Image credit: Joe Brady / Red Bull Content Pool
100 Thieves emerged victorious at Red Bull Home Ground in Manchester after battling it out against Cloud9 in an electric grand final today.
The official off-season $100,000 Valorant tournament was broadcast live from the historic Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, UK.
For the first time in Red Bull Home Ground history, teams from the Americas were eligible to enter and face off against the top EMEA teams in front of a live audience, with Red Bull Home Ground’s first teams and talent announced back in October. The Red Bull Home Ground event also had several viewing parties in the UK.
The grand final saw 100 Thieves and Cloud9 go head-to-head to stake their claim as the best Valorant team at the event, having battled through eight of the most elite rosters from across the globe. While there were only two UK players (soulcas for Liquid and Lime for Fokus), it was great to see a Valorant LAN event take place in the UK.
The presence of the North American teams tested the mettle of their EMEA rivals, as 100 Thieves secured their place in the semi-finals after coming out undefeated in the group stages and knocking out the French esports organisation Team Vitality in the first semi-final contest.
The South American team KRÜ Esports also made waves, as they displayed the strength of their newly established roster against Team Liquid, kicking the defending champions out at the quarter-finals.
The Victoria Warehouse space for the Red Bull Home Ground was transformed into an immersive space stylised after a futuristic, cyberpunk aesthetic and boasted top displays from pro Valorant cosplayers.
This year the tournament ramped up proceedings at the official off-season Valorant tournament, which hosted hundreds of fans in the live audience and broadcasted live on Twitch and YouTube to a global audience.
Kicking off with the group stages on Friday, 100 Thieves advanced to the semi-finals undefeated. Cloud9 proved the strength of their new roster as they swept through Group B and secured their own spot in the semi-finals.
For the first semi-final, the NA giants 100 Thieves faced the last EMEA team left standing in the tournament, Team Vitality. In the first map, Pearl, Team Vitality stepped up to the challenge, losing narrowly by two. However, in Fracture, 100 Thieves were able to re-assert their dominance and swept the French team out of the competition, going through to the grand finale with a 2-0 win.
The final day began with a second semi-final battle between Cloud9 and KRÜ Esports, where KRÜ had initially come out strong in the first few rounds.
However, the Argentine team could not hold off the North Americans for long, as Cloud9 began to dominate before progressing through to the grand final.
With the stage set, the grand final saw 100 Thieves inching ahead of Cloud9 with a three-point difference in the first map, Bind. In the second round, 100 Thieves began to fracture Cloud9’s dreams of becoming the next Red Bull Home Ground champions as they stole the second round effortlessly.
By the third round, 100 Thieves had identified Cloud9’s strategy and denied them the chance for a comeback as they defeated them 13-3 to claim the Red Bull Home Ground trophy.
Following the win, Matthew ‘Cryocells’ Panganiban from 100 Thieves commented:
“Bringing home the team’s first international title is great for us as Red Bull Home Ground has acted as a great proving ground for 100 Thieves ahead of the 2023 VCT. It’s been great to prove anyone wrong who has underestimated 100 Thieves and to play with a group of people that are my friends… I love these guys.”
Cyrocells, 100 Thieves
Elevating the tournament, renowned UK Valorant host Yinsu Collins returned to Red Bull Home Ground and led the competition alongside her star-studded lineup of broadcasting talent, including Mitch ‘Mitchman’ McBride, Tom ‘Tombizz’ Bissmire, Ryan ‘RyanCentral’ Horton, Adam ‘Dinko’ Hawthorne and Adam Savage. Beatriz ‘kaquka’ Alonso and Connor ‘Sliggy’ Blomfield also provided insight and commentary throughout the tournament.
Red Bull Home Ground also featured special guest appearances from G2 Gozen‘s women’s Valorant team, who recently won the first Valorant VCT Game Changers Championship, bringing their trademark expertise and strategic knowledge to every matchup.
In another recent Red Bull tournament, UK student Valorant champions Casa Noturna were crowned at the Red Bull Campus Clutch UK finals.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
