VCT NA Challengers Viewer's Guide - Main Event

With the Qualifiers out of the way, it is time for North America’s first Challengers Main Event of VCT 2022. Here is everything you need to know about VCT 2022 - North America - Stage 1 - Main Event.

Qualified Teams:

As you might be aware, this event will feature a total of 12 qualified teams, with four qualifying based on their performance in 2021, and the rest through the Open Qualifiers.

Group Stage:

Teams have been divided into two groups of six apiece. For the length of the Main Event, each team will play against all the other teams in their group once. The Group Stage will begin on February 11 continuing through till March 13 with matches scheduled from Friday through Sunday. All match days will start at 1 p.m. PST, and all matches will be played in a best-of-three format.:

Group A:

Group B:

Teams to watch:

With XSET and Pittsburgh Knights battling it out for the title in NSG 2022 Winter Championship - Finals, it is fair to say that both teams have been on the top of their game in recent times. Although both maps ended with extremely close scores, it was XSET in the end that prevailed courtesy of Jordan "AYRIN" He and Matthew "Cryocells" Panganiban. The Knights had impeccable form throughout the qualifiers tournament executing perfect sweeps on more than one occasion, including the Upper Bracket Semi-Finals against Soniqs. They also had to face Built By Gamers in their Upper Bracket run. XSET also qualified through the upper bracket with their only map loss being against Radiance who forced the decider in the Upper Bracket Semi-finals.

Amongst the invited teams, Sentinels, 100 Thieves and Envy, haven’t competed in any tournament since the start of 2022. In VCT 2021 - VALORANT Champions 2021 both Envy and Sentinels placed 9th-12th, while Cloud9 placed higher at 5th-8th. 100 Thieves last played in VCT 2021 - North America Last Chance Qualifier but its worth mentioning that there have been two new additions to the team ever since. Given that Cloud9 managed a 1st place in Knights Arena VALORAMPAGE - Main Event and the highest ranking for NA in the Champions event, they are definitely one of the favorites for the Main Event.

Playoffs:

The top eight teams from the Main Event will proceed to the Stage 1 Playoffs, which will begin on March 17th. The playoffs will be a two-week double-elimination format, with matches taking place from Thursday through Sunday. Until the Lower Final and Grand Final, which will both be best-of-five, all matches will be best-of-three. Only two teams from the playoffs will be given a secure spot at VCT 2022 - Stage 1 - Masters Reykjavík.

Format and Schedule:

Feb. 11

• Cloud9 vs. 100 Thieves
• Version1 vs. Pittsburgh Knights

Feb. 12

• Sentinels vs. NRG Esports
• The Guard vs. Luminosity Gaming

Feb. 13

• Envy vs. Rise
• XSET vs. Evil Geniuses

Feb. 18

• Pittsburgh Knights vs. Sentinels
• Evil Geniuses vs. Luminosity Gaming

Feb. 19

• XSET vs. Cloud9
• Rise vs. Version1

Feb. 20

• NRG Esports vs. Envy
• 100 Thieves vs. The Guard

Feb. 25

• Cloud9 vs. Evil Geniuses
• Pittsburgh Knights vs. Rise

Feb. 26

• Sentinels vs. Envy
• The Guard vs. XSET

Feb. 27

• Luminosity Gaming vs. 100 Thieves
• Version1 vs. NRG Esports

March 4

• Rise vs. Sentinels
• Evil Geniuses vs. The Guard

March 5

• Luminosity Gaming vs. Cloud9
• NRG Esports vs. Pittsburgh Knights

March 6

• 100 Thieves vs. XSET
• Envy vs. Version1

March 11

• Cloud9 vs. The Guard
• NRG Esports vs. Rise

March 12

• Sentinels vs. Version1
• 100 Thieves vs. Evil Geniuses

March 13

• Envy vs. Pittsburgh Knights
• XSET vs. Luminosity Gaming

All the games will be streamed live on the official Twitch channel. You can vote for your favorite team and gain points in our prediction leaderboard competition or track the competition without missing a single round here.