Buriram United Esports wins Arena of Valor International Championship 2021

Buriram United wins Arena of Valor International Championship 2021 (Image via YouTube/Garena AOV Indonesia)
Buriram United wins Arena of Valor International Championship 2021 (Image via YouTube/Garena AOV Indonesia)

The Arena of Valor International Championship 2021 recently came to an end. After a month of grueling competition between the Top 16 Asian teams, Buriram United Esports from Thailand emerged as the winners of the competition with 4-3 scoreline after an intense seven round tussle with Vietnamese team V Gaming.

Buriram United Esports took home a massive prize of $4,00,000 while V Gaming was awarded a total of $2,00,000.

Midlaner Nunu, from Buriram United, won the Finals MVP award for his spectacular performance. He was awarded a cash prize of $20,000.

Bru Nunu was the MVP of Arena of Valor International Championship 2021 Finals (Image via YouTube/Garena AOV Indonesia)
Bru Nunu was the MVP of Arena of Valor International Championship 2021 Finals (Image via YouTube/Garena AOV Indonesia)

Earlier during the Group Stage of the competition, V Gaming topped Group A without dropping a round, flawlessly winning all six of their matches.


Arena of Valor International Championship 2021 Group Stage results

Group Stage standings of Arena of Valor International Championship 2021 (Image via AoV)
Group Stage standings of Arena of Valor International Championship 2021 (Image via AoV)

Buriram's journey to the finals, however, was filled with obstacles as they finished third in Group A winning eight rounds and losing four in the six games they played.

Group B was topped by the Taiwanese squad One Team. The team dropped just one round on their road to the Knockout Stage.

The top four teams from both groups A and B moved onto the Knockout Stage where they faced off in a double-elimination bracket. V Gaming cruised their way through the Knockout Stage as well, losing just a single round in the Upper Bracket Finals against Saigon Phantom. V Gaming until this point looked all set to take the title.

Arena of Valor International Championship playoffs bracket (Image via AoV)
Arena of Valor International Championship playoffs bracket (Image via AoV)

Buriram United's hopes took a huge hit when they lost in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals to Saigon Phantom and were relegated to the Lower Bracket.

However, the team came alive in the Lower Bracket, beating the strongest competitors in the tournament and holding their nerves in clutch situations. Buriram United beat Hong Kong Attitude in the lower bracket finals to take victory by 4-3 scoreline. Fans were looking forward to an epic showdown in the Grand Finals where Buriram United would take on V Gaming.

Buriram United had a good start in the Grand Finals and took the first round, but V Gaming bounced back and clinched the next three rounds. Buriram needed to win all their rounds to take the title and the team did exactly that, winning three rounds back-to-back.

During the finals broadcast, the 2022 roadmap of Arena of Valor was announced. The prize pool of Arena of Valor World Cup 2022, which stands at a staggering 10 million (the highest in the history of Arena of Valor Esports), was also announced.