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Valorant enthusiasts across the globe certainly have an exciting set of matchups to look forward to as we enter the second day of the Valorant Challengers League: North America Split 1 Group Stage.
Day 2 of the tournament kicked off with an intense encounter between TSM and Mad Lions. This will be followed by a best-of-three matchup between two newly qualified rosters, BreakThru and Oxygen Esports.
BreakThru vs Oxygen Esports: Who will win their opening matchup of Valorant North America Challengers League Split 1?
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Predictions
BreakThru's Valorant roster was formed in November 2022 with a few promising players, most of whom already have experience competing on the North American VCT circuit.
The organization-less roster of BreakThru consists of a talented duo of support players from Ghost Gaming, brawk and aproto, a reliable Controller player, thief, and a former in-game leader from FaZe Clan, flyuh. They completed their roster with the addition of a talented young prodigy from the TSM Academy, sym.
Compared to BreakThru, Oxygen Esports' players don't have as much experience playing on the VCT circuit. However, they've been competing together as a team for as long as BreakThru has. They've also managed to find their spark as a team, having played together in a couple of events already.
Oxygen Esports certainly has its fair share of veterans and new talent. Players such as skuba and mitch have earned a name for themselves with their former teams. With the addition of promising players like randyySAVAGE, Verno, and pwny, Oxygen are a total package.
In terms of their individual abilities, both BreakThru and Oxygen may be on equal footing. However, considering their past performances, particularly against top opposition, BreakThru is a team that particularly stands out.
BreakThru lost only one match as a team, which was against Oxygen Esports back in December 2022. After that, they won all of their matches, even defeating promising Valorant rosters like The Nation and OREsports, among others. BreakThru's current momentum is expected to help them cruise through this upcoming Week 1 matchup against Oxygen Esports.
Head-to-head
The core members of the current BreakThru and Oxygen Esports rosters have faced off only once before in an official matchup. This encounter came in the semifinals of the Knights Monthly: November, where Oxygen Esports dominated BreakThru with a 2-0 scoreline.
Recent results
BreakThru competed in two different Valorant tournaments before entering the NA Challengers League main event. They officially debuted as a team in the Knights Monthly 2022: November and were eliminated in the semi-finals by Oxygen Esports.
Shortly after, BreakThru participated in the Open Qualifiers for the NA VCL. Their flawless 7-0 run in the qualifiers helped them earn a spot in the main event.
Oxygen Esports played in three different tournaments before their 2023 roster was assembled. They claimed a runner-up finish in the Knights Monthly 2022: November to kick start their season, later securing a top-4 spot in the Knights Freezout.
Oxygen's most impressive performance, however, was in the NA VCL Open Qualifiers when they maintained a 7-1 win record, emerging as one of the top North American tier-2 rosters amongst hundreds of teams.
Potential lineups
BreakThru
- Brady "thief" Dever
- Alex "aproto" Protopapas
- Brock "brawk" Somerhalder
- Xavier "flyuh" Carlson
- Tyler "sym" Porter
- Tanishq "Tanizhq" Sabharwal (Coach)
Oxygen Esports
- Devon "randyySAVAGE" Bréard
- Mitch "mitch" Semago
- Josh "pwny" VanGorder
- Logan "skuba" Jenkins
- Andrew "Verno" Maust
- Preston "Juv3nile" Dornon (Coach)
- Rustun "Rustun" Lusk (Coach)
Where to watch
Players from all over the world can tune into the official VCT Twitch handles of Valorant North America or Knights Arena to watch the Valorant Challengers League: North America live in action. BreakThru will face off against Oxygen Esports on February 2, 2023 at 4:00 pm PST / 1:00 am CET [next day] / 5:30 am IST (next day).
