On Sunday, immediately following
Team Heretics’ victory over
Team Vitality in the
VCT EMEA Stage 1 final, the group draw for Stage 2 took place. The twelve teams were divided into the Alpha and Omega groups based on their results from the competition that had just concluded.
The tournament is set to begin on July 15, while the Finals will, for the first time, be held outside the Berlin studio. The final playoff matches, including the Grand Final, will indeed take place at the Olimpic Arena in Barcelona, which notably hosted the LEC Versus Finals for
League of Legends at the end of February. The top two teams of each groups will qualify directly for the playoffs, while the remaining squads will have to progress through the play-ins.
Alpha Group
The teams placed in this group are:
- Team Vitality
- FUT Esports
- Gentle Mates
- BBL Esports
- Natus Vincere
- PCIFIC Esports
Vitality and FUT naturally enter as favorites after recently qualifying for Masters London, though they are expected to face strong competition from both M8 and BBL, who will be eager to bounce back after failing to replicate their Kickoff performances during Stage 1. NAVI could also emerge as a dangerous outsider after showing clear improvement in recent matches and finally integrating the highly anticipated Abdullah “ExiT” Al-Twaijri into the roster, while PCIFIC will attempt to salvage its season through stronger results.
Omega Group
The teams placed in this group are:
- Team Heretics
- Eternal Fire
- Fnatic
- Team Liquid
- GIANTX
- Karmine Corp
As reigning Stage 1 champions, Team Heretics will look to defend their status against both Fnatic and Team Liquid, who impressed during the Group Stage but ultimately endured disappointing playoff runs. In their very first VCT split, Eternal Fire managed to exceed expectations by finishing fourth and will now aim to go even further. Karmine Corp and GIANTX, meanwhile, will need to significantly raise their level if they hope to compete within what appears to be an extremely stacked group.
It is also worth noting that, unlike the previous format, the two bottom-ranked teams from each group will no longer be eliminated immediately. The top two teams from each group will qualify directly for the playoffs, while the remaining eight VCT teams will enter a play-in stage alongside the top four teams from VALORANT Challengers EMEA Stage 3 in order to determine the final four playoff spots. As a result, this will mark the first time in VCT history that VCL teams will face VCT teams directly for a chance to qualify for Champions Shanghai.
