NA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3 Recap

Colin Young Wolff Riot Games at m2 1
Will anyone ever stop them? | © Riot Games

There may have been no major surprises, but NA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3 was still exciting. Let's take a closer look at what happened at the last NA Challengers tournament this year.

Recent weeks have shown that the “NA LUL” meme absolutely does not fit Valorant esports. NA Challengers Playoffs: Stage 3 was a showcase of pure high-quality gameplay, and it's hard for any region to compete with that. But let's look at what happened and who we will be seeing at Masters: Berlin, the last Masters Series event before the Valorant World Championships (aka Champions Tournament).

NA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3: Results

It was a stacked bracket, but well, there could only be one winner… and once again, it was the guys from Sentinels. This is another major win for them and a confirmation that they are in top form. Interestingly enough, they played the second favorite of the tournament, 100 Thieves, twice and won (total score 5:1). Check out the bracket and prize distribution below.

NA 3 Valorant Bracket
NA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3 Bracket | © liquipedia.com

NA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3: Prize Distribution

The total prize pool of the NA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3 was $100,000 and was distributed among 8 teams.

  • 1st place (Sentinels) — $40,000 + slot at Masters: Berlin
  • 2nd place (100 Thieves) — $20,000 + slot at Masters: Berlin
  • 3rd place (Team Envy) — $15,000 + slot at Masters: Berlin
  • 4th place (XSET) — $10,000 + 60 VCT Points
  • 5th/6th place (Rise/FaZe Clan) — $5,000 + 50 VCT Points
  • 7th/8th place (TSM/Luminosity Gaming) — $2,500 + 40 VCT Points

NA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3: MVP

Complexity Yay 2019
Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker | © ESL

In our opinion, the absolute MVP of the NA Challengers Playoffs was Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker, who, with his outstanding performance, earned that Masters: Berlin slot for Team Envy. He scored a total of 284 frags playing with three different Agents (Jett, Reyna, and Sage), which shows that this man really knows how to play Valorant and is a player to watch out for in the future. It's also worth noting that he was contracted at Envy just over a week ago, but it was clear to see that he's getting along great with his new team.

NA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3: Statistics

Let's sum up this tournament with statistics that show how exciting this event was for the NA Valorant esports scene.

  • Country Representation: USA (29 players), Canada (10 players), UK (1 player)
  • Player with most kills: Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker (Team Envy, 284 kills total)
  • Player with the least kills: Kaleb "moose" Jayne (Luminosity Gaming, 52 kills total)
  • Most played agent: Viper (12 players)
  • Player with the highest KDA ratio: Hunter "SicK" Mims (Sentinels, 113/77/33, 1.89)
  • Player with the lowest KDA ratio: Aleko "LeviathanAG" Gabuniya (TSM, 62/95/22, 0.88)
  • Shortest Match: Sentinels vs. 100 Thieves (Upper Bracket Final, 36 rounds total)
  • Longest Match: 100 Thieves vs. Team Envy (Lower Bracket Final, 103 rounds total)
  • Most banned maps: Bind and Icebox (both banned 7 times)
  • Viewership peak: 115,428 viewers (Sentinels vs. 100 Thieves, Grand Final)

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Szymon Bielawski

I've been into competitive gaming and eSports since I was a kid. I started out in the local CS:GO scene and ended up performing at the international major tournaments like Hearthstone Masters Tour. The competitive gaming world discovered a new...