The 2021 Valorant Champions was an esports tournament for the first-person shooter video game Valorant. It was the first-ever edition of VALORANT Champions, the culmination of Valorant Champions Tour, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer Riot Games. The tournament was held from December 1 to 12 in Berlin, Germany.[1] Sixteen teams qualified for the tournament based on their result via 2021 VALORANT Masters: Stage 3, the regional Circuit Point standings in the year, and the regional Last Chance Qualifiers.
2021 | |
Tournament information | |
---|---|
Game | Valorant |
Location | Berlin, Germany |
Dates | December 1–12 |
Administrators | Riot Games |
Tournament format(s) | 2 stages
|
Venue(s) | 2 (in Berlin)
|
Teams | 16 |
Purse | US$1,000,000 |
Final positions | |
Champions | Acend |
Runner-up | Gambit Esports |
MVP | Aleksander "zeek" Zygmunt (Acend) |
"Die For You" was the tournament's theme song, put together by Grabbitz, while Zedd, and Dabin, produced their own respective remix versions of the theme song.[2]
Acend won the Valorant world championship after defeating Gambit Esports in the finals by a score of 3–2.[3]
Venues
editBerlin was the city chosen to host the competition. The Group Stage was held at the Marlene-Dietrich-Halle, while the Semifinals and Finals was held at the Verti Music Hall.
Berlin, Germany | |||
---|---|---|---|
Group Stage | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals |
Marlene-Dietrich-Halle | Verti Music Hall | ||
Format
editTournament spots
editA total of 16 teams qualified for Champions. The winner of the Stage 3 Masters (Gambit Esports from EMEA) automatically qualified for the event, 11 teams from North America, EMEA, Brazil, Latin America, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia qualified through circuit points, and four teams qualified through four "Last Chance Qualifiers", held in North America (included teams from Oceania), EMEA, South America (Brazil + Latin America) and Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, South Korea, South Asia and Southeast Asia)
Qualification path | Regions | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
EMEA[a] | North America[b] | South America | Asia-Pacific[c] | ||||
Brazil | Latin America[d] | Japan | S.Korea | Southeast Asia[e] | |||
Regional Circuit Points (11 spots) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Last Chance Qualifier (4 spots) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
VCT Masters Stage 3 champion (1 spot) | 1 | 0 | |||||
Total (16 spots) | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Qualified teams
editRegion | Team | Qualified by |
---|---|---|
North America | Sentinels | North America Regional circuit points |
Team Envy | ||
Cloud9 [f] | North America Last Chance Qualifier | |
EMEA | Gambit Esports | Stage 3 Masters champion |
Acend | EMEA Regional circuit points | |
Fnatic | ||
Team Liquid | EMEA Last Chance Qualifier | |
Brazil | Team Vikings | Brazil Regional circuit points |
Vivo Keyd | ||
FURIA Esports | South America Last Chance Qualifier | |
Latin America | KRÜ Esports | Latin America Regional circuit points |
Southeast Asia | X10 CRIT[g] | Southeast Asia Regional circuit points |
Team Secret[h] | ||
FULL SENSE | Asia-Pacific Last Chance Qualifier | |
South Korea | Vision Strikers | Korea Regional circuit points |
Japan | Crazy Raccoon | Japan Regional circuit points |
Group stage
editThe group stage ran from December 1 to 7, 2022.[4] Groups were decided based on teams' achievements in competitions of Valorant Challengers and Valorant Masters, circuit point, and estimated strength for each region.[5] All 16 teams are divided into 4 groups of four teams each playing in a GSL-style double-elimination format. Games were held in a best-of-three series, and only the top two teams in each group qualified for the playoffs.
