The last ten days saw sixteen of the world's top teams fight through the group stage of the ongoing Champions tournament, the capstone event to 2022's VCT circuit.
Eight teams remain, but only one can earn the title of 2022 Valorant Champions. VLR.gg has compiled everything you need to know about the upcoming playoff stage of the event.
Format
The top two teams from each of four groups from the group stage have advanced to playoffs. To recap, the playoff teams from each group are as follows:
Group A
- Top seed: LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Unranked Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena aspas Erick Santos C0M Corbin Lee (LATAM)
- Second seed: Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Unranked nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak (EMEA)
Group B
- Top seed: OpTic Gaming OpTic Gaming Inactive (NA)
- Second seed: LOUD LOUD Brazil Unranked dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira (Brazil)
Group C
- Top seed: XSET XSET Inactive (NA)
- Second seed: FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix Inactive SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin Zyppan Pontus Eek ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky ardiis Ardis Svarenieks (EMEA)
Group D
- Top seed: DRX DRX Korea Unranked Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) freeing No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) (Korea)
- Second seed: FNATIC FNATIC Europe Unranked Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder (EMEA)
These eight teams were randomly drawn into a double elimination playoff bracket, with teams from the same group placed on opposite sides of the bracket. Top-seeded teams will face a second-seed team from a group different from their own in the opening upper quarterfinal matches.
Each match in the playoff stage will be Bo3 with the exception of the Lower Final and Grand Final, which will each be Bo5.
Prize Pool
The event's $1,000,000 USD prize pool will be distributed to the teams in the following manner:
- 1st: $300,000
- 2nd: $150,000
- 3rd: $110,000
- 4th: $80,000
- 5th-6th: $60,000
- 7th-8th: $40,000
- 9th-12th: $25,000
- 13th-16th: $15,000
Additionally, 50% of net proceeds from the Champions 2022 Skin Collection will be distributed to participating teams.
Schedule (Playoffs)
Friday, September 9
- 7:00 AM PST | 16:00 PM CEST | 23:00 PM JST - Upper Quarterfinals: Leviatán vs LOUD
- 10:00 AM PST | 19:00 PM CEST | 2:00 AM JST - Upper Quarterfinals: DRX vs FunPlus Phoenix
Saturday, September 10
- 7:00 AM PST | 16:00 PM CEST | 23:00 PM JST - Upper Quarterfinals: OpTic Gaming vs Team Liquid
- 10:00 AM PST | 19:00 PM CEST | 2:00 AM JST - Upper Quarterfinals: XSET vs FNATIC
Sunday, September 11
- 7:00 AM PST | 16:00 PM CEST | 23:00 PM JST - Lower Round 1
- 10:00 AM PST | 19:00 PM CEST | 2:00 AM JST - Lower Round 1
Monday, September 12
- 7:00 AM PST | 16:00 PM CEST | 23:00 PM JST - Upper Semifinals
- 10:00 AM PST | 19:00 PM CEST | 2:00 AM JST - Upper Semifinals
Tuesday, September 13
- 7:00 AM PST | 16:00 PM CEST | 23:00 PM JST - Lower Round 2
- 10:00 PM PST | 19:00 PM CEST | 2:00 AM JST - Lower Round 2
Wednesday, September 14
- Dark Day (no matches scheduled)
Thursday, September 15
- Dark Day (no matches scheduled)
Friday, September 16
- 7:00 AM PST | 16:00 PM CEST | 23:00 PM JST - Upper Final
- 10:00 PM PST | 19:00 PM CEST | 2:00 AM JST - Lower Round 3
Saturday, September 17
- 7:00 AM PST | 16:00 PM CEST | 23:00 PM JST - Lower Final
Sunday, September 18
- 7:00 AM PST | 16:00 PM CEST | 23:00 PM JST - Grand Final
JST times past midnight refer to the following day.
Broadcast
Champions Broadcast Drops are back this year, which means that you can earn in-game rewards from watching official streams. If you connect your Valorant account with your Twitch or YouTube account, you may be rewarded in-game with a Champions-exclusive title, spray and player card.
The player title can be earned by watching a live game from August 31 to September 13, and the VCT spray by catching the streams on September 16-17. As for the VCT player card, this can be earned during the finals on September 18.
English Broadcast Talent
- Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez (Host)
- Yinsu Collins (Host)
- Chrissy Costanza (Host)
- Seth "Achilios" King (Commentator)
- Arten "Ballatw" Esa (Commentator)
- Brennon "Bren" Hook (Commentator)
- Doug "EsportsDoug" Cortez (Commentator)
- Michael "hypoc" Robins (Commentator)
- Jessica "Jess" Bolden (Commentator)
- Mimi "aEvilcat" Wermcrantz (Commentator)
- Mitch "MitchMan" McBride (Commentator)
- Lauren "Pansy" Scott (Commentator)
- Ryan "Ryancentral" Horton (Commentator)
- Josh "Sideshow" Wilkinson (Commentator)
- Tom "Tombizz" Bissmire (Commentator)
- David "prius" Kuntz (Observer)
- Heather "sapphiRe" Garozzo (Observer)
- Felix "Synga" Regitz (Observer)
- Nicholas "Yehty" Tesolin (Observer)
Streams
- twitch.tv/valorant
- twitch.tv/valorantleague_tr
- twitch.tv/ru_valorant
- twitch.tv/valorantleague_dach
- twitch.tv/valorant_jpn
- twitch.tv/agentsrange_it
- twitch.tv/polsatgames
- twitch.tv/rtparena
- twitch.tv/lvpes2
- twitch.tv/valleague_fr
- twitch.tv/leetesport
- twitch.tv/leetplus
- twitch.tv/esportsfinland
- twitch.tv/valorant_kr
- twitch.tv/valorant_br
- twitch.tv/VALORANT_LA
- twitch.tv/valorantleague_mena
Coverage
VLR.gg is covering all of Champions in our event hub, which includes our live match ticker and stats to comb over. The event also features pick'ems.