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Red Bull Campus Clutch India sets new benchmark for LAN Events in India
On October 2nd, Red Bull India hosted Campus Clutch 2023 in the city of Pune, located in Maharashtra. I got a first-hand look at the event, and honestly think it can be considered one of the best Esports events in India to date.
Having the event in Pune was quite a risk taken by Red Bull India for this event. Compared to a city like Mumbai which is 200 kilometers away, Pune has fewer traveling facilities, yet they didn’t shy away from the challenge and decided to try something new.
Image credits: Red Bull India
Campus Clutch India re-defines our expectations for esports events
Red Bull Campus Clutch is one of the biggest college-based Esports events in the world. College students from all around the world participate to make it to the Global Grand Finals. Last year the grand finals took place in Brazil and this year they will be taking place in Istanbul in the same arena where VCT Champions 2022 took place.
The event was hosted inside a club, yes you heard it right, an Esports event inside a disco club. This added another dimension to the event as the arena for the event was on point. There were multiple racing simulator booths for fans to try out. There was also another part of the club focusing on Aimlabs as well as EA FC for fans to test out. In the last 2 months, I have been going to multiple LAN events around India but I have never seen anything like this before.
We spoke to content creators to get their opinions on the event and how Red Bull has been essential in building up Esports in India. Ankit Panth a Red Bull Athlete and former professional Counter-Strike player said:
“Red Bull campus clutch is a great event and we need more events like this. Because It helps people from the grassroots level to understand the Esports side of Valorant. It will help the students who are in college as well to understand the workings behind how these events happen. Be it the media duties or even playing in front of 200+ people. Events like his help provide exposure for players to play at big stages. So this is like the beginning step for people who want to pursue this. Pursue a career in Esports and be able to get a taste for what their future might hold.”
Quality Valorant matches elevated the entire experience
Young talent from the Indian Valorant scene really showed how quickly the game is taking root in this ecosystem
The LAN event began with the semifinals between teams Villainous vs. Domin8. Villainous were the reigning champions from last year’s event, and this match was quite the landside victory ending with a score of 13-1. Paradox during the match also got an Ace which was the major highlight from this match. In the second semifinal between McD Cashiers and Yatagarasu, the game ended with a score of 13-5. After each semi-final, there was a 1v1 show match between content creators from India..
Image credits: Red Bull India
The Grand Finals was a real spectacle to watch as a fan of Valorant. The first map ended with a score of 13-6 to Villainous. Following this result in the eyes of many with the event, they believed that Villainous would be repeating history and winning 2-0. McD Cashiers in the second map were down 8-4 in the first half. Clawing their way back they got the scoreline to 11-11 and took the last two rounds, winning the map 13-11 and going to the third map.
It was a close affair but McD Cashiers won the 3rd map 13-11 and secured their spot in the finals in Istanbul. Kohli the IGL for the team won the MVP award for his performance in the finals. During the world finals of Red Bull Campus Clutch 2022, team Villainous finished 2nd last in their group failing to qualify for the playoffs.
Image credits: Red Bull India
Team Villainous secured the title of Champions of Red Bull Campus Clutch India Finals 2023 and will represent India at the Red Bull Campus Clutch World Finals scheduled to take place in Istanbul, Turkey from 19th to 24th November, 2023.
Given how good this event looked, I really hope we got a Wololo, JCmite and SoloQ India events that are this amazing soon.
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