It’s been over two months since the VCT 2023 season ended, and Riot Games has just released a recap, highlighting the VALORANT teams that defied the odds and overcame the infamous 9-3 curse. Out of all the teams, only NRG and Cloud9 were able to make this myth work in their favor more than once.
NRG, led by Pujan “Finesse” Mehta, managed to win two out of three games where they were down 3-9 at halftime. Similarly, Cloud9 faced the 9-3 curse five times but emerged victorious in two of those games.
While NRG and Cloud9’s performances were impressive, the data revealed that 56 percent of teams (18 out of 32) had a zero percent win rate when they were down 3-9 at halftime. This confirms that the 9-3 curse is indeed a challenging obstacle to overcome.
If you believe in the less talked about 10-2 curse, the VCT 2023 season won’t provide much evidence to support it. Only two teams, Team Liquid and DRX, were able to make a comeback from being down 2-10 at halftime, but they achieved this feat only once out of the 67 games with a 10-2 halftime score. This translates to a mere three percent win rate for the 10-2 curse, making it difficult to argue in its favor.
The data also revealed that the odds of a team winning when they were down 1-11 or 0-12 at halftime were zero percent. This comes as no surprise, considering the significant disadvantage these teams face.
Personally, I’ve experienced both sides of the 9-3 and 10-2 curses in my VALORANT matches. While I’ve managed to win a fair share of games against the 9-3 curse, my success rate with the 10-2 scoreline has been much lower. However, I don’t believe in curses when it comes to my own gameplay. Looking at the statistics from VCT 2023, I feel confident in my abilities to overcome these challenges.
Source: DOTESPORTS
