Following 12 days of intense competition amongst 20 qualified teams for APAC Stage 1 Challengers Playoffs, eight teams remain in the final Knockouts stage to fight for two spots at Masters: Reykjavík. The teams will enter a double-elimination bracket for a chance to represent their region at the first international LAN of the 2022 VCT circuit.

Group A

BOOM Esports, Indonesia's first seed in APAC Challengers Playoffs made it through the Group Stage by defeating No Namers No Namers Inactive bryce Bryce Lee shiba Zhan Teng Toh and Made in Thailand in decisive 2-0 fashion. The second seed, Made in Thailand, similarly made it out of groups with relative ease, having bested CERBERUS Esports CERBERUS Esports Inactive viness Nguyễn Trung Tín alyaL Hoàng Đức Hùng ting2k5 Dường Mạnh Thắng in their opening matchup and, after a close two-map loss to BOOM Esports, repeating this victory in the decider's match.

The orgless squad from Singapore, No Namers, though having made it out of play-ins with little difficulty, struggled to find their footing against more experienced teams and were consequently the first out of the group to be eliminated. CERBERUS Esports, Vietnam's first seed coming into APAC Challengers Playoffs, unfortunately only came with one victory over No Namers before being eliminated from the competition.

Group B

Paper Rex were a force to be reckoned with entering APAC Challengers Playoffs. They steamrolled all the competition in Malaysia/Singapore Stage 1 Challengers, placing first without having dropped a single map. This trend continued in their win over Vietnam's Fancy United Esports Fancy United Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #14 YESicaN Đinh Đình Đạt 16Ch0ps Nguyễn Đức Trí Tín Crus Lư Tiến Huy Hyuse Nia twilight , but ended with an overtime loss in Breeze to Persija Esports in the winner's matchup. Nevertheless, they closed out the third map Icebox in convincing fashion to qualify for Knockouts.

Bonkers Bonkers Inactive Minimise Jackson White tixx Nick Quinn Maple Elvin Sun Dragon Nicholas Aleksandrovsky LEW Luis Hibbert and Persija Esports fought twice for the second qualifying slot. Their second encounter saw a grueling battle between the two teams in a match that had all three maps go into overtime. Eventually, Persija Esports had the slight edge over their Oceanic counterparts to earn a map three victory. While Bonkers may have only come away with a victory over Fancy United Esports, they had a good showing as Oceania's sole representative in the playoffs.

Group C

NAOS NAOS Asia-Pacific Rank #5 sultan Sultan Akbay PatMen Patrick Mendoza PTC Kititkawin Rattanasukol xavi8k Xavier Juan Mojer Jerome Literal was the first out of the four teams to be eliminated from what was perceived by many as the “group of death”, suffering defeats from Bleed eSports in their opening matchup and ONIC G ONIC G Inactive in the elimination match.

XERXIA Esports and Bleed eSports were slated to face each other in Group C's winner's matchup. However, unfortunate circumstances resulting in technical issues led to XERXIA Esports having to forfeit the match. As a result, Bleed Esports qualified for Knockouts as first seed, while XERXIA Esports qualified as second seed after managing to defeat ONIC G in their rematch.

Group D

This group was home to Velocity Gaming Velocity Gaming Asia-Pacific Rank #17 SkRossi Ganesh Gangadhar Russ Russel Mendes Lightningfast Abhirup Choudhury Madelyn Raven William damaraa Damara Danuardi and Oblivion Force Oblivion Force Asia-Pacific Rank #19 riyabtw CHAK CHIMEI Wong Chun Wai (王俊煒) Kiuuuu Yung Tsz Kiu (容子翘) Uta , two teams that were the sole remaining representatives of their regions South Asia and Hong Kong/Taiwan respectively. Unfortunately, their journey in the APAC Challengers Playoffs ended at the Group Stage - Oblivion Force were the first to be eliminated following matchups against Velocity Gaming and South Built Esports, while Velocity Gaming fell to South Built Esports in the decider match.

Meanwhile, Full Sense made their way out of groups with ease, with South Built Esports doing the same in their lower bracket run.

Knockouts Stage

The final stage of APAC Challengers Playoffs features teams from Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand that will play a Bo3 double elimination bracket, with Bo5 grand finals.

The opening matches in sequential order are:

  • FULL SENSE vs. Persija Esports
  • Bleed eSports vs. Made in Thailand
  • BOOM Esports vs. XERXIA Esports
  • Paper Rex vs. South Built Esports

Notably, all three representatives from Thailand that qualified for APAC Challengers Playoffs have made it through the group stage. XERXIA Esports, consisting of a core roster that competed as X10 CRIT last year, are a clear favorite to be one of APAC's representatives for Masters 1. Full Sense are also expected to make a statement in Knockouts, given their strong showing throughout play-ins and the group stage. As for Made in Thailand, they are one of the most established esports organizations in the Thailand scene — they're making their return to Valorant after they dissolved their last roster in April 2021.

Representing Singapore are Paper Rex and Bleed eSports. Alongside XERXIA Esports, Paper Rex are another fan favorite to secure one of the slots to Masters 1, consisting of a roster boasting unmatched firepower with the likes for star duelists Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto and Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie. Bleed eSports, a relatively new organization established in September 2021, have turned heads by signing Swedish players Max "maxie" Lönnström and Jacob "pyth" Mourujärvi as a few of the first EU imports into the SEA Valorant scene.

Rounding out the teams in the Knockouts Stage are the two rosters from Indonesia, BOOM Esports and Persija Esports. BOOM Esports has been a dominant force in the Indonesian Valorant scene throughout last year's VCT circuit and has continued this success into VCT 2022's Indonesia Stage 1 Challengers. Persija Esports, consisting of ex-BOOM Esports players Kevin "Eeyore" Gunawan and Nanda "Asteriskk" Rizana, competed in Indonesia Stage 1 Challengers as an orgless squad under the name BOY WITH LOVE BOY WITH LOVE Inactive Flynch Vicky Rudyanto roseau Baskoro Dwi Putra Asteriskk Nanda Rizana Eeyore Kevin Gunawan Famouz Fikri Zaki Hamdani before being signed by Persija Jakarta, one of Indonesia's most historic football organizations.

Lastly, South Built Esports, who qualified as first seed out of Philippines Stage 1 Challengers, will be the Philippines' sole representative at this stage of the competition.

Coverage

The Knockouts Stage of APAC Challengers Playoffs will run from March 24 to March 27. Tune in to the action via VLR.gg's VCT APAC: Challengers Playoffs event page.