The Valorant Champions 2026 Playoffs are set to start on October 7 as the top eight take to the stage. The event will decide who wins Valorant’s biggest prize of the year, so let’s have an in-depth look at who could win it.
Valorant Champions 2026 Playoffs Format and Schedule:
Valorant Champions Shanghai features a double-elimination eight-team playoff bracket. All matches will be Best of 3 except for the Best of 5 Lower Final and Grand Finals.
The playoffs will run from October 7-18, with the top four switching venue from the Jing’an Sports Center to the 18,000-capacity Mercedes-Benz Arena.
The first round of the Valorant Champions 2026 Playoffs Bracket is:
- October 7: NRG vs T1
- October 7: Paper Rex vs LOUD
- October 8: 100 Thieves vs G2
- October 8: Vitality vs Nongshim RedForce
Valorant Champions 2026 Predictions: VCT Pacific and Americas set for titanic clash
There’s no doubt about the two best regions at Valorant Champions Shanghai. VCT Americas saw all of its four teams reach the playoffs, while Pacific only lost Global Esports along the way.
Global Esports were, however, the VCT Pacific Stage 2 champions, but if Valorant Champions has taught us one thing historically, it’s that domestic success doesn’t determine success at Champs.
Instead, Valorant Champions 2025 clearly showed us how much experience and mentality are key to winning the biggest tournament in the Valorant calendar.
The Grand Final: NRG vs Fnatic, Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold vs Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett. Neither were regional champions at the time, but it was their composure and experience that led them to that famous clash.
That pattern has been reinforced by NRG and Paper Rex’s success so far at this event. Opening matchups against T1 and LOUD, respectively, could lead to the two veteran teams colliding in the Upper Bracket Semis, potentially setting up a thrilling contrast of styles between NRG’s considered play and Paper Rex’s brawly, hard-hitting playstyle.
On the other side of the bracket, it may be momentum instead of experience that defines who makes the Upper Final. Nongshim RedForce rode an undefeated Kickoff Split all the way to Valorant Masters Santiago victory earlier in the year, but needs to recapture that form after a decisive group stage defeat to NRG.
100 Thieves, in contrast, picked up momentum at EWC 2026 and have never let it go, riding it all the way from glory in Paris to a VCT Americas Stage 2 victory and a 2-0 group stage at Champions.
They’re the form team on that side of the bracket, but G2 are a tricky matchup because they have nothing to lose. For so long, the burden of lack of international success lay heavy on the heads of their G2 roster, but with the roster expected to make changes in the off-season, they have nothing to lose.
Team Vitality carry VCT EMEA hopes – Can they go far?
In contrast to Riot Games’ other largest esports property, League of Legends, Valorant has generally enjoyed a decent level of relative regional parity throughout the years. That has certainly collapsed this time around.
Every VCT China team ended in joint last place, with the region securing zero series wins in eight attempts and a 2-16 overall map record. The painful failure was even more stark because it was at the first-ever Champions hosted in China, a region that won Champions as recently as 2024, when EDward Gaming took home the title.
However, for the playoffs, it is EMEA that will remain under the spotlight. Vitality are bearing the flag for the entire region after the elimination of Team Liquid, FUT, and VCT EMEA Stage 2 winner Karmine Corp.
The region in general has seemed weak and tactically shallow at Champions 2026, suffering from a general lack of roster stability and experience.
Following the collapse of Fnatic’s long-standing roster, Vitality have to fill that gap in knowing how to win by any means necessary, something former Fnatic pair Timofey ‘Chronicle’ Khromov and Nikita ‘Derke’ Sirmitev know how to do.
Still, while it was an impressive 2-0 showing from Vitality in the groups, the roster generally doesn’t seem to have reached its peak quite yet, or perhaps not even its final roster configuration.
Overall, Vitality may have experienced pieces, but they are not a battle-hardened and experienced roster like NRG or Paper Rex. In my view, they are not ready to fill the void left by Fnatic’s decline to be the saviour of the region.
The EMEA team faces a tricky opening matchup against Nongshim. A win there would really cement them as contenders, but a loss and it’s a long road from Lower Bracket Round 1 to the trophy. In any case, it’s an unlikely run despite EMEA dreams.
Who do you think will take home Valorant Champions Shanghai? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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