If you’ve been scrolling social media avoiding spoilers after the 2024 Valorant Champions grand final, you’re in the right place to get the full lowdown on who won valorant champions 2024, plus all the juicy details you missed if you didn’t catch the matches live. This year’s tournament was held in Seoul, South Korea, with 16 of the best teams from across the VCT regional circuits fighting for the iconic Champions trophy, a $2.5 million prize pool, and eternal bragging rights as the best Valorant team on the planet. We watched every single map of the knockout stage, and we’re breaking down all the biggest moments, upsets, and standout plays that made this one of the most exciting Champions events to date.
Who Won Valorant Champions 2024? The Final Series Breakdown
If you only care about the short answer to who won valorant champions 2024, it’s Gen.G, but the full story of how they got there is well worth diving into. The 2024 Champions grand final was a best-of-five showdown between two Korean powerhouses, Gen.G and DRX, that went the full five maps for the first time in Champions history. Gen.G took the series 3-2, after a nail-biting final map of Bind that ended 15-13 in overtime, with the team pulling off a miraculous comeback from a 9-3 deficit at halftime. Kim “t3xture” Na-ra was named the tournament MVP, after putting up a 1.32 K/D across the final series and landing three crucial clutches in the last map alone to seal the win for his team. This is Gen.G’s first ever Champions title, after falling in the semi-finals of the event in 2023, and it makes them the third Korean team to win the Champions trophy following DRX’s 2022 victory. It’s hard to overstate how tense this final was, with thousands of fans in the Seoul arena screaming so loud the casters could barely be heard for the final three rounds of the match.
Biggest Upsets From The 2024 Champions Group Stage
No Champions tournament is complete without a few shocks that no one saw coming, and 2024’s edition delivered some of the wildest upsets in VCT history. The biggest one by far was defending 2023 champions EDG failing to make it out of the group stage, after losing to both the North American underdogs Sentinels and the EMEA side Fnatic in their group matches. Many analysts had picked EDG as a top 3 favorite to win the entire event before it kicked off, so their early exit sent shockwaves through the Valorant community and led to a lot of heated debates about the team’s questionable agent picks in their final group match. Another big upset was the Brazilian team LOUD beating the 2024 Masters Madrid winners Team Heretics 2-0 in their opening group match, before falling just short of qualifying for knockouts after a narrow loss to DRX. These upsets are part of what made the race to see who won valorant champions 2024 so unpredictable, as no one could have guessed which teams would make it to the final weekend.
- Defending champions EDG finish 3rd in their group, failing to qualify for the knockout stage for the first time in team history
- Lower-seeded North American side Sentinels take 1st place in Group A, beating both EDG and Fnatic to advance undefeated
- Japanese regional champion ZETA DIVISION takes DRX to three maps in the group stage, nearly eliminating the Korean favorites before they even reached knockouts
Standout Player Performances That Defined The Tournament
Beyond the final result, this year’s Champions was full of incredible individual performances that had fans talking for weeks after the event wrapped. Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker put up a career-best performance for Sentinels during their run to the semi-finals, averaging a 1.4 K/D across all their matches and carrying the team through multiple close series against higher-ranked opponents. Yay had taken a six-month break from pro play earlier in the year, so his return to form was one of the most heartwarming stories of the entire event. Then there's DRX's Kim “stax” Gu-taek, who at 27 years old became the oldest player to ever make it to a Champions grand final, putting up a masterclass on Sentinel agents across the knockout stage to lead his team past Fnatic and LOUD on their way to the final. We also saw a breakout performance from 17-year-old rookie player “mako” from the Oceanian team Dire Wolves, who led his underdog squad to a surprise knockout stage appearance before they lost to Gen.G in the quarterfinals. He was also the youngest player ever to qualify for the Champions knockout stage, and he already has multiple top-tier teams across all regions trying to sign him for the 2025 VCT season. Every one of these players had a huge impact on the final result of who won valorant champions 2024, with even small individual plays shifting the outcome of entire series.
What Gen.G’s Champions Win Means For The Future Of VCT
Gen.G’s historic win doesn’t just give them bragging rights for the next year, it also has a lot of ripple effects for the wider competitive Valorant scene. Gen.G’s win solidifies Korea’s position as the strongest region in competitive Valorant right now, with Korean teams having made it to the grand final of three of the four Champions events held to date. This win also means Gen.G will automatically qualify for all international VCT events in 2025, as well as getting a dedicated Champions skin line released in-game later this year, with part of the proceeds going directly to the team. We’re also likely to see a lot of changes to the meta over the next few months, as pro players and casual fans alike copy the agent comps and playstyles that Gen.G used to dominate the tournament. For example, Gen.G’s heavy use of Iso as a duelist in most of their matches has already led to a 30% increase in Iso pick rate in ranked play across all regions, according to recent stat trackers. We also expect to see more teams investing in younger talent from emerging regions, after the strong performances from teams like ZETA DIVISION and Dire Wolves showed that there’s high-level talent outside of the big three regions of Korea, EMEA, and North America. Players will also get the chance to earn limited-edition Gen.G Champions cosmetics during the in-game celebration event later this quarter, so keep an eye on the Valorant store if you want to pick up merch for the new title holders.
There’s no question that this year’s Champions was one of the most exciting and unpredictable Valorant events we’ve ever seen, and now that you know who won valorant champions 2024, you can go back and watch all the highlight reels without worrying about spoilers ruining the fun. If you’re a casual player, you can try out some of the meta comps Gen.G used to climb the ranked ladder, or if you’re a pro play fan, you can start looking forward to the 2025 VCT season kicking off early next year. No matter what you’re here for, this year’s tournament proved that competitive Valorant is only getting bigger and better, and we can’t wait to see what next year’s Champions has in store.