Brackets
edit- Group A
Upper round 1 | Upper final | |||||||
Acend | 2 | |||||||
Vivo Keyd | 1 | |||||||
Acend | 2 | |||||||
Team Envy | 0 | |||||||
Team Envy | 2 | |||||||
X10 CRIT | 0 | |||||||
Lower round 1 | Lower final | |||||||
Team Envy | 1 | |||||||
Vivo Keyd | 0 | X10 CRIT | 2 | |||||
X10 CRIT | 2 | |||||||
- Group B
Upper round 1 | Upper final | |||||||
Sentinels | 2 | |||||||
FURIA Esports | 1 | |||||||
Sentinels | 1 | |||||||
Team Liquid | 2 | |||||||
KRÜ Esports | 0 | |||||||
Team Liquid | 2 | |||||||
Lower round 1 | Lower final | |||||||
Sentinels | 1 | |||||||
FURIA Esports | 1 | KRÜ Esports | 2 | |||||
KRÜ Esports | 2 | |||||||
- Group C
Upper round 1 | Upper final | |||||||
Gambit Esports | 2 | |||||||
Team Secret | 1 | |||||||
Gambit Esports | 2 | |||||||
Team Vikings | 1 | |||||||
Team Vikings | 2 | |||||||
Crazy Raccoon | 0 | |||||||
Lower round 1 | Lower final | |||||||
Team Vikings | 0 | |||||||
Team Secret | 2 | Team Secret | 2 | |||||
Crazy Raccoon | 0 | |||||||
- Group D
Upper round 1 | Upper final | |||||||
Vision Strikers | 2 | |||||||
FULL SENSE | 0 | |||||||
Vision Strikers | 1 | |||||||
Fnatic | 2 | |||||||
Fnatic | 2 | |||||||
Cloud9 | 1 | |||||||
Lower round 1 | Lower final | |||||||
Vision Strikers | 1 | |||||||
FULL SENSE | 0 | Cloud9 | 2 | |||||
Cloud9 | 2 | |||||||
Knockout stage
editThe knockout stage began on December 8, culminating in the finals on December 12.[4] Eight teams were drawn into a single-elimination bracket. The top-seeded team of each group was drawn against the second-seeded team of a different group. The teams from same group were on opposite sides of the bracket, meaning they could play each other until the Finals. All matches were best-of-three, except for the finals, which was best-of-five.[citation needed]
Bracket
editQuarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||
A1 | Acend | 2 | |||||||||||
C2 | Team Secret | 0 | |||||||||||
Acend | 2 | ||||||||||||
Team Liquid | 0 | ||||||||||||
B1 | Team Liquid | 2 | |||||||||||
D2 | Cloud9 | 0 | |||||||||||
Acend | 3 | ||||||||||||
Gambit Esports | 2 | ||||||||||||
C1 | Gambit Esports | 2 | |||||||||||
A2 | X10 CRIT | 1 | |||||||||||
Gambit Esports | 2 | ||||||||||||
KRÜ Esports | 1 | ||||||||||||
D1 | Fnatic | 1 | |||||||||||
B2 | KRÜ Esports | 2 | |||||||||||
Prize pool
editPlace | Team | GS | QF | SF | Finals | Prize (%) | Prize (USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | Acend | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 35% | $350,000 |
2nd | Gambit Esports | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 15% | $150,000 |
3rd–4th | KRÜ Esports | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 9% | $90,000 | |
Team Liquid | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | ||||
5th–8th | Team Secret | 2–1 | 0–2 | 4% | $40,000 | ||
Cloud9 Blue | 2–1 | 0–2 | |||||
X10 CRIT | 2–1 | 1–2 | |||||
Fnatic | 2–0 | 1–2 | |||||
9th–12th | Team Envy | 1–2 | 2% | $20,000 | |||
Sentinels | 1–2 | ||||||
Team Vikings | 1–2 | ||||||
Vision Strikers | 1–2 | ||||||
13th–16th | Keyd Stars | 0–2 | |||||
Furia Esports | 0–2 | ||||||
Crazy Raccoon | 0–2 | ||||||
FULL SENSE | 0–2 |
Notes
edit- ^ Regional Circuit Points is available only for teams from Europe, CIS and Turkey. Teams from MENA could only compete in Last Chance Qualifier.
- ^ Regional Circuit Points was not available for teams from Oceania due to no have Challangers competitions hosted by Riot Games at here. They could only compete in Last Chance Qualifier with teams from North America, and later withdrew due to travel issue in COVID-19 pandemic.
- ^ Regional Circuit Points was not available for teams from China and South Asia due to no have Challangers competitions hosted by Riot Games. Teams from China and South Asia could only compete in APAC Last Chance Qualifier.
- ^ Latin America has 2 sub-regions LATAM North and LATAM South.
- ^ Including teams from sub-regions Indonesia, Malaysia+Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan+Hong Kong.
- ^ Cloud9 had previously competed in North America Challengers as "Cloud9 Blue".
- ^ X10 CRIT had previously competed in Southeast Asia Challengers as "X10 Esports" before changing their name due to sponsorship reasons.
- ^ Team Secret acquired rosters and spot from Bren Esports before the event.
References
edit- ^ "VALORANT Champions Returns to Berlin!". playvalorant.com. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
- ^ "'Die For You': The VALORANT Champions Tour 2021 anthem". Upcomer. November 22, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
- ^ Klimentov, Mikhail (December 12, 2021). "Acend wins 'Valorant' world championship, defeating Gambit in Berlin". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
- ^ a b Declan, McLaughlin (November 18, 2021). "How to watch VALORANT Champions". Upcomer. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
- ^ Robertson, Scott (November 18, 2021). "Groups and format revealed for VCT Champions 2021". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 19, 2021.