VALORANT Champions 2021 - Outright Winner betting preview

Who are the favourites to win VALORANT Champions 2021?

VALORANT Champions 2021 will see 16 teams from around the world converge in Berlin, Germany, for the first-ever ‘Champions’-level tournament in the game’s history. The winner of the tournament will walk away with the biggest share of the $1,000,000 prize pool, be recognised as the best team in the world, and earn the title of VALORANT world champions.

Credit: VALORANT via Riot Games

The format of the tournament will see the 12-day event split into two stages. The first will be a double-elimination group stage where teams will be split into four groups, and the second stage of the tournament will be a single-elimination bracket. Every match of the VALORANT Champions 2021 tournament will take place as a best-of-three (Bo3) with the exception of the grand final match, which will take place as a best-of-five (Bo5).

VALORANT Champions 2021 - Outright Winner odds

The 16 teams, representing various regions around the world, earned their spot in the VALORANT Champions 2021 tournament via points accumulated from competing at Masters-level events or by winning their regional Last Chance Qualifier tournament. As winners of the VCT: Stage 3 Masters – Berlin, Gambit Esports earned an automatic qualification to VALORANT Champions 2021.

The clear favourites

It won’t come as a surprise to anybody who has been following the Valorant Champions Tour in 2021, that the two teams who are the favourites to win Champions 2021 are the VCT Masters - Reykjavik winners, Sentinels, and the VCT Masters - Berlin winners, Gambit.

Both Sentinels and Gambit have firmly established themselves as dominant teams in their respective regions (North America and EMEA) and showcased their skills at international level at both Reykjavik and Berlin. Coincidentally, both Sentinels and Gambit have an 83% win record heading into the Champions 2021 tournament which places them at the top of the 16 teams participating in the tournament. Sentinel’s performance at Reykjavik saw the North American team win the Masters tournament without dropping a map while Gambit only lost three maps at Berlin, out of 20 maps played.

Pinnacle’s odds for the Outright - ‘To Win (All in)’ market places Gambit as the marginal favourites at 3.250* while Sentinels are close behind at 3.500*. The third favourites are Team Liquid who sit at 4.500*, which is a notable gap - illustrating how confident the traders are that either Sentinels or Gambit will win the tournament.

Teams with potential

Looking at the teams outside of the top two favourites, there are three that stand out as having the potential to win the tournament: Team Liquid (4.500*); Envy (9.000*); and Cloud9 Blue (11.000*).

Looking at the two North American teams, Envy and Cloud9 Blue, both teams head into the Champions tournament in excellent form, with Envy being the second seed from the region and Cloud9 Blue being the third seed after defeating 100 Thieves in the North America – Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ).

Envy (9.000*), who were runners-up at Masters – Berlin behind Gambit, enter the Champions 2021 tournament looking to take the final step and win a top-level tournament. Within the context of North America, the team have consistently been a top contender and are one of the few teams to have won against Sentinels on multiple occasions, the most recent win being in the Masters – Berlin quarter-finals where they knocked them out.

Cloud9 Blue (11.000*), on the other hand, are surprise participants at the Champions 2021 tournament. They sealed their place with a stellar performance at the North America – Last Chance Qualifier, which saw them claim the third and final seed available to the region. The team managed a lower bracket run at the LCQ, beating the likes of Version1, Gen.G Esports, XSET, 100 Thieves, and Rise. The team underwent a key change over the autumn, acquiring In-Game Leader Anthony “vanity” Malaspina from Version1, which in turn resulted in Ricky “floppy” Kemery being moved to the bench and ultimately retiring from VALORANT and moving back to competing in CS:GO.

Moving onto the final team with the potential to make a run to win the tournament, Team Liquid (4.500*), the mixed European line-up have been on an upward trajectory throughout 2021, reforming their player line-up twice and achieving better results after each change.

The team won their most recent event, the Red Bull Home Ground #2 tournament, losing only one map in the process, which is particularly impressive given that they played Fnatic, TENSTAR, and Acend during the playoffs of the event. Their current ‘To Win (All in)’ odds place them as the third favourites to win the event behind Gambit and Sentinels, and given their current form, it would be hard to argue against their claim as a team with the potential to win the tournament. The real question for Team Liquid is whether or not the team will be able to overcome Gambit or Sentinels if they meet them in the playoffs.

*Odds are subject to change.