Valorant is set to participate in the Esports World Cup for the first time ever, with the event set to kick off in just over a month. All four of the VCT's regions have finished their qualification processes for EWC, meaning the 16-team field for the event has been set.
The field is as follows:
-
Xi Lai Gaming
Xi Lai Gaming China Rank #3 Midi Zhang Jiajun (手张嘉俊) Viva Lifan Ran (冉立凡) Rarga Arthur Churyumov happywei Deng Minwei (邓闵维) coconut Colin Patrick Chung (钟弘祖)
-
Bilibili Gaming
Bilibili Gaming China Rank #4 whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) Levius Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中) rushia Wang Xiaojie (王晓杰) nephh Marcus Tan Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔)
-
EDward Gaming
EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Jieni7 Zhang Juntai (张君泰)
-
Titan Esports Club
Titan Esports Club China Rank #8 Haodong Guo Haodong (郭浩东) Dynamite Zhao Zihao (赵梓浩) Abo Han Bohao (韩博皓) TvirusLuke Chen Cheng-ching (陈振庆) Coco Ding Dajian (丁达建)
-
G2 Esports
G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf
-
Sentinels
Sentinels North America Rank #4 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid
-
NRG
NRG North America Rank #2 s0m Sam Oh brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold
-
100 Thieves
100 Thieves North America Rank #5 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk
-
Rex Regum Qeon
Rex Regum Qeon Asia-Pacific Rank #6 Monyet Cahya Nugraha xffero David Monangin Jemkin Maksim Batorov Kushy Bryan Carlos Setiawan crazyguy Ngô Công Anh
-
Gen.G
Gen.G Korea Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) Ash Ha Hyun-cheol (하현철) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) Suggest Seo Jae-young (서재영) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태)
-
Paper Rex
Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 PatMen Patrick Mendoza Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov
-
DRX
DRX Korea Rank #2 MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) Estrella Park Gun (박건) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈)
-
FNATIC
FNATIC Europe Rank #1 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder
-
Team Heretics
Team Heretics Europe Rank #3 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius
-
BBL Esports
BBL Esports Europe Rank #6 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen sociablEE Volkan Yonal PROFEK Dawid Święć LewN Burak Alkan MAGNUM Martin Penkov
-
Karmine Corp
Karmine Corp Europe Rank #14 saadhak Matias Delipetro Avez Hazem Khaled Elite Efe Teber SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin marteen Martin Pátek
Qualification
Eight teams had already qualified for the event following the conclusion of each region's lower final in Stage 1, as the top two teams from the competition earned automatic qualification. Xi Lai Gaming and BiliBili Gaming finished as the top two teams from China Stage 1, qualifying for not just their first international events with upcoming appearances at Masters Toronto, but also EWC. Americas Stage 1 finalists G2 and Sentinels also qualified, while newly-crowned regional champions Rex Regum Qeon and Gen.G qualified through Pacific Stage 1. Europe, after having play suspended for a week to address technical shortcomings, saw FNATIC top Team Heretics in the EMEA Stage 1 grand final to claim two of the region's EWC slots.
To decide the region's remaining two slots, EMEA held a ten-team tournament. The online event saw
Team Liquid
Team Liquid
Europe
Rank #10
penny
Erik Penny
paTiTek
Patryk Fabrowski
nAts
Ayaz Akhmetshin
Keiko
Georgio Sanassy
kamo
Kamil Frąckowiak
Serial
Maikls Zdanovs
and BBL, who finished third and fourth in Stage 1, automatically qualify for the second phase of the playoffs. The remaining eight teams battled in an eight-team, double-elimination bracket, with the top two teams qualifying for the second phase. In the end, BBL and Karmine Corp prevailed.
Americas held an identical format to EMEA, though
LOUD
LOUD
Brazil
Rank #7
Virtyy
Leandro Moreno
RobbieBk
Robbie Boerkamp
pANcada
Bryan Luna
cauanzin
Cauan Pereira
's decision not to participate granted a bye for some teams.
MIBR
MIBR
Brazil
Rank #2
artzin
Arthur Araujo
xenom
Eduardo Soeiro
cortezia
Gabriel Cortez
Verno
Andrew Maust
aspas
Erick Santos
and
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses
North America
Rank #11
Derrek
Derrek Ha
NaturE
Nicholas Garrison
supamen
Phat Le
icy
Jacob Lange
yay
Jaccob Whiteaker
started the event in the second phase, while 100 Thieves and NRG qualified through the first phase. In the end, it was those two teams qualifying, with NRG defeating 100 Thieves in four maps in the upper bracket and 100 Thieves pulling off a reverse sweep to defeat MIBR.
The Pacific region's qualifier was the Pacific x ACL Qualifier, organized by Hero Esports. With just eight teams participating, the region was split into two groups, with single-map matches to be played in a round robin. The top two teams of each group qualified for a four-team, single-elimination tournament, which saw the top two teams qualify for EWC. DRX and Paper Rex, after defeating
Global Esports
Global Esports
Asia-Pacific
Rank #25
UdoTan
Go Kyung-won (고경원)
Kr1stal
Savva Fedorov
Papi
Federico Evangelista
ban
Joseph Seungmin Oh
yoman
Chae Young-moon (채영문)
Deryeon
Derrick Yee
and
Team Secret
Team Secret
Asia-Pacific
Rank #17
invy
Adrian Jiggs Reyes
n1zzy
Nguyễn Tấn Thành
stand-in
ZesBeeW
Sha Mohtar
stand-in
kellyS
Kelly Sedillo
stand-in
Wild0reoo
Brheyanne Christ Reyes
in two maps, qualified for the event, with PRX defeating DRX in the grand final.
China, unlike the other three regions, designated qualification through China Evolution Series: Act 2, its regional non-VCT circuit. In a 12-team single-elimination bracket, teams already qualified for EWC fielded reserve squads, while the four best teams who missed out on qualifying for Masters Toronto earned a bye into the tournament's second round. In the end, it was perennial powerhouse EDG qualifying alongside underdogs Titan Esports Club, who are yet to qualify for an international VCT event.
Format
The EWC format will be similar to VCT's Champions format. Teams will be drawn into groups of four, with a double-elimination bracket held within groups to decide which two teams move on to the playoffs. The eight-team playoff bracket, however, will be single elimination, with all matches until the grand final being best-of-five.
The Group Stage will be split into three days, with 12 matches in total to be played on day one, four on day two, and four on day three. The quarterfinals, semifinals, and grand final take place the following three days.
Play begins on July 7, and ends on July 12. A $1.25 million prize pool is on the line, with the winning team claiming $500 thousand alone.