VCT 2022: Stage 2 Challengers Finals Recap

After seven weeks of competition, 2022 VCT Stage 2 Challenges has come to a close. Each region has crowned its Stage 2 Challengers champion and determined their representatives at Stage 2 Masters, which will be held in Copenhagen next month.

North America

After dominating the NA Valorant scene in 2022, OpTic Gaming got defeated in the Stage 2 Grand final by XSET. After a map one loss on Fracture, XSET convincingly won the next three maps and secured the trophy.

They managed to come back after losing to OpTic in the Upper bracket final and snatched the title after defeating FaZe Clan and OpTic.

XEST's zekken displayed a masterclass performance in the Grand final by dropping 89 frags on four different agents. New Challengers champions will represent North America on Stage 2 Masters in Denmark in July.

Although losing the Grand final, OpTic will still go to Copenhagen as NA's second seed at Masters.

EMEA

Fnatic defeated FunPlus Phoenix with a clean 3-0 sweep to claim their first title in over a year. Yesterday's Grand final is a cherry on top of their fantastic Stage 2 Challengers run where they haven't lost a single series. They lost only a single map in their entire playoff run, which shows how dominant they were.

The new roster featuring Alfajer and Enzo seems to work flawlessly. Alfajer stepped up once more today and claimed the finals MVP award with three outstanding performances on Raze and Killjoy.

Fnatic is definitely one of the favorites coming into Copenhagen Masters, and it will be interesting how they perform on LAN in front of a crowd.

FPX will be a second EMEA representative on Stage 2 Masters. Throughout playoffs, they only lost twice to Fnatic in the Upper bracket semifinals and Grand final. Stage 1 champions couldn't travel to Reykjavik earlier this year due to Ukraine and Russia travel restrictions, but hopefully, we will see them in Denmark.

Unlike NA, Europe will have three representatives at Stage 2 Masters, and the team joining Fnatic and FPX will be Guild Esports. They are one of the biggest surprises of EMEA Stage 2 Challengers, and they secured their tickets to Copenhagen.

Other Regions

Stage 1 Masters champions, Brazilian LOUD Gaming, is returning to the international stage after claiming the Stage 2 Challengers title. LOUD smashed the competition in Stage 2, not losing a single map throughout the Group stage and playoffs. In the Grand final, they defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas 3-0.

DRX continued their dominance in Korea in 2022 as they swept the playoffs, not dropping a single map. In the Grand final, they stomped Maru Gaming to secure their spot at Stage 2 Masters.

After making a great run in Reykjavik, ZETA Division won't return to the international stage. Northeption got better of them in the Japanese Stage 2 Challengers finals and secured their ticket to Copenhagen.

Paper Rex and Xertia will represent the APAC region at Masters once again. In the Challengers final, Paper Rex demolished Xertia 3-0 and took the first seed.

Leviatán beat KRÜ Esports 3-0 in the LATAM Challengers finals and qualified for the Masters. KRÜ will have another chance next week in the South American qualifier, where they face Brazilian runner-up NiP for the final Masters spot.

The VCT 2022 Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen kicks off on Sunday, July 10th, and you can watch all the action live on Twitch and YouTube.