT team alumni, SBG Esports. Straight out the gates, WYLDE came swinging. Even though we lost the pistol, a spike plant in the round allowed us to force up in the following and snatch what is usually a free round from right under the nose of the French side, and from there the ball was rolling, right up to an impressive 6 – 1 scoreline, but ex-Karmine Corp player TakaS didn’t want to die without a fight and brought his team back to a respectable 7 – 5 at the half. The second half looked very familiar, SBG take the pistol, but we bite right back and deny the conversion in the second round, and roll our way to a 12 – 6 score, but it wasn’t over just yet. The self-proclaimed super handsome team fought back to within touching distance of overtime before IGL Foxie came in with the LONGEST flank possible, going from A site, over to B site, and back to A to catch SBG unaware and hammer the nail in the coffin and put an end to SBG’s winning streak!
Play day 4 was the big one. The team EVERYONE had penned as the CLEAR winner of this tournament, Mandatory, organization of French YouTube superstar Zerator.
Kicking things off, WYLDE opened with a dominant 3 round streak before MDR manged to get their name on the board, and from there, we found ourselves at an all too familiar scoreline, 7 – 5 at the half. From here, MDR were able to level the scoreboard at 7 – 7, and then once again at 8 – 8 before WYLDE were able to break away and take a convincing 11 – 8 lead, where the French favorites were about to post one more round on the board before Sevire and Hype tag teamed their way to a 13 – 9 with an incredible double from Sevire, and some really impressive positioning from Hype!
At the end of the first week of play, WYLDE sit 3rd with a 3 – 1 scoreline, only behind HEET, who also have a 3 – 1 scoreline, and Zerance, the current league leaders, sitting pretty with a 4 – 0 score!
It’s all to play for in the upcoming weeks as teams fight it out for points towards their spot in VALORANT Ascension league and their chance to make it to the VALORANT Champions Tour!