The next stage of the 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour campaign is fast approaching, and with this being the final full stage of the year before VCT Champions, Stage Two is of vital importance to virtually all competing teams.
There’s a lot of excitement around North America in particular, with a plethora of high-profile roster moves leading into the start of the stage and the region still basking in OpTic’s triumph at Masters Reykjavík.
Here’s everything you need to know about NA VCT 2022 Stage Two Challengers.
Teams
The main event of NA VCT 2022 Stage Two Challengers will feature 12 teams. The 12 teams will consist of the top four from Stage One, the top four from the first Stage Two open qualifier, and the top four from the second Stage Two open qualifier.
- Top four from Stage One: OpTic Gaming, The Guard, Cloud9, and XSET
- Top four from first Stage Two qualifier: NRG Esports, FaZe Clan, TSM, and Luminosity
- Top four from second Stage Two qualifier: TBD
The second Stage Two qualifier is set to begin May 5 and run until May 9. The teams that finished fifth through 12th in the first qualifier will be automatically seeded into the double-elimination bracket round-of-32: Sentinels, 100 Thieves, Version1, Evil Geniuses, NYFU, Built By Gamers, Knights, and DarkZero Esports.
Format
The NA VCT 2022 Stage Two Challengers main event will use the same format as Stage One. The 12 teams will be split into groups of six, with all of the teams in each group playing each other once in a round robin. The top four teams from each group will qualify for the main event playoffs, which will be a double-elimination bracket.
All matches will be best-of-three, except for the playoffs’ lower bracket final and the grand final, which will be best-of-five.
Schedule
The NA VCT 2022 Stage Two Challengers main event group stage is scheduled to start on May 13. Six matches are expected to be played out Friday through Sunday of each week, with two matches taking place each day.
The following schedule is speculative until an official one is released:
- Week one matches: May 13 to 15
- Week two matches: May 20 to 22
- Week three matches: May 27 to 29
- Week four matches: June 3 to 5
- Week five matches: June 10 to 12
- Start of playoffs: June 16
VCT Masters is tentatively set for July, but official dates and locations have not been announced yet.
