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.
"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
Berlin 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.
A 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)
The 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
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
The 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
Quarterfinals
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
Place
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
^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.
