Valorant Champions 2026 Bracket Predictor

How the Bracket Predictor works

Valorant Champions is the final and most important tournament of the season – which is exactly why everyone wants to know in advance who will lift the trophy. Our predictor mirrors the tournament exactly as it is actually played: you start in the group stage, click through every group and instantly see which teams qualify for the playoffs based on your picks. Those eight teams automatically move into the double-elimination bracket, where you keep predicting match by match until a world champion is crowned.

1. Pick the groups: In each group, click the winner of both opening matches. The winners’, elimination and decider matches fill themselves with the right teams.
2. Choose a score (optional): Below every predicted match you’ll see the possible final scores – 2–0 or 2–1 in a Best-of-3, 3–0, 3–1 or 3–2 in a Best-of-5.
3. Play through the playoffs: Group winners and runners-up are paired according to the draw rules. Upper Bracket losers automatically drop into the Lower Bracket.
4. Crown the world champion: After the Grand Final, the predictor shows your champion with confetti, the top 4 and their prize money.
5. Share: Save your bracket as a PNG image (1200 × 675 pixels, ideal for Discord and X) or copy a link that restores your complete prediction.

Clicking a team you’ve already picked removes the pick. If you later change an early result, the predictor clears every follow-up pick that has become impossible – so a team that was eliminated in your prediction can never end up in the final. With “Random fill” you let a coin flip decide all open matches, in case you just want to see a quick upset bracket.

Valorant Champions 2026 bracket & format

Champions 2026 runs from September 24 to October 18, 2026 in Shanghai. 16 teams from the four international leagues – Americas, EMEA, Pacific and China – compete for a total prize pool of US$2,250,000. The group stage and the start of the playoffs take place at the Jing’an Sports Center, the finals weekend at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Pudong.

Group stage in GSL format (September 24 to October 4)

The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four, with no two teams from the same region ever landing in the same group. Each group is a small double-elimination tournament: after the two opening matches, the winners meet in the winners’ match – whoever wins it advances to the playoffs as group winner. The two opening losers play the elimination match, and the loser is out. Finally, in the decider match, the loser of the winners’ match and the winner of the elimination match fight for the second playoff spot. All group matches are Best-of-3.

Double-elimination playoffs (October 7 to 18)

Eight teams reach the playoffs. The Upper Bracket runs through the quarterfinals, semifinals and Upper Final. Anyone who loses there gets a second chance in the Lower Bracket. All playoff matches are Best-of-3 – with two exceptions: the Lower Final and Grand Final are played as Best-of-5. The Grand Final takes place on October 18.

Valorant Champions 2026: groups & current standings

The draw produced four groups with one team per region each. The opening matchups are set; the predictor marks real results with a green check and locks them for picks.

As of Sep 25, 2026: Four of the eight opening matches have been played. In Group C, Paper Rex and G2 Esports meet in the winners’ match; in Group D, it’s NRG vs Karmine Corp. Team Liquid, TYLOO, Nongshim RedForce and Xi Lai Gaming drop to the elimination match. We add new results as they come in – you’ll find all the details in the Champions Live Hub.

How are the playoff matchups drawn?

The playoff quarterfinal matchups are only drawn after the group stage ends on October 4. At Champions 2025, two rules applied: every group winner faces the runner-up of a different group, and two teams from the same group land on opposite halves of the bracket. This means teams that already met in the group can meet again in the Upper Final at the earliest.

The predictor uses exactly these rules. By default, a valid draw is set (A1 vs C2, B1 vs D2, C1 vs A2, D1 vs B2). With the dice button “Redraw” you pull a different valid variant – there are several dozen allowed combinations in total. As soon as Riot publishes the official draw, we’ll switch the predictor to the real matchups. Your saved group picks will be kept.

Important: The draw rules for Shanghai are based on last year’s. If Riot changes them for 2026, we’ll update the predictor. The order of the Lower Bracket matchups follows the standard double-elimination scheme, in which the Upper semifinal losers cross over into the Lower Bracket.

Prize money: what your pick is worth

Champions 2026 pays out a total of US$2.25 million. After the Grand Final, the predictor automatically shows which teams take home the four biggest prizes according to your prediction.

Favorites, storylines and dark horses

A good prediction starts with the tournament’s big stories. NRG arrive as defending champions – NRG won Champions 2025 in Paris 3–2 against Fnatic. But history is against a title defense: in five editions since 2021, no champion has ever managed to defend the title the following year. NRG took the first step with a 2–0 over Nongshim RedForce.

For the Chinese teams, Shanghai is a home event. EDward Gaming already proved in 2024 that China can produce a world champion, and they play in front of a home crowd alongside TYLOO, JD Gaming and Xi Lai Gaming. Home advantage is hard to measure in esports – but the atmosphere in a sold-out arena can make the difference on close maps.

