Less than two weeks before the final VALORANT Champions Tour event kicks off, the format and groups have been revealed for VCT Champions 1, which kicks off on December 2021.
Champions will use the same format as VCT Masters Three Berlin. Four groups of four teams will compete in their own GSL-style, double elimination group stage that will send two teams from each group into the single elimination playoff group.
Here are the groups on VCT Champions:
Group A: Acend, Team Envy, Vivo Keyd, X10 Esports
Group B: Sentinels, Team Liquid, FURIA, KRU Esports
Group C: Gambit, Crazy Raccoon, Team Secret, Team Vikings
Group D: Vision Strikers, Fnatic, Cloud9, Full Sense
According to Riot Games, the groups were determined based on "a combination of their respective final rankings and the strength of their region in Challenger events." Also, Riot asked teams not to group against teams in their region. All four EMEA teams are in separate groups, and all three teams from North America, Southeast Asia and Brazil have left.
Upon completion of the group stage, all eight playoff teams will be seeded in a random draw. The first-placed group team will play against a second-placed team from another group in the opening round. Except for the bo12 grand final on Sunday, December 5, all matches will be bo3.
The first match of the group stage kicks off at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, December 8st as the Vision Strikers face off against Full Sense.
