VALORANT Champions Tour 2022 is just around the corner with NA and other regions Stage 1 kicking off this February. Here’s a fresh look on how Stage 1 is going to take place:
VALORANT has expanded its ecosystem and redesigned its leagues from the scratch and in 2022 we are going to see how the new system is holding up for this rather new and extremely popular esports title.
| Also Read | VALORANT expands its ecosystem in 2022, introduces new leagues |
The VCT North America Stage 1 Challengers 1 Main Event will determine the region's last two Masters qualifiers. With the exception of the finals, which will be a best-of-five series, the whole tournament will be contested in a best-of-three map series format.
According to VALORANT Esports Staff EMEA teams will crush the championship this year once again.
Now let’s delve into the details of North America Stage 1 Challengers week 1, which will kick start the long road to the VALORANT Championship 2022.
Format
- Group Stage
- Round Robin
- Each group has six teams
- All matches are Bo3
- Top 4 teams advance to Playoffs
- Bottom 2 teams are eliminated
- Playoffs
- Double Elimination
- All matches (excl. Losers' Final and Grand Final) are Bo3
- Losers' Final and Grand Final are Bo5
- Finalists will advance to Stage 1 Masters
Schedule and betting odds
Group A will feature 100 Thieves, Cloud9 Blue, XSET, The Guard, Luminosity Gaming, and Evil Geniuses.
Group B will feature Sentinels, Envy, Version1, NRG, Knights, and Rise.
All match days will start on February 12, 2022 - 00:00 UTC+3. You can click on the matches to take yourself directly to the match page.
- C9 vs. 100T 1.62 vs. 2.15
- V1 vs. Knights 1.48 vs. 2.50
- Sentinels vs. NRG
- Guard vs. LG
- Envy vs. Rise
- XSET vs. EG
What to expect from week 1
Last year, NA was one of the EMEA regional teams' major foes. Except for Cloud9 Blue, none of the NA teams made it out of the Champions 2021 group stage.
There are currently two highlight teams to watched out for this season:
One of the four invited teams for Stage 1 Challengers is among Sentinels, Envy, and 100 Thieves is Cloud9 Blue. They were the best team in North America in 2021, and they were the only NA club to make the Champions League playoffs.
They competed in the Knights' VALORAMPAGE, which was C9's first competition since Champions. The squad took first place in the event's playoffs, defeating NRG, Ghost Gaming, Akrew, and Version1.
Version 1 was no longer regarded one of the strongest in NA after losing IGL Anthony "vanity" Malaspina and failing to advance far in the NA LCQ last year. They tinkered with their squad throughout the offseason before bringing in Alexander "Zander" Dituri, a former SoaR player, to fill out the lineup.
V1 have proven that they will be a force to be reckoned within the Stage 1 main event after winning six matches without losing a map in the first open qualification.
EMEA is the flashpoint when it comes to VALORANT esports. In 2022 the NA region has another chance to prove their value by competing for the top spot.
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