im confused how do play ins work in regard to champs or do they just not have anything to do with them
qualifications from play-ins
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Valorant Discussion
playins: seeds #3/#4/#5/#6 play with four tier 2 teams - 4 teams qualify out and make it to playoffs, where the #1 and #2 seeds are already waiting. finishing top 4 in playoffs grants champs points, finishing top 2 in playoffs is a direct qualification to champs
unironically yes, i was going over all of the permutations earlier and all we have to do to guarantee it is finish top 4 in playoffs and we make it on points.
there are plenty of scenarios where we can qualify even if we bomb out, but we'd be relying on at least one of VIT/FUT to make it to the finals, and teams low on points like KC/NAVI etc to guzzle up the points at 3rd/4th
how many points do we have currently and what happens if we qualify from playins but bomb out playoffs first round
we currently have 12 (3rd most) behind VIT (14) and FUT (13). You only get points from playoffs if you finish fourth or higher, so if we bomb out we'd still be on 12. At that point, we would need one of FUT or VIT to make the final, and hope that nobody behind us leaps us in points (https://liquipedia.net/valorant/VCT/2026/Championship_Points/EMEA).
It becomes easier if both VIT and FUT make the final, since a team would be allowed to overtake us and we'd still make it as fourth seed (e.g. BBL 3rd, M8 4th pushes BBL above us but not M8)
however, that is pretty unlikely since FUT are kinda mid, so let's assume only VIT make the final and we bomb out
we would then have to hope that only one of FUT/BBL/TL/EF/FNC occupy the 3rd/4th slots. If two of those teams made it to 3rd/4th we would be pushed out on points. However, M8 do not overtake us unless they take the 3rd slot specifically, so they could finish fourth and we would still be ahead by one point.
so, in short, if we bomb out we should be rooting for M8 (until 4th), T2 Teams/KC/NAVI/GX/PCF (until 3rd) and for VIT/FUT to reach the final.
adding to this: ~10% of the permutations including us finishing 8th have us qualifying to champs, but it should become much clearer once playins is over and the amount of teams remaining decreases
the winners of playins go to playoffs in regionals and from there who goes to champs is decided
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