The group stage for Valorant Champions 2023 has concluded, with only two Agents not seeing the stage during the initial 20 matches of the tournament.
The Valorant Champions 2023 group stage saw a wide variety of Agent compositions across every map in the pro pool. However, some Agents have seen more play than others.
Killjoy, Viper, Skye, Raze, and Jett all have an above 50% pick rate across the event and are staples of certain map picks like Haven, Fracture, and Split. Those five Agents are also arguably the most powerful in the current meta as they lead their class in terms of utility and usefulness in different scenarios.
Other Agents, like Harbor, Chamber, Gekko, Phoenix, Sage and Cypher, have an under 15% pick rate as they are some of the weakest picks in the game at the moment and are only seen on certain maps. Chamber has become a fun off-meta pick on maps like Bind, Split, and Haven after about a half-year absence from pro play due to some heavy nerfs.
Sage, Yoru, Gekko and Pheonix are the most niche Agents to have made an appearance at the event. All four have only been picked once or twice across the group stage as only a select few teams, like Paper Rex with Phoenix and DRX with Yoru, have picked the Agents as off-meta counters.
While certain Agents are regarded as situational, two have not seen the Valorant Champions 2023 stage at all yet.
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Two agents out in the cold in Valorant Champions 2023 group stage
Valorant’s newest Agent, Deadlock, has yet to see the VCT stage since her release. The newest Sentinel is not highly valued among pro teams at the moment, with many coaches and players saying before the event that they didn’t expect to see her picked at all.
Many pro teams don’t see much value in her abilities at the highest level and regard her as a secondary Sentinel. However, almost no team is running a duel Sentinel composition at the moment.
The other Agent that didn’t see any play in the group stage of the event is Reyna. The Valorant ranked menace has never been a popular pick in pro play, though some teams at Valorant Champions have picked her in the past.
Paper Rex is probably the most well-known team that has gone for surprise Reyna picks, letting star Duelist Ilya ‘something’ Petrov run wild on the Agent.
Fans will have to stay tuned for the playoff stage of Valorant Champions to see if teams will pick Deadlock or Reyna and shock their opponents with a surprise Agent choice.
