The 2023 Valorant Champions Tour season finale is in full swing. The final week of Champions will feature the four remaining teams, with the grand final set to be played on Sunday, August 26.

With a US$2.25 million prize pool and a US$1 million winners cheque up for grabs, every team in attendance will be giving it their all as they seek to become the third VCT Champions winner.

Some of the key leagues and tournaments taking place in the esports world this week include:

• VCT Champions 2023

  Paper Rex and Evil Geniuses will clash in the upper-bracket final for the first spot in the grand final, while LOUD and Fnatic will meet in the lower-bracket semi-final.

  The loser from the upper-bracket will play the winner of the lower-bracket semi-final to determine who will take the second place in the grand final.

  Check out our extensive VCT Champions betting guide to get the latest odds and tournament information.

• Gamers8 Rocket League

  The final tournament of the Gamers8 festival will kick off on August 24, with the Gamers8 Rocket League event scheduled to run across the final weekend in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

  After taking out the RLCS World Championship earlier this month, most esports betting sites have Team Vitality as the clear +175 favourite to take out the Gamers8 Rocket League event.

  Behind Vitality, Team BDS (+550), Karmine Corp (+650), and FURIA (+700) are all considered strong chances.

  Check out our extensive Gamers8 Rocket League betting guide to get the latest odds and tournament information.

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The 2023 Valorant Champions Tour’s season finale is in full swing. The group stage is now behind us and we look forward to the playoffs, with only eight teams remaining.

With a US$2.25 million prize pool and a US$1 million winners cheque up for grabs, every team in attendance will be giving it their all as they seek to become the third VCT Champions winner.

Some of the key leagues and tournaments taking place in the esports world this week include:

• VCT Champions 2023

  The top two teams from each of the four groups have advanced to the VCT Champions playoffs, with Fnatic, LOUD, Paper Rex, FUT Esports, DRX, Bilibili Gaming, EDward Gaming and Evil Geniuses all set to kick off their playoffs campaign on Wednesday and Thursday.

  Most esports betting sites have Fnatic as the +110 clear favorites to take out VCT Champions, followed by Paper Rex (+300), Evil Geniuses (+500), and DRX (+800).

  Check out our extensive VCT Champions betting guide to get the latest odds and tournament information.

• Gamers8 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

  The Gamers8 festival will continue this week, with the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament kicking off on Wednesday August 16. The penultimate event of the festival will boast a US$1,000,000 prize pool, with 16 of the worlds best CS:GO teams participating in the five-day event.

  Most esports betting sites have Team Vitality as the +400 favorite to take out the Gamers8 CS:GO event, closely followed by ENCE (+450), G2 Esports (+450), and Heroic (+450).

  Check out our extensive Gamers8 CS:GO betting guide to get the latest odds and tournament information.

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The best of the best from every region will be in attendance, with 16 teams from all over the world qualifying for the season finale. They include Fnatic, Paper Rex, Evil Geniuses, NRG, LOUD, EDward Gaming, Team Liquid, DRX, Natus Vincere, KRU Esports, FUT Esports, Giants Gaming, T1, ZETA DIVISION, Bilibili Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix.

After winning the VCT LOCK//IN and VCT Masters Tokyo during the year, Fnatic are the clear favourites at +110 with most esports betting sites as they seek to become the first team to win every international event in a single Valorant Champions Tour season.

Best Bet – Fnatic

VCT Champions 2023 appears Fnatic’s title to lose. The EMEA League winners have shown this year that they are in a class of their own. No one got near them at VCT Masters Tokyo, with the champions only losing one map for the entire event. That blip came at the hands Evil Geniuses in the upper-bracket final; however, they would clash again in the grand final, where Fnatic swept EG 3-0.

Fnatic created history after their VCT Masters Tokyo title, becoming the first team to win two international events in a single season, and they will be looking to create more history with a third international title at VCT Champions. With the likes of Jake “Boaster” Howlett and Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov leading their roster, it is hard to go past the pre-tournament favourites.

Best Value – EDward Gaming

EDward Gaming were one of the surprise packets to come out of VCT Masters Tokyo, where they knocked out Natus Vincere during the group stage and LOUD during the playoffs. Before booking their place at VCT Champions, EDG had to go through the China Qualifier. The top-ranked Chinese team went through undefeated and only dropped one map, coming in the grand final against Bilibili Gaming.

