The groups, schedule, and opening matchups for Convergence 2023 have been announced.
INDIA – The groups have been drawn and initial matches for Convergence 2023 have been revealed. The competition features eight teams divided into two groups, each playing best-of-three round-robin matches where the top team from each group advances to a best-of-five grand final series to determine the champions on Sunday.
Set to take place on December 14-17, the US$50,000 tournament features a range of teams, with five invited sides and one qualified team from India. Leading the pack is FUT Esports while True Rippers come from the other end of the spectrum as the lowest-ranked team, having qualified from the aforementioned Qualifier. Both of these teams have been assigned to Group B, which is rounded out by Gen. G.
ALSO READ: DRX to play with Rb and Zest at AfreecaTV VALORANT League
FUT Esports are flying to Bangalore, India, as the heavy favorites, coming off a successful season that included a third-place finish at VCT EMEA and qualifications for Masters Tokyo and Champions LA. This tournament will be their second appearance with new team member Mehmet “cNed” İpek, who debuted at Red Bull Home Ground Tokyo last month and finished the event in 3rd-4th place after a close loss to Cloud9 in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, the success of True Rippers sees them lock in their inaugural international appearance and first-ever trophy following three consecutive runners-up finishes in TEC Challenger Series 10, Predator League India, and The Arena Championship 2023. The Indian-Filipino side achieved their victory even though they had to adapt to playing without head coach Francis “Rabbet” Buñag, who had recently left the team in late November.
Gen.G will be playing with their newly revamped roster around Kim “Meteor” Tae-O. The Bangalore event serves as an ideal testing ground for the Korean squad to get comfortable with their new players before the start of the upcoming VCT season. Karon stands out as the most uncertain element among the contenders for next year’s VCT Pacific title, yet he also represents a promising discovery made by Gen.G’s scouting efforts.
In Group A of Convergence 2023, FURIA stand out as the favored team to advance to the grand final, bolstered by their recent victory at the Multiplatform Esports Game 2023 and a strong second-place finish at Superdome 2023, trailing only behind Leviatán. In addition, both Team Vitality and Global Esports will be introducing their new rosters for the first time since their regular seasons in VCT EMEA and VCT Pacific, respectively.
The first match will see Gen.G face off against India qualifier winners True Rippers. There will be a LOCK//IN rematch between Global Esports and Team Vitality, although both teams will field entirely new rosters, with the Indian side in particular having no players retained from the said event.
On the second day of Convergence 2023, the action begins with FUT Esports facing off against True Rippers. This will be followed by a match between FURIA and Team Vitality. The final day of the group stage promises a more-stacked competition, featuring a high-profile match between FUT Esports and Gen.G, and a showdown between Global Esports and FURIA.
The schedule and matchups for the opening round of Convergence 2023 can be found below (time in SGT):
Thursday, December 14
- 3 PM – Gen.G vs. True Rippers
- 7 PM – Global Esports vs. Team Vitality
Friday, December 15
- 3 PM – FUT Esports vs. True Rippers
- 7 PM – FURIA vs. Team Vitality
Saturday, December 16
- 3 PM – FUT Esports vs. Gen.G
- 7 PM – Global Esports vs. FURIA
Sunday, December 17
- 4 PM – Grand Final
For more insights on the Asian VALORANT scene and upcoming content like this, be sure to like and follow VALO2ASIA on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
Cover photo courtesy of VALORANT Esports South Asia
