Valorant Champions 2022 will be the second edition of Valorant’s world championship. The first one was a big success, and this one will be the final free-style edition before Riot Games takes over and starts exercising full control over the game’s professional circuit.
Valorant Champions 2022 is scheduled to take place in Istanbul between September 2 – 18. The tournament will feature 16 amazing teams. The event’s duration and its large number of competitors guarantee a lot of matches, which in turn will offer numerous Valorant betting opportunities that you can take advantage of with crypto or fiat.
Gamers and esports enthusiasts from all over the world will travel to see the best Valorant teams in the world compete at the most prestigious tournament of the year.
Here’s all you need to know about the participants before spectating the games.
Valorant Champions Details
Valorant Champions 2022 will bring together the strongest 16 teams in the world. Some of those teams are already known, while others have yet to qualify. The participants will be decided in the following way:
- 2 NA Circuit teams
- 2 EMEA Circuit teams
- 2 APAC Circuit teams
- 1 BR Circuit team
- 1 LATAM Circuit team
- 1 KR Circuit team
- 1 JP Circuit team
- 6 Last Chance teams
So far, almost half of the participants have been determined:
- OpTic Gaming
- XSET
- LOUD
- DragonX
- ZETA DIVISION
- Paper Rex
- XERXIA
The prize pool of Valorant Champions 2022 is likely to be identical to that of the previous edition: $1 million.
Valorant Champions 2022 Favorites
To understand who the favorites of Valorant Champions 2022 are, it’s enough to look at the teams’ past results. This season has had several great events, and the best teams in every region scored a lot of points in them.
For example, in the EMEA region, the best teams so far have been FunPlus Phoenix and Fnatic. Both of them have more than 400 points and are more than 100 points ahead of G2 Esports, Guild Esports, and other competitors.
Other regions, such as the North American one, are currently dominated by one team. In North America, OpTic Gaming reigns supreme. This competitor won the Stage 1 Masters and has 1050 points. The 2nd place team has just 295 points.
In Brazil, LOUD leads the race with 650 points and is already qualified for Valorant Champions 2022. Based on LOUD’s results at the Stage 1 Masters, it’s easy to see that this team will be one of the favorites.
In Japan, ZETA DIVISION did well at Masters 1, where it finished 3rd. As a result, it gained a huge advantage over the other regional competitors. The next team in line is Northeption, with 240 points. ZETA DIVISION has almost twice as many.
In South Korea, DragonX dominates the race and will almost certainly get a good result at the upcoming Valorant Champions 2022. This team has 550 points and will likely end up having more, as Masters 2 is underway and DRX is still in the race.
In the APAC region, Paper Rex and XERXIA are ranked 1st and 2nd. Both of them are decent teams but cannot be compared with the likes of OpTic Gaming.
In the LATAN region, KRU Esports and Leviatan are ranked 1st and 2nd. However, the point difference is very small and Leviatan has not yet been eliminated from Masters 2, while KRU is already out of the tournament. Given the circumstances, Leviatan might end up finishing 1st in the region.
Valorant Champions 2021 Results
Usually, past results are a good starting point when you investigate the participants in an upcoming tournament in the attempt to determine the favorites. But when it comes to Valorant, what happened last year has almost nothing to do with this year.
The game is too young and the teams change their players too frequently. There’s no stability in the pecking order and almost all of the teams that did well at Valorant Champions 2021 are nowhere to be found. The tournament was won by Acend. The runner-up was Gambit.
The current season has been dominated by other competitors. So if you want to be up to date with what’s going on, you need to study the results of this season.
Best teams in Valorant Right Now
The best teams in Valorant right now can be determined by looking at the biggest international events of this season. And there are only 4 of them, 2 of which are extremely important. The 4 events are the following:
- VTC 2022 Stage 1 Challengers
- VTC 2022 Stage 1 Masters
- VTC 2022 Stage 2 Challengers
- VTC 2022 Stage 2 Masters
In Stage 1 Challengers, FPX, G2 Esports, and Fnatic were the strongest teams.
In Stage 1 Masters, OpTic Gaming, LOUD, ZETA DIVISION, and Paper Rex were the stars of the show.
In Stage 2 Challengers, Fnatic, Acend, Guild Esports, and Team Liquid did well in the Group Stage. Fnatic actually managed to win the Grand Final as well. FPX and Guild Esports finished 2nd and 3rd.
In Stage 2 Masters, the big favorites seem to be OpTic, Fnatic, DRX, PRX, and FPX. The matches are currently underway, so it’s hard to tell who will win. But OpTic is the most likely candidate.
Keep in mind that Valorant Champions 2022 will feature 16 teams. And even though only around 6 of them have big chances of winning, all of them could potentially win. Never discard a dark horse and never assume that the strongest competitor is unbeatable.
If everything goes according to the statistics, OpTic Gaming should win quite easily. But that’s not guaranteed. The first thing you’ll need to check is whether or not they won Masters 2.
