Cover-Credits:
Update: Playoffs bracket complete with the addition of Fnatic and FunPlus Phoenix
It was a good day of Valorant on 8th September for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) fans as both FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) and Fnatic (FNC). FPX and FNC were both facing teams from their respective groups in rematches.
FPX took on KRU Esports for the second time and was able to retain its win record against the Latin American squad. This time FPX ended the series with a 2-0 victory by putting up a dominant performance on both Icebox and Ascent.
Meanwhile, Fnatic went into the match against 100 Thieves, hoping for revenge. Fnatic and 100 Thieves went head-to-head in the Group D opener and 100 Thieves pushed Fnatic down to the eliminator. However, on 8th September, Fnatic looked formidable as it won the series 2-0 by picking up swift wins on Bind and Ascent.
Following the Group C and D decider matches, KRU Esports and 100 Thieves have been eliminated from Valorant Champions 2022.
Currently, the teams that have qualified for the next stage are:
XSET
Leviatán
DRX
OpTic Gaming
Team Liquid
LOUD Esports
Fnatic
FunPlus Phoenix
Update: Team Liquid & LOUD make Valorant Champions 2022 Playoffs
On 7th September, four teams returned to the Valorant Champions 2022 stage in Istanbul after a day’s break to fight for a spot in the playoffs. Group A and Group B decider series were played out and Team Liquid (TL) and Paper Rex (PRX) went head-to-head, while LOUD Esports took on ZETA Division.
Team Liquid defeated Paper Rex with a 2-1 scoreline. Team Liquid won Haven and Ascent and lost on Pearl. Following this victory, Team Liquid locked in its playoff spot and sent PRX packing.
Meanwhile, in the Group B decider, LOUD had a dominant showing against ZETA and won the series 2-0. Now, LOUD has also locked in its playoffs berth and ZETA has been eliminated from Valorant Champions 2022.
Currently, the teams that have qualified for the next stage are:
XSET
Leviatán
DRX
OpTic Gaming
Team Liquid
LOUD Esports
Update: NA's XSET locks in Valorant Champions 2022 playoffs
XSET went up against FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) in the Group C Winners' Match on 5th September and won the best-of-three (BO3) series with a 2-1 scoreline. XSET won Pearl and Breeze, whereas FPX won Fracture. Following this victory, XSET has now made it to the playoffs bracket of Valorant Champions 2022.
The teams that have made it to the playoffs by winning the Winners' matches are:
XSET
Leviatán
DRX
OpTic Gaming
(Original story continues below)
Valorant Champions 2022 is the culmination of this year’s Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) tournaments and all the top teams from all the participating regions shall go up against each other to win the title of “Champions”. After nearly four days of play, teams have gotten a sense of the tone of the tournament this year around. Three teams have already locked in their respective playoff bracket slots and five more teams will soon be joining them. The playoffs of Valorant Champions 2022 will begin on 9th September and the tournament will conclude with the grand final scheduled for 18th September.
Teams that have made it out of the group stage
The following are the teams that have already made it out of the group stage and into the playoff bracket:
Leviatán (LEV)
OpTic Gaming
DRX
Leviatán was seeded into Group A of Valorant Champions 2022 alongside the likes of Paper Rex, Team Liquid, and EDward Gaming (EDG). After winning its opener series against Team Liquid and after defeating Paper Rex (PRX) in the Winners’ bracket match, LEV punched its ticket to the playoffs of the tournament. Notably, both its wins were dominant 2-0s.
OpTic Gaming from North America (NA) has also been a consistent performer in the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT). In this tournament, the team was tested by its opponent BOOM Esports (BME) in the opener which stretched out to three games. In the end, after defeating BME, OpTic was also able to come out on top in the head-to-head against LOUD Esports with a 2-1 scoreline.
The third team that made it out of groups is the Korean seed DRX from Group D. DRX played against FURIA in the opener and won the series 2-0. Following this, the team also had a remarkable series against NA’s 100 Thieves where it went 2-0.
The group stage is almost nearing its conclusion and only a few matches are left. Two teams have already been eliminated from Valorant Champions 2022. At the time of writing, the teams that are no longer in the running for the title of Champions are China’s first international Valorant seed EDward Gaming and Asia Pacific's BOOM Esports.
There are two more Elimination matches scheduled on 5th September. The matches are:
KRU Esports vs XERXIA
Fnatic vs FURIA
The losers of these respective matches will also be eliminated from Valorant Champions whereas the winners will join LEV, OpTic, DRX, and the winner of the FPX vs XSET series.
Notably, apart from the winners of the upper bracket, who were directly seeded into playoffs, the winners of the decider matches will also make it to the next stage of the tournament. In total, eight teams – four from Winners’ matches and four from the decider matches – will be seeded into the playoff bracket.
Click here to read more about Valorant Champions 2022 and to follow the scores and updates from the tournament.
