2022 Valorant Champions Tour: Stage 1 Masters Explained

2022 VCT: Stage 1 Masters
Game:Valorant
Location:Reykjavík, Iceland
Date:April 10–24, 2022
Administrator:Riot Games
Venues:Laugardalshöll
Teams:12
Purse:[1]
Champions:OpTic Gaming
Previous:2021: Stage 3
Next:2022: Stage 2
Runner-Up1:LOUD

The 2022 Valorant Champions Tour (VCT): Stage 1 Masters, also known as the Valorant Masters Reykjavík 2022,[2] was an international tournament organized by Riot Games for the first-person shooter game Valorant, as part of the Valorant Champions Tour's 2022 competitive season. The tournament ran from April 10–24, 2022, in Reykjavík, Iceland. The city also previously hosted the 2021 VCT Stage 2 Masters.[3]

Venue

Reykjavík was the city chosen to host the competition. All matches were played at Laugardalshöll without spectators.[4]

Format

Tournament spots

The champion teams from the Asia-Pacific; EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and North America Stage 1 Challengers were all directly qualified to the upper bracket quarterfinals. Which of the two regions Latin America and Brazil win the South America Playoff (the match between two runner-up teams from Challengers of twos) will get quarterfinals spot for their Challengers winner. The remaining eight teams were seeded in the GSL formatted group stage and were divided into two groups of four teams.[5]

This tournament has 12 spots which are divided below:

Started inRegions
North AmericaSouth AmericaJapanS.KoreaAsia-Pacific
BrazilLatin America
Knockout stage (4 spots)111001
Group stage (8 spots)2111111
Total (12 spots)323112

Qualified teams

FunPlus Phoenix originally qualified for the Stage 1 Masters after winning the 2022 EMEA Stage 1 Challengers; however, due to the travel restrictions caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, they were not able to field a team and were forced to withdraw from the competition. Riot then decided to replace them with Team Liquid as EMEA's third representative.[6] With this, the squad was still awarded $25,000 and 200 circuit points, which is equivalent to an eighth-place finish — the lowest place they could have earned at the tournament.[7]

Brazil's Challengers runner-up Ninjas in Pyjamas had won Latin America's Challengers runner-up Leviatán in South America Playoff match, leading to South America's spot in Knockout stage was given to Brazil's Challengers winner LOUD instead of Latin America's Challengers winner KRÜ Esports.

RegionPathTeamID
Starting in the Knockout stage
EMEA Stage 1 Challengers runner-upG2 EsportsG2
North AmericaNA Stage 1 Challengers winnerThe GuardTGRD
Asia-PacificMYSG Stage 1 Challengers winner
►APAC Stage 1 Challengers winner
Paper RexPRX
BrazilBR Stage 1 Challengers winnerLOUDLLL
Starting in the group stage
EMEA Stage 1 Challengers third-placeFnaticFNC
EMEA Stage 1 Challengers fourth-placeTeam LiquidTL
North AmericaNA Stage 1 Challengers runner-upOpTic GamingOPTC
Asia-PacificThailandThailand Stage 1 Challengers winner
►APAC Stage 1 Challengers runner-up
XERXIAXIA
South KoreaKR Stage 1 Challengers winnerDRXDRX
JapanJP Stage 1 Challengers winnerZETA DIVISIONZETA
Latin AmericaLATAM SouthLATAM South Stage 1 Challengers runner-up
►LATAM Stage 1 Challengers Winner
KRÜ EsportsKRÜ
BrazilBR Stage 1 Challengers runner-up
►South America Stage 1 Playoff winner
Ninjas in PyjamasNIP

Map pool

List of 7 maps are played in this tournament:

Group stage

Group B

Knockout stage

Final rankings

Rank Team Winnings (USD) Circuit Points
1st $200,000750
2nd LOUD $120,000 500
3rd ZETA Division $85,000 400
4th Paper Rex $65,000 300
5th-6th $40,000 250
G2 Esports
7th-8th $25,000 200
The Guard
9th-10th $15,000 150
XERXIA
11th-12th $10,000 125
KRÜ Esports

Source:[8]

Notes and References

  1. News: OpTic Gaming wins Champions Tour Stage 1 Masters . June 23, 2022 . . April 24, 2022.
  2. Web site: 2022-03-31 . VALORANT Masters Reykjavík 2022: Format Explained . VALORANT Champions Tour (official YouTube).
  3. News: McLaughlin . Declan . VCT Masters to return to Iceland for Stage 1 . June 23, 2022 . . March 11, 2022.
  4. Web site: Stage 1 Masters Returns to Reykjavik . valorantesports.com.
  5. News: April 2, 2022 . VALORANT MASTERS: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW . valorantesports .
  6. News: Miter . Mateusz . March 28, 2022 . FPX unable to attend VCT Masters Reykjavík due to travel restrictions, Team Liquid invited instead . . June 23, 2022.
  7. News: Zalamea . Nigel . 4 April 2022 . Riot Games awards FunPlus Phoenix 8th-place prize at Masters Reykjavik 2022 . One Esports . 22 June 2022.
  8. News: Stage 1 Masters returns to Reykjavik . 22 June 2022 . valorantesports.com . 12 March 2022.