VALORANT Champions Shanghai Playoffs bracket revealed

The Group Stage of VALORANT Champions Shanghai has concluded, with the top eight teams now ready to compete in the Playoffs, which begin on October 7. Of the 16 teams that entered the tournament, all four Americas representatives have made it to the next stage, while the Chinese organisations were eliminated without securing a single series win. The remaining slots have been filled by three Pacific and one EMEA squad.

The Playoffs will feature a double-elimination bracket, with the opening matchups that have been listed below decided through a live draw.

The qualified teams were divided into two pools, with the first seeds placed in Pool 1 and the second seeds in Pool 2. Teams were randomly drawn from Pool 1 first, followed by Pool 2, with the teams then matched against each other in the order they were drawn.

Organisations from the same group could not be placed on the same side of the bracket and were therefore moved to the next available slot on the opposite side. However, same-region matchups were allowed.

100 Thieves and G2 Esports will be the only matchup featuring teams from the same region. Entering Champions Shanghai as the Americas' first seed, 100T continued its momentum and reached the Playoffs without dropping a single map. Moreover, four of the tournament's top five-rated players following the Group Stage are from 100 Thieves, with Matthew "Cryocells" Panganiban on top of the leaderboard.

G2, meanwhile, showcased against Team Liquid why it has dominated the Americas region for so long and will now head into the series looking for revenge. In the past couple of years, the team has made it to the Playoffs but was eliminated in the first round, so advancing further will be another goal the players have in mind this year.

“I think this tournament will be different because our individual form is there, and usually it's like the opposite,” Trent "trent" Cairns told Sheep Esports.

Team Vitality is the only remaining hope for the EMEA region at the tournament. While the team is not considered one of the favourites to win the title, the fact that Elias "Jamppi" Olkkonen is having one of the best individual performances of his career will be something Nongshim RedForce will have to be careful about.

The reigning champion NRG has remained consistent throughout the year, and even without lifting another trophy, the team is one of the leading contenders for the title. T1, meanwhile, pulled off some incredible rounds against FUT Esports to qualify for the Playoffs. However, mistakes were clearly evident from both sides throughout the series, and the Pacific representative will need to reduce its margin for error when facing an in-form NRG.

Lastly, Paper Rex vs. LOUD is expected to be an action-packed series, with both teams known for their aggressive playstyles. However, PRX has way more international experience in comparison to the Brazilian side and has shown that they can adapt to the pace of their opponents while slowing things down when necessary. Thus, it will be interesting to see how the team with the youngest core performs tactically against PRX, especially Lucca "lukxo" Travaioli, who is having an amazing international debut.