Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) EMEA is set to return with Stage 2 on Wednesday, July 16th.
The top teams from Europe will battle it out for the top prize and earn their place at the biggest tournament of the year, Valorant Champions (Champs) Paris.
With Champs being on home soil this year, teams will be eager to qualify for the tournament while they have the home advantage.
VCT EMEA Stage 2 Format
Stage 2 will follow the same format as Stage 1, but now every result is more important than ever.
Teams are not only competing to qualify for Champs Paris, but also their place in VCT, with relegation a possibility for both Gentle Mates and Apeks.
The twelve teams have been placed into two groups to compete in a single round robin, with each match being a best-of-three series.
Only the top four from each group will advance to the Playoffs and compete in a modified double-elimination bracket, with the best-performing Group Stage teams earning a slight advantage:
- The first-seeded team from each group will earn a bye directly into Round 2 of the Upper Bracket.
- The second and third seeds will face off in the Upper Bracket Opening Round.
- While the fourth seed will start in the Lower Bracket and face elimination, playing against the losers of the Opening Round.
The Playoffs will also feature best-of-threes until the Lower Final and Grand Final, which will both feature best-of-fives to determine our Stage 2 Champions and the first two qualifiers for Champs Paris.
VCT EMEA Stage 2, as well as all other VCT leagues, will be played on Patch 11.0 for the entirety of the tournament.
Riot Games has said this is due to infrastructure changes being made to the game itself.
Likely part of Valorant’s move to Unreal Engine 5, as announced alongside the long-awaited replay system.
VALORANT Champions Paris 2025 Qualification
The top two teams in the VCT EMEA Stage 2 Playoffs will automatically qualify for Champions Paris.
Meanwhile, the third and fourth representatives will be determined by Championship Points, which measure performance across the entire season.
Currently Fnatic leads the way, thanks to winning EMEA Stage 1 and their finals appearance at VCT Masters Toronto.
However, everything is to play for heading into the final stage of VCT EMEA:
| Rank | Team | Championship Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Fnatic | 14 |
| 2nd | Team Heretics | 9 |
| 3rd | Team Liquid | 8 |
| 4th | Team Vitality | 6 |
| 5th | BBL Esports | 5 |
| 6th | FUT Esports | 4 |
| 7th | Natus Vincere | 3 |
| 8th | Karmine Corp | 2 |
| 9th | GIANTX | 1 |
| 9th | Gentle Mates | 1 |
| 9th | MKOI | 1 |
| 12th | Apeks | 0 |
VCT EMEA Stage 2 Key Dates
VCT EMEA will kick off on Wednesday, July 16th and run until the Group Stage concludes on Friday, August 15th.
Keeping the momentum going, teams will head straight into the Playoffs, between August 21st and 24th.
Stage 2 will reach its conclusion the following week, with the final four matches of the season
Both the Upper Bracket Final and Lower Bracket Semi-Finals will take place on August 29th, with the Lower Finals taking place on the following day.
The VCT EMEA season will then conclude on Sunday, August 31st, with the Grand Final.
Map Pool
The map pool for VCT EMEA Stage 2 has been locked in.
Brand new map, Corrode, will make its competitive debut alongside the return of Bind.
They’ll take the place of Pearl and Split in the competitive map pool.
The updated Stage 2 map pool is: Corrode, Lotus, Icebox, Haven, Bind, Ascent, and Fracture.
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