Featuring a €15.000 euro prize pool and some of the best teams in the Europe (EU) region, Mandatory.gg brings you Mandatory Cup. Lasting for 3 days until August 2, the B-Tier tournament is sure to bring some top quality Valorant action. The tournament is also part of the Ignition Series by Riot.

Format

The tournament follows a very simple, yet deadly, format. A single elimination bracket. The first couple of matches ar best-of-one (BO1). The quarter finals and semi finals are best-of-three (BO3), while the grande finale is a huge best-of-five (BO5). In essence, you lose, you’re out. The top dogs will have to watch out in the initial rounds not to make a blunder.

There are 128 teams in the tournament and not all of them have been confirmed at the time of writing this article.

Teams to watch out for: Top Dogs

• G2 Esports: Perhaps the current powerhouse on the EU Valorant scene, G2 are the favorites for sure. Success at events such as WePlay! Invitational and Vitality European Open have solidified their position in the EU region. Led by Oscar “mixwell” Cañellas, this superteam instils fears in its enemies with fantastic tactics paired with undeniable raw fragging power.
• fish123: An organization-less squad of ex-Counter-Strike pros that made it in Europe as Valorant’s finest. Featuring a medley of British talent such as Adam “ec1s” Eccles, the team took on board as a stand-in one of Counter-Strike’s most known aimers and the “one-tap God”, Adil “ScreaM” Benriltom. The team already proved its worth by being the champions of the first iteration of Mandatory Cup and being one of the longest participants at the discontinued Take The Throne series. Now, can they dethrone their rivals, G2?
• Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP): On paper, the Ninjas seem like a very strong squad. The triple French addition of Enzo “Fearoth” Mestari, Damien “HyP” Souville, and Charles “CREA” Beauvois, has made this roster one to watch out for. However, because of a lack of first place finishes in this roster, this team needs to prove that they are not just a strong squad on paper, but also on the Mandatory Cup servers, and on the Valorant EU scene. This is a squad that is sure to go far at the tourney.
• StartedFromCS: Boasting an almighty roster of (as the name suggests) CSGO pros, this roster will have Counter-Strike fans excited wherever they go. With Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans alongside Vincent “Happy” Cervoni, StartedFromCS showcase great raw aiming power. This squad will be aiming to go far, as they have been plagued by 2nd and 3rd place finishes, only managing to garner a win at LeStream x BMW- The 2 Gran Coupe event. Hopefully, we’ll see some old-school CSGO aim from these experienced pros.

Teams to watch out for: Underdogs

• BIG Clan: Known as one of the top CSGO organizations, BIG has entered the Valorant scene with two huge names. Alexander “alexRr” Frisch and Fatih “gob b” Dayik are the two aces up BIG Clan’s sleeves. With huge experience from Counter-Strike, these two have the job of leading BIG into achieving huge things in Valorant. Despite that, the BIG roster is incomplete. Ceyhun “AslaN” Aslan is the third official member as the active roster is still missing two pieces of the puzzle. They will be competing with two stand-ins for Mandatory Cup.

• Giants Gaming: The Spanish team has definitely much to prove at Mandaroy Cup if they want to be taken seriously on the EU scene. This is the tournament to shake things up. Boasting a promising squad of Spaniards, Giants are headlined by Adolfo “Fit1nho” Gallego, who was present alongside Mixwell at G2 Esports Invitational.
• nolpenki: Avid Valorant watchers will be surprised at nolpenki’s place here. The Lithuanian team is well known across the European Valorant scene. Vakaris “vakk” Bebravičius and co. are an impressive force, when in shape. They won Trovo Challenge- Europe, alongside LAVA Series #3 at the beginning of July. However, their form has its ups and downs. The end of July left a lot to be desired out of this Lithuanian squad. They are definitely a team to keep an eye on, but given their recent form, it’s a tough sell that they currently have “top dog” status on the EU Valorant scene.

Note: Some popular teams were not considered in this article due to their questionable roster lineups going into this tournament, even though they may be major contenders. Examples included: FABRIKEN and PartyParrots.

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