From EMEA, Team Liquid, FUT Esports, Team Vitality and Karmine Corp are in the field. Karmine Corp opened with a 2–0 over Xi Lai Gaming, while Team Liquid have to take the detour through the elimination match after their 1–2 loss to Paper Rex. The Pacific region sends Paper Rex, T1, Global Esports and Nongshim RedForce – Paper Rex already reached the Champions final in 2023.

With LOUD (2022 world champions), EDward Gaming (2024) and NRG (2025), no fewer than three former Champions winners are in the field. Three ex-world champions among 16 teams – that alone makes the tournament unpredictable.

Prediction strategy: how to make realistic Champions 2026 predictions

Most brackets don’t fail on the world champion but on the many small decisions before it. A few principles help keep your bracket from falling apart after the first day of playoffs:

• Double elimination forgives mistakes: A strong team that loses early isn’t out – the Lower Bracket gives every playoff team a second chance. So never write off a top team just because it drops out of your Upper Bracket.
• Best-of-5 rewards depth: In the Lower Final and Grand Final, the map pool decides. Teams with many playable maps are harder to stop in a Best-of-5 than teams with two strong maps.
• Form beats name: Look at the results from Stage 2 and the group matches. Our agent pick rates and the Team Comp Builder show you which compositions the pros are currently running.
• Not just favorites: A bracket where only the favorites win rarely comes true. One or two well-reasoned upsets increase your chances of standing out from other predictors.
• Predict scores too: Whether a match ends 2–0 or 2–1 doesn’t matter for the official Pick’Ems, but it helps you sharpen your sense of the balance of power and compare with friends.

Bracket Predictor and official Pick’Ems

Our predictor is an independent fan tool and does not replace Riot’s official Pick’Ems. Group-stage picks have been locked since the tournament started on September 24. The Playoff Pick’Ems open on October 4 after the draw and close on October 7 about ten minutes after the first playoff match begins (approx. 11:10 CEST). Use the predictor to play through different scenarios, then transfer your final prediction to the Esports tab in the client or on the web. Our Pick’Ems guide explains the points system, rewards and pro tips.

Share your bracket

You can share your finished bracket in three ways. As an image, the predictor generates a PNG graphic with the Upper and Lower Bracket, all scores and your world champion – right in your browser, no upload. As a link, you get a short URL that restores your complete bracket including scores and draw. And as text, you copy a ready-made message with your champion and link, for example for your team’s Discord server. Your current progress is also saved automatically in your browser, so you can pick up where you left off at any time.

The predictor is especially fun as a group challenge: everyone in your friend group or clan creates their bracket before October 7 and posts the link. After the Grand Final, you compare who came closest. If you want even more excitement, combine it with our Valorant Bingo for the broadcast.

All Champions winners since 2021

Three of the five finals so far went the full distance of five maps. So if you predict a 3–2 in the Grand Final, history says you’re not far off.

More on Valorant Champions 2026

All results, match times in CEST and the update log are in the Champions Live Hub. What the new tournament bundle costs and what’s inside is covered on the Champions 2026 Bundle page. And if you want to play yourself between matches, the Tool Hub has Skin Cinema, an aim trainer, quizzes and more – all free in your browser.

GSL maths: every route into the playoffs

The GSL format looks confusing at first glance, but it follows one very simple rule: two wins take you through, two losses send you home. No team plays more than three matches in its group, and every group consists of exactly five matches – four groups give you the 20 group-stage matches in the predictor. Once you’ve internalised that, you can work out any group in your head before you even click.

• Route to 1st place: Win the opening match, win the winners’ match. With a 2–0 record, the team is through as group winner after just two series and can prepare for the playoffs in peace.
• Route to 2nd place “from above”: Win the opening match, lose the winners’ match, win the decider. The team needs three series and has to bounce back straight after its first defeat.
• Route to 2nd place “from below”: Lose the opening match, win the elimination match, win the decider. This is the hardest route – three series, two of which are genuine must-win games where any loss means elimination.
• 3rd place: Whoever loses the decider goes out with a 1–2 record – no matter whether the team came from the winners’ match or the elimination match.
• 4th place: Losing both the opening and the elimination match means 0–2 and the earliest exit of the tournament.

For your prediction, that means the winners’ match is the most important game in every group, because it decides the seeding. A group winner faces a runner-up in the quarterfinals – in other words, a team that has already lost once in the group. The decider, on the other hand, is the most nerve-racking match: both teams already have a loss on the board, and for the loser, Shanghai is over.

One detail many people overlook: the decider can produce a rematch from the first round. If, for example, Paper Rex lose the winners’ match to G2 Esports and Team Liquid win the elimination match against TYLOO, Paper Rex and Liquid meet for a second time in the decider. Rematches like that are fascinating from a psychological point of view: the loser of the first meeting now knows the opponent’s game plan, while the winner has confidence on its side.

