Can you feel the hype already? Well, we do! VCT Challengers left us with a lot of excitement, and we all want to know who will win the first (of only two) major trophies of 2022!
We are sure that many of you are super hyped for the VCT Masters Stage 1, which starts on April 10 and will continue until April 24. It will be two weeks full of exciting Valorant, so let's see who made it to the first Valorant major of the year. As a reminder, there will only be two majors this year, so how each team performs in this tournament will, in a sense, determine who has a chance to make it to the World Championships.
VCT 2022 Stage 1 Masters: Teams
Okay, let's start with looking at the teams that, thanks to their well performance in VCT Challengers, made it into the Reykjavik!
| Team | Region | Seed |
| G2 Esports | EMEA | #1 |
| Fnatic | EMEA | #2 |
| Team Liquid | EMEA | #3 |
The Guard | NA | #1 |
| OpTic Gaming | NA | #2 |
| Paper Rex | APAC | #1 |
| XERXIA | APAC | #2 |
| LOUD | Brazil | #1 |
| KRÜ Esports | LATAM | #1 |
| ZETA DIVISION | Japan | #1 |
| DRX | Korea | #1 |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas | LATAM vs Brazil | #1 |
It's also worth mentioning that one of the teams that made it to this tournament was FunPlusPhoenix, but because 4 out of 5 players from this team were unable to leave the country, they were replaced by Team Liquid.
VCT 2022 Stage 1 Masters: Format
Like in every major Valorant tournament, we will have a Group Stage summed with Playoffs. However, the rules will be slightly different than usual.
First, we will have Double Elimination instead of a Single Elimination bracket in the Playoffs. Moreover, Riot has decided on a format that would reward the top-seeded teams in each region by giving them a guaranteed Playoff slot, meaning they literally skip the group stage. Those teams are:
- G2 Esports (EMEA)
- The Guard (NA)
- Paper Rex (APAC)
- LOUD (Brazil)
VCT 2022 Stage 1 Masters: Groups
The rest of the teams will be divided into two groups (A and B), and it will look as follows:
| Group A | Group B |
| Fnatic | OpTic Gaming |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas | XERXIA |
| DRX | KRÜ Esports |
| ZETA DIVISION | Team Liquid |
VCT 2022 Stage 1 Masters: Streams
All matches will be streamed at the official Valorant Twitch channel:
Ultimately, we will be able to watch 3 games per day, with the stream starting around 5:00PM CEST.
What are your thoughts about the tournament? Reach us on our Instagram and Twitter and let's chat about it!