Gaming
esports
Sweden's Red Bull Clutch final was a masterclass in VALORANT
Catch up on what went down at the Sweden Red Bull Campus Clutch final at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere in Stockholm: winners, event recap, pictures and interviews.
The 2023 Red Bull Campus Clutch final went down in a spectacular fashion at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere in Stockholm in mid-October. Four teams battled it out for the big win and the opportunity to represent Sweden at the World Final in Istanbul, Turkey later this year. A battle which very much turned into a one team domination as RETIREDGAMERS showed who is boss at VALORANT in Sweden. With aggressive duels and skilful play they outmanoeuvred the other teams and won all their matches in the most impressive way.
Catch up on what happened at the student-only competition below with videos, pictures and a full lowdown from the winners of course.
Watch the replay of the 2023 Red Bull Campus Clutch Sweden final below:
01
RetiredGamers put on a remarkable show
From the get-go, RETIREDGAMERS put on a masterclass in VALORANT showing impressive skillsets, good tactics and big confidence. Winning their semi-final 2-0 against JUSTICE ESPORTS, they continued their domination into the final against RNG Police. With clever tactics and aggressive duels, they were pretty much unbeatable from start to finish winning their first match by 13-1 and their second by 14-3.
RETIREDGAMERS playing JUSTICE ESPORTS in the semi-final
© Igor Koikeroinen
Concentration mode activated!
© Igor Koikeroinen
Students from all over Sweden have participated in the tournament
© Igor Koikeroinen
It feels great taking the win. It’s been fun to hang without the boys and we've had a great experience.
The team consists of the players Slajmon, vicious, Ale, f1co and Knowbii, all from different campuses around Sweden. Saljmon and f1co were part of last year’s winning team DogSafari2 and could tap into some valuable experience. But the rest of the team constellation was new for this year with a couple of new acquaintances. Vicious and Ale have been playing VALORANT together for almost three years, and the other three were "drafted" through a shoutout on Twitter (now X) ahead of this competition.
Considering they'd not played as a team for long, it sure didn't look that way as soon as they entered a game, playing like a well-oiled machine. Surprisingly, they hadn't done tons of preparations ahead of the final. They had revised some of the maps a little bit but not much more than that. “We mainly just play to have fun, we do what we already know”, f1co and vicious explain. “We just went with the flow today”.
“All of us come from a CS background but have VALORANT as our main game today”, they continue. “I guess VALORANT was something new and fun and that’s why we all fell for it”.
Gamer and fitness influencer Ellen Åkesson came to cheer on the teams
© Igor Koikeroinen
The Gaming Sphere turned Campus Clutch cave for the day
© Igor Koikeroinen
Their skills definitely showed off in the final and, consequently, two of their players got voted MVPs. Knowbii became the fan favourite and Ale took home the commentators’ vote. “We never had any doubt during the final, we played like we expected. It feels so sick to head to the world final and getting to represent Sweden there”, Knowbii said in the livefeed after the final. Ale agreed: “Yea it was a quick 2-0 game. We played really well today, and I feel like we’ve got a good shot at the world final. We haven’t actually played that much together as a team so we just need to refine our play a little as there will be many good teams in Turkey.”
I feel like we’ve got a good shot at the world final.
02
RNG Police in second place
Second place team RNG Police played a solid semi-final winning 2-0 against VERDANT and gave it their best shot in the final, but RetiredGamers were just too good. “It was sick to play today and I don’t think we should be too disappointed. We did the best we could”, Arken said in the livefeed after the final. “The others were a better team, but it still feels good and it’s been a really fun day, to get to come here and play hard”.
Check out all the photos from the day below:
The Gaming Sphere turned Campus Clutch cave for the day
© Igor Koikeroinen
Participants at 2023 Red Bull Campus Clutch Sweden final
© Igor Koikeroinen
Gamer and fitness influencer Ellen Åkesson came to cheer on the teams
© Igor Koikeroinen
Students from all over Sweden have participated in the tournament
© Igor Koikeroinen
More news on when and how to watch the world final over on the Red Bull Campus Clutch event page.
