| 2021 Valorant Champions | |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Administrator: | Riot Games |
| Start Date: | December 1 |
| End Date: | 12 |
| Sport: | Esports |
| Game: | Valorant |
| Administrators: | Riot Games |
| Location: | Berlin, Germany |
| Teams: | 16 |
| Runner-Up1: | Gambit Esports |
| Mvp: | Aleksander "zeek" Zygmunt |
| Next: | 2022 |
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]
won the Valorant world championship after defeating Gambit Esports in the finals by a score of 3–2.[3]
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)
| Qualification path | Regions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | South America | Asia-Pacific | ||||||
| Brazil | Latin America | Japan | S.Korea | Southeast Asia | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Region | Team | Qualified by | |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | North America Regional circuit points | ||
| Team Envy | |||
| North America Last Chance Qualifier | |||
| EMEA | Stage 3 Masters champion | ||
| EMEA Regional circuit points | |||
| Fnatic | |||
| 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 | Southeast Asia Regional circuit points | |
| Team Secret | |||
| FULL SENSE | Asia-Pacific Last Chance Qualifier | ||
| South Korea | Vision Strikers | Korea Regional circuit points | |
| Japan | Crazy Raccoon | Japan Regional circuit points |
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.
The knockout stage began on December 8, culminating in the finals on December 12. 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.
| Place | Team | GS | QF | SF | Finals | Prize (%) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 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 |