Valorant Masters Group Stage Recap

Zoran Papak -

The 2022 Valorant Champions Group stage is in the books, with only eight teams left in the competition. The battle in Istanbul is getting extremely heated, with some of the favorites getting knocked out early.

Group A

Group A kicked off with LATAM's Leviatán taking down EU's Team Liquid and APAC's Paper Rex barely defeating Chinese sensation EDward Gaming.

Leviatán then defeated Paper Rex to secure the first seed in the group, while Team Liquid knocked out EDG in the Elimination match. Finally, the European team took down Copenhagen Masters finalists Paper Rex to advance to the knockout stage.

Source: vlr.gg

Group B

Group B saw no surprises, as NA's OpTic Gaming advanced as the first seed by defeating Chinese APAC's BOOM and Brazilian LOUD. LOUD will join OpTic in the knockout phase after beating Japanese ZETA Division in the Decider match.

Source: vlr.gg

Group C

The first seed coming out of Group C is NA's XSET, who showed excellent performance by taking down APAC's XERXIA and reigning Masters champions FunPlus Phoenix.

However, FPX still managed to secure the Knockout phase by defeating LATAM's KRÜ Esports in the first round and again in the Group C Decider match.

Source: vlr.gg

Group D

Group D was labeled as "the group of death" coming into the tournament and definitely delivered on the name. Korean powerhouse DRX secured the first seed by defeating Brazil's FURIA and NA's 100Thieves.

The second team that qualified for Playoffs is EMEA's Fnatic, who bounced back from their first-round loss to 100Thieves. They first defeated FURIA in the Elimination match and then stomped 100T in the Decider rematch.

Source: vlr.gg

Playoff bracket is set

Playoffs kick off with the Upper bracket quarter-final matches. Leviatán will face off against LOUD today before DRX plays vs. FPX. Tomorrow, we have two epic EU vs. NA matches, as Team Liquid faces OpTic Gaming while Fnatic plays vs. XSET.

How to watch:

Valorant Champions Playoffs kick off on Friday, September 9th, and you can watch all the action live on Twitch and YouTube. Also, check out the full schedule over at valorantesports.com.