NA Challengers Stage 1 Playoffs - Viewers Guide

Five weeks of grueling group stage matches have brought us to the exciting VCT 2022 - North America - Stage 1 - Main Event playoffs. As the eight best squads prepare to go head to head to be crowned the kings of North America, here’s the schedule, top players, and storylines you need to know.

Match 1: Cloud9 vs Pittsburgh Knights at 9:00 PM CET / 1:00 PM PST on 3/17

Cloud9 have earned the rewards for their hard work in the group stage: an extremely favorable quarter final clash against a Pittsburgh Knights side that barely squeezed into the top four. The former’s dominance is there for all to see, topping the group with five wins out of five, including against potent teams like The Guard and XSET, and still looking solid on the new patch.

Anthony "vanity" Malaspina has taken to Omen like a duck to water, embracing the new meta and moving seamlessly away from Astra, and the squad’s experience and adaptability will come up huge in the upcoming matches. The Knights, on the other hand, faced defeat against a lethal OpTic Gaming squad last week and it will take a miracle for them to avoid defeat in similar fashion.

Nathan "leaf" Orf is our player to watch, with a 1.34 rating that makes him the top rated player at the tournament so far.

Match 2: OpTic Gaming vs XSET at 12:00 AM CET / 4:00 PM PST on 3/17

The aforementioned OpTic Gaming will find a formidable opponent in XSET, who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in their groups. Two explosive and high impact players in Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker and Matthew "Cryocells" Panganiban up against each other will be a treat to watch, as will be the clash of the two experienced minds of Pujan "FNS" Mehta and Rory "dephh" Jackson.

The match could very easily go to three maps, considering XSET’s proficiency on Breeze, which they have only lost once to Cloud9, while OpTic lean on a very strong Ascent, leaving a pathway for a cracking decider.

OpTic Gaming held a much better head to head against XSET in 2021, and the latter will no doubt be looking to set things straight early this year.

Match 3: Version1 vs Luminosity Gaming at 9:00 PM CET / 1:00 PM PST on 3/18

Version1 are looking better than ever going into the playoffs, and for a Luminosity Gaming side that has only managed to beat the struggling 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses rosters, that is a scary sign. The former swept Masters Reykjavik holders Sentinels last weekend on the new patch and looked good while doing so, with in-game leader Alexander "Zander" Dituri still dominating with Astra on Ascent. On the other side of things, Luminosity Gaming come out of two straight 0-2 losses and don’t look confident enough to do any real damage in the playoffs.

Version1’s Erik "penny" Penny has been in top form these few weeks, boasting a monster 1.29 rating that makes him the second highest rated player here.

Match 4: The Guard vs Sentinels at 12:00 AM CET / 4:00 PM PST on 3/18

Perhaps the fan favorite clash of the opening matches is that between The Guard and Sentinels. It is a passing of the torch to the new blood in the VALORANT scene, as The Guard look like they will edge out a Sentinels team that was considered the best in the world just a year ago. The former are hot out of a four match win streak, only having lost to Cloud9 at the beginning of the group stages, while Sentinels look shaky with losses to OpTic Gaming and more recently Version1.

It has been a relatively quiet tournament for Tyson "TenZ" Ngo, by his own high standards, but every team in this stage knows the impact he can have when he is on his A-game. Trent "trent" Cairns, on the other hand, has been somewhat of a revelation this year, driving his team with a 1.21 rating at the tournament.

The playoffs have a double elimination bracket and are created based on team seedings in the group stage. They are scheduled to run from 3/17 to 3/27 live on the official VALORANT Twitch channel.

Who are you rooting for in the playoffs? Let us know in the comments!