Dragon Ranger Gaming wins inaugural VCT China Ascension 2023, Qualify for League

The first-ever VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) China Ascension 2023 has come to an end with Dragon Ranger Gaming (DRG) emerging on top. The team has now qualified for the newly launched VCT China League as the only non-partnered team.

With VALORANT only coming to China in 2023, the VCT China was recently announced with 10 partnered teams. However, the other 3 partnership leagues, namely the Americas, EMEA, and Pacific, now consist of 11 teams due to the completion of their respective VCT Ascensions. To remove this imbalance in the number of teams, Riot brought the VCT China Ascension in December 2023.

The grand finals was played between Dragon Ranger Gaming and Rare Atom. In this article, we will be taking a look at how DRG were able to take down the dominant Rare Atom in the VCT China Ascension 2023.

Dragon Ranger hands Rare Atom first loss in Ascension to win the tournament

Coming into the VCT China Ascension, Rare Atom were the favorites to win the event. They won every single game in the tournament without dropping a single series. In the Group Stage, they won both of their matches 2-0 to make it to the Upper Bracket of the Playoffs. DRG, on the other hand, didn’t have the smoothest run, dropping one match in the Group Stage.

Dragon Ranger Gaming faced off against Rare Atom in their first game of the Playoffs. Rare Atom continued their winning momentum, clinching the series 2-0 and knocking DRG to the lower bracket.

DRG, however, were able to claw their way back into the Grand Finals by taking down NIP to set up a rematch with Attacking Soul Esports (ASE) in the semifinals, who had handed them their 0-2 group stage defeat. This time, though, DRG were the better team, taking down ASE 3-2 to make it to the Grand Finals – against the dominant Rare Atom again. So far, Rare Atom hadn’t lost a single game throughout the VCT China Ascension and were the favorites to take the win. DRG, though, had other plans.

Dragon Ranger were the more polished team in the Grand Finals and were able to take revenge for their earlier Upper Bracket loss by clinching the series 3-1. This win was even more impressive as Rare Atom had a 2-map ban advantage for being the Upper Bracket team.

This was the first loss Rare Atom faced in the entire event. It was an identical run to that of Paper Rex during VCT Champions 2023. With this victory, Dragon Ranger Gaming has qualified for the VCT China League 2024.

Who are the 11 teams in the VCT China League 2024?

The partnered and sole Ascension team who will compete in the VCT China League are as follows:

All Gamers
BilBili Gaming
Edward Gaming
Titan Esports Club
TYLOO
Nova Esports
JD Gaming
Trace Esports
Wolves Esports
FunPlus Phoenix
Dragon Ranger Gaming

BilBili Gaming, Edward Gaming, and other Chinese teams have already made their mark on VALORANT’s global scene after VCT Champions 2023. With VCT Masters taking place next year in Shanghai, it’s only natural to wonder how Chinese teams will fare in their homeland.