VALORANT esports fans won't have to wait long now to see the top talents in North America go head-to-head. The VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Challengers Stage 1 main event is kicking off this weekend, with 12 rosters ready and raring to rack up frags, execute strategic outplays, and come in the clutch. Now they are tasked to earn NA Circuit Points and gain ground towards securing a spot at the international Masters event. Don't miss out on the action and book your calendars with the newly released schedule for the main event matchups at VCT Challengers Stage 1.
NA VCT Challengers Stage 1: Main Event Schedule
VCT Challengers Qualifications and Main Event Format
The 12 teams playing at the main event have come from three different pools. Four teams—Sentinels, Envy, Cloud9 (C9) Blue, and 100 Thieves (100T)—received direct invites to the main stage, having been the top teams in the region during the VCT 2021 season. Meanwhile, the other eight teams proved themselves worthy amidst over 100 teams that battled through the Open Qualifier brackets. Version1, XSET, The Guard, and NRG came through the first Open Qualifier event, while Evil Geniuses, Pittsburgh Knights, Luminosity, and Rise claimed the final spots available through the second Open Qualifier round.
Now, for the main event, the teams will be playing in a group stage, round-robin. The 12 squads were split into two groups. To ensure relatively similar strengths in each group, those that directly qualified were considered as one pool, followed by Open Qualifer 1 Upper Bracket and Lower Bracket, then OQ #2 Upper Bracket and Lower Bracket. The top four teams will then qualify to the playoffs stage of the Challengers main event.
| Group 1 | Group 2 |
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VCT Challengers Main Event Matchups, Game Schedules
The main event will start this February 11, 2022, running for five weeks with the games spread out over Friday to Sunday each week. The first series of the day will kick off at 1 PM PT / 3 PM CT, with all group matchups being played as best-of-threes.
The opening weekend actually already starts off with a bang as Cloud9 Blue face off against 100 Thieves. There's a bit of storied rivalry there, as C9 memorably battled their way through the lower brackets in NA's Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQ) in 2021, taking the region's final spot at VALORANT Champions. In their LB rampage, they had to set down 100T in the lower finals, and the Thieves haven't played an official match since their LCQ campaign came to a halt. They'll be debuting new players against C9, who have remained unchanged since making it out of the group stage at Champions.
Of course, all eyes will also be on the other direct-invite teams in Sentinels and Envy, who had gone to Champions but both had disappointing performances, especially for SEN who had looked so dominant domestically last year. But outside of that, fans can look forward to the other teams as well—Version1, XSET, and Rise are all familiar names from the scene with decent showings last year. NRG is also rising through the ranks, having snagged the qualification after a nailbiter matchup against Gen.G.
| Week | Date | Matchup |
| Week 1 | February 11 | Cloud9 Blue vs 100 Thieves |
| Version1 vs Pittsburgh Knights | ||
| February 12 | Sentinels vs NRG | |
| The Guard vs Luminosity | ||
| February 13 | Envy vs Rise | |
| XSET vs Evil Geniuses | ||
| Week 2 | February 18 | Pittsburgh Knights vs Sentinels |
| Evil Geniuses vs Luminosity | ||
| February 19 | XSET vs Cloud9 Blue | |
| Rise vs Version1 | ||
| February 20 | NRG vs Envy | |
| 100 Thieves vs The Guard | ||
| Week 3 | February 25 | Cloud9 Blue vs Evil Geniuses |
| Pittsburgh Knights vs Rise | ||
| February 26 | Sentinels vs Envy | |
| The Guard vs XSET | ||
| February 27 | Luminosity vs 100 Thieves | |
| Version1 vs NRG | ||
| Week 4 | March 4 | Rise vs Sentinels |
| Evil Geniuses vs The Guard | ||
| March 5 | Luminosity vs Cloud9 Blue | |
| NRG vs Pittsburgh Knights | ||
| March 6 | 100 Thieves vs XSET | |
| Envy vs Version1 | ||
| Week 5 | March 11 | Cloud9 Blue vs The Guard |
| NRG vs Rise | ||
| March 12 | Sentinels vs Version1 | |
| 100 Thieves vs Evil Geniuses | ||
| March 13 | Envy vs Pittsburgh Knights | |
| XSET vs Luminosity |
VCT Challengers Stage 1 Playoffs
The top four teams will advance to the playoffs bracket, which will be in a double-elimination format. This will unfold a week after the last game, March 17, and will be played on Thursday through Sunday for two weeks. These matchups will be best-of-three series, except for the Lower Final and Grand Final that will be best-of-fives. The two squads that make it all the way to the Grand Finals will represent NA at VCT Masters in April.
Catch the action live as the games will be streamed via the official VALORANT esports Twitch and YouTube channels. You can also tune in to partner co-streams or watch parties with popular personalities around the scene.
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