2021 Valorant Champions

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.

2021 Valorant Champions

2021
Tournament information
Game	Valorant
Location	Berlin, Germany
Dates	December 1–12
Administrators	Riot Games
Tournament format(s)	2 stages Group stage: Double elimination bracket Knock-out stage: Single elimination bracket
Venue(s)	2 (in Berlin) Marlene-Dietrich-Halle (Group stage & Quarterfinals) Verti Music Hall (Semifinals & Finals)
Teams	16
Purse	US$1,000,000
Final positions
Champions	Acend
Runner-up	Gambit Esports
MVP	Aleksander "zeek" Zygmunt (Acend)
2022 →

"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.

Berlin, Germany
Group Stage	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
Marlene-Dietrich-Halle		Verti Music Hall
Berlin

Format

Tournament spots

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)

Qualification path	Regions
	EMEA[a]	North America[b]	South America		Asia-Pacific[c]
			Brazil	Latin America[d]	Japan	S.Korea	Southeast Asia[e]
Regional Circuit Points (11 spots)	2	2	2	1	1	1	2
Last Chance Qualifier (4 spots)	1	1	1		1
VCT Masters Stage 3 champion (1 spot)	1	0
Total (16 spots)	4	3	4		5

Qualified teams

Region	Team	Qualified by
North America	Sentinels	North America Regional circuit points
	Team Envy
	Cloud9 [f]	North America Last Chance Qualifier
EMEA	Gambit Esports	Stage 3 Masters champion
	Acend	EMEA Regional circuit points
	Fnatic
	Team Liquid	EMEA Last Chance Qualifier
Brazil	Team Vikings	Brazil Regional circuit points
	Vivo Keyd
	FURIA Esports	South America Last Chance Qualifier
Latin America	KRÜ Esports	Latin America Regional circuit points
Southeast Asia	X10 CRIT[g]	Southeast Asia Regional circuit points
	Team Secret[h]
	FULL SENSE	Asia-Pacific Last Chance Qualifier
South Korea	Vision Strikers	Korea Regional circuit points
Japan	Crazy Raccoon	Japan Regional circuit points

Group stage

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.^[6]

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

Acend vs. Team Secret

Acend vs. Team Secret Scores
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Acend	13	Icebox	8	Team Secret
Acend	13	Breeze	6	Team Secret
Acend	–	Split	–	Team Secret

Team Liquid vs. Cloud9

Team Liquid vs. Cloud9 Scores
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Team Liquid	13	Bind	10	Cloud9
Team Liquid	13	Ascent	11	Cloud9
Team Liquid	–	Breeze	–	Cloud9

Gambit Esports vs. X10Crit

Gambit Esports vs. X10Crit Scores
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Gambit Esports	13	Fracture	7	X10Crit
Gambit Esports	7	Ascent	13	X10Crit
Gambit Esports	13	Breeze	7	X10Crit

Fnatic vs. KRÜ Esports

Fnatic vs. KRÜ Esports Scores
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
KRÜ Esports	15	Haven	13	Fnatic
KRÜ Esports	6	Icebox	13	Fnatic
KRÜ Esports	13	Split	8	Fnatic

Semifinals

Acend vs. Team Liquid

Acend vs. Natus Vincere Scores
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Acend	13	Bind	6	Team Liquid
Acend	13	Split	5	Team Liquid
Acend	–	Ascent	–	Team Liquid

Gambit Esports vs. KRÜ Esports

Gambit Esports vs. KRÜ Esports Scores
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Gambit Esports	13	Breeze	8	KRÜ Esports
Gambit Esports	7	Ascent	13	KRÜ Esports
Gambit Esports	18	Bind	16	KRÜ Esports

Finals

Acend vs. Gambit Esports Scores
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Acend	11	Breeze	13	Gambit Esports
Acend	13	Ascent	7	Gambit Esports
Acend	3	Fracture	13	Gambit Esports
Acend	14	Icebox	12	Gambit Esports
Acend	13	Split	8	Gambit Esports

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

1. Regional Circuit Points is available only for teams from Europe, CIS and Turkey. Teams from MENA could only compete in Last Chance Qualifier.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Latin America has 2 sub-regions LATAM North and LATAM South.
5. Including teams from sub-regions Indonesia, Malaysia+Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan+Hong Kong.
6. Cloud9 had previously competed in North America Challengers as "Cloud9 Blue".
7. X10 CRIT had previously competed in Southeast Asia Challengers as "X10 Esports" before changing their name due to sponsorship reasons.
8. Team Secret acquired rosters and spot from Bren Esports before the event.