One of the most anticipated debuts is less than 24 hours away.

It may be EDward Gaming and China’s first international VALORANT event, but the field of teams at Champions 2022 clearly isn’t underestimating the East Asia LCQ champions.

In the leadup to the event and during the handful of Aug. 30 press conferences the day before the tournament begins, the prevailing notion toward EDG is that everyone appears to be taking them seriously. During one of the conferences, XERXIA’s Thanamethk “Crws” Mahatthananuyut told members of the press and the other players with him how dangerous EDG are.

“They are a threat. They are a very big threat,” Crws said. “We’ve been scrimming them a lot. And to be honest, they have the best scrim results I’ve had [to face] in the whole two years of VALORANT, even [when I’m] in EMEA coming into LAN events.”

The knights of EDG.VALORANT have previously arrived in Turkey and are currently preparing for the opening match of #VALORANTChampions. Good luck and have fun!#EDGWIN pic.twitter.com/NTciRNAhRA

Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom from Team Liquid added that he had heard the same thing from Kim “stax” Gu-taek on DRX and that EDG were considered one of the best in the region. Liquid’s superstar said he’s excited to share a group with them and is looking forward to an opportunity to play against them.

Other press conference attendees expressed a mixture of concern and excitement regarding the notion of playing against EDG, including Paper Rex’s Benedict “Benkai” Tan. Even before today’s press conferences, Benkai has been on the record saying that EDG were “on top of the list” of teams they didn’t want to face coming out of the East Asia LCQ, but also acknowledged on the Plat Chat podcast that the EDG players and playstyle reminded him a lot of Paper Rex’s earlier days.

That comparison is obvious to anyone who’s watched EDG play: they’re a team full of young aimers each capable of making big plays, with a style that rewards aggressive team play that could potentially be punished by more experienced teams. Fans will get to see EDG’s international debut for themselves when they face Paper Rex in the Champions opening match on Wednesday, Aug. 31 at 9am CT.