The first qualifier for First Strike North America kicks off today. Nerd Street Gamers Tournament will bring us the first four teams that will be present at the First Strike event in North America in early December. Meanwhile, the 5-8th placed teams will have another shot at qualification for First Strike by moving onto the UMG Tournament, where the final top four teams will also qualify for the elusive First Strike event. The stakes are high at this NSG event as teams will surely give it them all starting today.

NSG Tournament kicks off November 4 and runs through to November 8. 16 teams are split into four groups in the Group Stage with top two teams qualifying for the playoffs. All matches are a best-of-three (BO3) except the grand final, where a best-of-five (BO5) will be played out.

Skye is disabled for this tournament. This is due to her delayed addition to Valorant because of initial bugs related to patch 1.11.

Groups and Matchups

The NSG event will see 16 of NA’s top Valorant teams compete for one of the four spots up for grabs at First Strike. Cloud9 Blue has come out on top in the qualifier for this NSG main event, granting them the best seed.

Group A

• Cloud9 Blue
• 100 Thieves
• Luminosity Gaming
• XSET

Tyson “TenZ” Ngo’s Cloud9 Blue impressed at the qualifier for this NSG event with a first place finish. They overcame the likes of Team SoloMid (TSM) and Team Envy in the grand final. Now, their biggest worry will be 100 Thieves. Surely, Spencer “Hiko” Martin’s team will be looking to cause some trouble. Nevertheless, those two teams are almost a guarantee to move on. Luminosity and XSET will need to step up big in order to qualify for the playoffs.

First Matchups:

• Cloud9 Blue vs XSET
• 100 Thieves vs Luminosity Gaming

Group B

• Gen.G Esports
• T1
• Complexity Gaming
• Equinox Esports

Probably the strongest group of this NSG event. Despite Gen.G and T1 being the obvious favorites, Complexity Gaming and Equinox Esports (former China Nguyen roster) are no pushovers. Both teams have immense experience on the Valorant scene. If an upset does occur anywhere in the group stage of this event, it will most likely be in this very group.

First Matchups:

• Gen.G Esports vs Equinox Esports
• T1 vs Complexity Gaming

Group C

• Team Envy
• Sentinels
• Dignitas
• Spot Up

Team Envy got to the very final of the qualifier, granting them the highest seed. However, there is a much more respected name in this group, Sentinels. Despite those two teams being the favorites by far, Dignitas should not be overlooked. The roster did not have many opportunities to prove themselves yet, but has come in fourth at Pop Flash. Meanwhile, Spot Up has a ton of 1st place finishes in lesser, C-tier tournaments. While they should not be a danger to the top dogs, they should not be underestimated either.

First Matchups:

• Team Envy vs Spot Up
• Sentinels vs Dignitas

Group D

• TSM
• The Slimy Boogerman
• Renegades
• Built By Gamers

The last group of Nerd Street Gamers event has the biggest surprise of the qualifier. While TSM took first seed, The Slimy Boogerman team, the biggest underdog of the event, comes in a whopping second. The team defeated Cloud9 White and Built By Gamers, before getting knocked out in the quarter finals by Cloud9 Blue. Yet they put up quite a fight at a 2:1 scoreline in maps. Naturally, TSM should advance in first place, however, who will take the second spot is currently a mystery.

First Matchups:

• TSM vs Built By Gamers
• The Slimy Boogerman vs Renegades

You can watch the Nerd Street Gamers Tournament – Qualifier for First Strike NA over at Twitch.

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