Strongest Amongst the Heavens: North American Challengers League Circuit 2023 Split 1 Tier List
The North American 2023 Challengers League is comprised of 12 teams competing over 2 splits in 2023. The first split is set to run from the 1st of Feb until the 17th of Mar. It will culminate in the Mid-Season Invitational, where the top 8 teams will compete for the championship.
The NA Challengers League 2023 is set to begin in a few short days, with the top 12 non-partnered North American teams competing for the coveted split championship. Teams who acquire enough points competing during the 2 splits planned over this year, will gain admittance to the Ascension Tournament slated to occur later this year. The winner of that tournament will be invited to the International Leagues in 2024, to compete alongside the other 30 partner organizations.
Without further ado, here is a tier list of the 12 teams competing:
12) Turtle Troops
It’s tough to credit Turtle Troops with much more without the eye test checking out against strong opposition. So far, they’ve faced good tier 2 competition however, have not had to play against an established organization such as The Guard or TSM. Extremely promising pieces and good synergy on this roster led by Peter “Governor” Nu could lead this roster to a strong placing.
11) OREsports
Solid roster with some good pieces, their roster suffers from lack of experience at the top level currently. Their first split will likely determine if these players will sink or swim. However, they had a strong showing across the Open Qualifiers and LCQ, showing good ingenuity and tactics that suggests promise for this squad.
10) Oxygen Esports
A fairly consistent roster, they made it through the lower bracket of the Open Qualifiers. On paper, their roster does not have any big names, however, they have some prime talent such as Logan “skuba” Jenkins who have shown serious potential. They are unlikely to win the split however, could make top 6.
9) BreakThru
BreakThru succeeded as the first team to qualify through the Open Qualifiers. A solid looking roster, there’s not a lot to analyse on first glance. They have clean executes and move well as a unit. Moreover, their roster is comprised primarily of former tier 1 pros in Alex “aproto” Protopapas and Xavier “flyuh” Carlson especially.
8) G2 Esports
G2 Esports has yet to show anything exciting with their roster thus far. The former Sentinels’ stars failed to approximate any shine in 2022. With the exception of newcomer Francis “OXY” Hoang and potentially Michael “dapr” Gulino, the roster fails to excite on paper initially aside from a fairly solid looking roster.
7) FaZe Clan
While unorthodox to place FaZe Clan this low on the list, they currently have only two active members listed. Certain reports have placed former-The Nation Daniel “Rossy” Abedrabbo as a potential addition however that has yet to be confirmed. With too much in the air, despite their history, it’s difficult to place them any higher without seeing more. However, what they do have going for them, are long-standing talents Andrej “babybay” Francisty and Kevin “poised” Ngo. Both are major pieces that if used well, could propel FaZe Clan far up the list.
6) Disguised
The ever-popular streamer “Disguised Toast” has upped and decided, he wants to own an esports team. The result- is Disguised. What started as a meme has quickly become one of the biggest fan-favorites. It plays on the tropes of David and Goliath, and it doesn’t hurt that “Toast” has been fairly open about the whole process. With a roster created from scratch by former Knights coach Kyle “OCEAN” O’Brien and led by decorated IGL Joshua “Steel” Nissan, this team has come up like a Dark Horse capable of winning the whole split.
5) Dark Ratio
Having secured last minute qualification at the recent NA Open Qualifiers, Dark Ratio promises to be the continuing rising star of NA, with top talents such as former 100 Thieves William “Will” Cheng now joining them. They had an impressive run at the Open Qualifiers, even taking down the star-studded lineup with Jacky “Stewie2k” Yip, Braxton “brax” Pierce, and Matthew “Wardell” Yu to secure qualification. Their solid roster with clean executes especially, and a resurgence of form from “Will” poise them well to take down some big names during the split.
4) Shopify Rebellion
Shopify Rebellion is a tricky roster to place. Their last tournament was the Knights Arena Freezeout, in which they took down teams such as TSM, Oxygen Esports, Nearest Airport, and The Silk Road. All these teams are well-known rosters who competed in the recent NA LCQ. All of these teams are also strong contenders who have made deep runs in the NA competitive scene. Their new talent Victor “v1c” Truong especially, is projected to be one of the frontrunner stars in the new split. However, they’ve largely been untested since early December and the quality of competition they will now face is reminiscent of late 2022 against top NA talents.
3) Team SoloMid
Team SoloMid (TSM) was a team that many long-time fans were unsure of coming into 2023. Their early promises to build a Challenger roster were fulfilled, however, the departure of long-time talent and fan-favorite player Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik placed doubts if they could perform. TSM attended the Ludwig x Tarik event, and while they started out slow, the squad led by James “hazed” Cobb shows great promise in the coming split.
2) M80
M80 is a team that seems to have the aura of the Dark Knight about them, with whispered tales in the dead of night of their scrim dominance, and the sheer talent and synergy on the roster. M80 have yet to compete in an official match since their formation, however, multiple established teams, both fellow Challengers and partnered NA teams have placed them in strong contention to dominate the split.
1) The Guard
The Guard has to take top of the tier list, with their recent performance at Ludwig x Tarik especially taken into consideration. The Guard has been a consistent force in 2022, taking maps and even series off the best North American rosters. There were doubts that with the departure of star duelist Ha “Sayaplayer” Jung-woo, that they would be able to reach similar heights. However, it seems based on recent performances and consistency that they have not lost a step in 2023. Moreover, a strong retention of the four-man core places them high in terms of pre-established synergy, which places them high on the probability list of doing well early in the split.
Read more here for the viewer guide and format, and here for the predictions article for Week 1. Follow the Strafe Esports for daily updates, news and Esports related content.
Image credit: Knights Arena