All the Champions qualification scenarios remaining in VCT EMEA

Four teams are set to travel to Barcelona for the final weekend of VCT EMEA competition this season, where the Stage 2 playoffs will come to an end. At stake is the region’s second trophy of the season, but above all, the final two qualification spots for VALORANT Champions, which will begin on September 24 in Shanghai.

Of these four teams, three have everything to play for if they want to achieve that goal, while Team Heretics will instead be hoping the stars align in their favor so they can secure qualification through the Championship Points they have accumulated since the beginning of the year. Before the final four matches of the EMEA season get underway, Sheep Esports breaks down every remaining scenario that could send each team to the year’s final international competition.

Neither team has multiple paths to Champions: they must reach the Stage 2 grand final. Once the laughing stock of VCT EMEA for much of the season, Karmine Corp have undergone a complete transformation and established itself as one of the region’s strongest teams over the past few weeks. However, having accumulated relatively few Championship Points throughout the season, their only route to qualification is to reach the grand final. They will have their first opportunity to do so in the opening match of the weekend against FUT Esports, or against the winner of Team Liquid vs. Fire Flux Esports should they lose.

The last remaining Play-In team still in contention, Fire Flux Esports have already demonstrated that they should not be underestimated after eliminating Team Vitality and then BBL Esports in the playoffs. To qualify, however, they will have to win two more matches, first against Team Liquid and then against the loser of the Karmine Corp vs. FUT Esports matchup.

Sent to the lower bracket following an opening defeat to FUT Esports, Team Liquid have bounced back by defeating Eintracht Frankfurt Esports and then Enterprise Esports. Another Tier 2 team now stands in their way this Friday. If TL defeat Fire Flux, they will finish in the top three and earn enough Championship Points to qualify for Champions regardless of the outcome of the lower-bracket final.

In the event of a defeat, however, the team will still have a path to qualification, as they currently sit third in the Championship Points standings. For that scenario to materialize, FUT Esports, who currently lead the standings, would have to reach the grand final while preventing either Karmine Corp or Fire Flux from doing so.

Eliminated during the Play-In stage, the Spanish team still have a slim chance of qualifying for the event through the Championship Points they accumulated throughout the season. However, the Stage 1 champions are no longer in control of their own destiny. Put simply, a single defeat for either Team Liquid or FUT Esports would definitively end Team Heretics’ season this weekend. A loss for either side would necessarily send either Fire Flux or Karmine Corp to the Stage 2 grand final, which would guarantee them a spot at Champions and, in turn, eliminate Benjy “benjyfishy” Fish and his teammates from the race for Shanghai.