Zheng “ZMjjKK” Yongkang, also known as Kang Kang, is one of the best snipers to ever grace the Valorant servers. The 19-year-old is considered one of best up-and-coming talents in the world and is already a leader on this team. If he produces a similar show-stopping performance to what he did in Tokyo, EDG will be there when the whips are cracking on the final days of the event.

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PAPER REX vs EDWARD GAMING

EDward Gaming came out of nowhere and emerged as one of the most exciting Asian Valorant teams that just might turn some heads in Istanbul. And even though EDG hail from a weaker region and enter VALORANT Champions 2022 as one of the outsiders, they are not to be underestimated.

Yongkang “ZmjjKK” Zheng is the key player on this roster, and based on his performances this year, he is more than capable of competing with other elite names attending the season-culminating event. But while EDG have shown some signs of greatness, they lack experience, which should make you question whether they have a chance to defeat the battle-hardened Paper Rex.

EDward Gaming have the element of the unknown on their side, but they still need to find a way to deal with Paper Rex’s aggression. But as proven at Masters Reykjavik and Masters Copenhagen, that isn’t easy, even for the world’s top teams.

As exciting as it is to cheer for the underdogs, betting on EDG to win without knowing how they’ll perform on LAN is not something we’re ready to do. Paper Rex are one of the top-four teams in the world, and we expect that to show on Wednesday.

LEVIATAN vs TEAM LIQUID

Esports Betting sites are giving Leviatan a 28.6% chance of beating Team Liquid, which sounds fair, but this is the same team that nearly defeated Fnatic (1-2) in Copenhagen and ended VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters – Copenhagen in fifth-sixth place.

Team Liquid enter the match as heavy favourites, which puts a lot of pressure on Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom and co. to deliver and as we know, Liquid aren’t exactly known for doing well in such circumstances. Moreover, it’s not like Leviatan are a team you can afford to underestimate, knowing they came just two rounds short of finishing the Copenhagen Masters in the top four.

Even though Team Liquid should win, this is a very winnable match for the Chilean squad, who have all the tools to upset the reigning VALORANT Champions semi-finalists.

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The tournament will feature 16 of the world’s best Valorant teams battling it out in four separate groups, with only the top two from each group making the playoffs. Once the playoffs begin on September 10, the remaining eight teams will then compete in a typical double-elimination bracket.

All matches up to and including the semi-finals will be best-of-three series. Both the lower-bracket final and the grand final will be best-of-five.

As of right now, no one actually knows what type of prize money will be up for grabs at the VCT Champions 2022 event, but considering there was a US$1,000,000 prize pool at the 2021 edition, we should expect a similar figure with the winner taking home over $300,000.

Below are www.behindzioncurtain.com’s best bet and value pick for the VCT Champions outright winner, with odds from the best esports betting sites.

BEST BET: FunPlus Phoenix

FunPlus Phoenix will enter the VCT Champions 2022 event as the reigning VCT Masters Copenhagen champions after they defeated Paper Rex 3-2 in the grand final, earning them US$200,000 and maintain their no.1 regional ranking. FPX have now been the top-ranked European team in Valorant since April of this year.

The VCT Masters win in Copenhagen was outstanding, even while they were missing Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky for half of the tournament due to visa issues. In Group C with KRU Esports, XSET and XERXIA, there should be very little challenge for FPX to get out of their group.

As we saw at VCT Masters Copenhagen, once FPX hit the playoff stage of a tournament they can flick a switch and hit a new gear in their play. If FPX cruise through the group stage, they could well be primed and ready for another deep run at the final event of the year.

BEST VALUE: Optic Gaming

OpTic Gaming finished in third place at the VCT Masters Copenhagen after they were knocked out by FunPlus Phoenix in the lower-bracket final. The top-ranked team in North America earned a cool US$85,000 prize after another solid VCT event. OpTic went into the Copenhagen event as one of the favoured teams after they had won the VCT Masters in Reykjavik in April of this year, but they fell short of back-to-back VCT Masters wins.

Considering the short history of Valorant and its esports scene, it is pretty crazy that a team could earn $350,000 in prize money, but OpTic Gaming have done just that. Given they won the first VCT Masters and finished third in the second event, OpTic will be very hard to beat in Istanbul, so their +600 outright odds at BetOnline look like great value.

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