Tip: In Groups C and D, all the opening winners are known. Paper Rex, G2 Esports, NRG and Karmine Corp already have one of the two wins they need. Team Liquid, TYLOO, Nongshim RedForce and Xi Lai Gaming, on the other hand, can’t afford to lose another match if they still want to reach the playoffs.

The long road through the Lower Bracket

In double elimination, a loss isn’t a death sentence – but it does make the road to the title noticeably longer. Exactly how long depends on when a team loses for the first time. Let’s simply count the series in the bracket: a team that loses in the Upper quarterfinals then has to win Lower Round 1, Lower Round 2, Lower Round 3, the Lower Final and the Grand Final. That’s five series in a row without a single further defeat, two of them Best-of-5.

The table shows why the Upper Bracket route is so valuable: a team that stays unbeaten needs only four series wins and at least nine maps. A team that stumbles in the quarterfinals has to win at least twelve maps and can’t afford a single slip along the way. It’s also striking that a semifinal loser is no better off than a quarterfinal loser: both need six series in the end. The semifinal loser only enters in Lower Round 2, but it has already won its quarterfinal before that.

For your prediction, this is an important trade-off. A Lower Bracket run to the title is possible, but every extra series is an extra chance to lose. If you still pick a team to become world champion after an early loss, you should be very convinced that on a good day it’s better than anyone else in the field. The flip side: a team that loses the Upper Final is only two series away from the trophy – so a finalist coming out of the Lower Final is never an exotic pick.

Bo3 vs Bo5: how the format changes your pick

Just how close a Best-of-3 can be was shown by the opening match between Paper Rex and Team Liquid. Paper Rex took Ascent comfortably 13–4, Team Liquid hit back 13–7 on Haven, and only Lotus decided the series 13–10 in Paper Rex’s favour. Three maps, two clear results in opposite directions and a three-round margin on the decider map at the end – series like that are exactly what makes group matches so hard to predict.

In the standard VCT format, each team usually gets to pick one map in a Best-of-3, and the third is whatever remains after the bans as the decider map. That means every team plays at least one map it feels comfortable on, and the series often tips on the third, “neutral” map. In a Best-of-5, more maps come into play and individual outliers carry less weight. Over more maps, the stronger team overall tends to come out on top – upsets remain possible, but they become rarer.

That gives you a simple rule of thumb for the predictor: plan your upsets in the Bo3 rounds, i.e. in the group stage and early in the playoffs, and be bolder with favourites in the Lower Final and Grand Final. If you want to go deeper, check out the maps in our map overview, sketch typical setups on the Map Strategy Board or use the Duo Finder to see which agent combinations work well on which map. What the current patch has changed in the game is summed up in the patch notes – which also cover everything about the new Warden rifle. Whether and how much new content matters on the big stage depends on which patch the tournament is played on.

Region check: who represents which league?

Each of the four international leagues sends exactly four teams to Shanghai, and thanks to the draw rule, every group contains exactly one team per region. That makes every single group match an international clash – there are no regional derbies in the group stage.

After the first four matches, the Americas stand at two wins from two series: G2 Esports and NRG both won 2–0. EMEA and Pacific are level, as Karmine Corp won and Team Liquid lost, while Paper Rex won and Nongshim RedForce were beaten. The Chinese teams TYLOO and Xi Lai Gaming lost their opening matches. That is only a snapshot after four of 34 matches, though – JD Gaming and EDward Gaming are two more Chinese teams still to enter the action.

The regional comparison gets really interesting in the playoffs. In the later rounds at the latest, two teams from the same league can meet there – two Americas teams or two Chinese teams, for example. If you have a feel for which region is strongest this season, it’s worth checking how many teams from each league make the top 8 in your bracket. Background on the leagues and the VCT system can be found in our esports overview.

How to read upsets

Every match day brings results nobody saw coming. The art of predicting is to neither ignore these surprises nor overrate them. A few questions help:

• How convincing was it? A 2–0 with clear maps tells you more than a 2–1 where the decider map went 13–10. Look at the map scores, not just the series result.
• What was at stake? In the GSL format, an opening loss isn’t elimination yet. The team gets a second chance in the elimination match – so an upset in the first game changes less than it seems at first glance.
• Is it a pattern or a one-off? A single result is one data point. Only when a team impresses or disappoints repeatedly should you rebuild your whole bracket.
• Who’s next? A team can pull off an upset and still be the clear underdog in its next match because the new opponent is a bad stylistic matchup.

The predictor makes these adjustments easy: real results are filled in automatically, and any picks that have become impossible disappear. After every match day, you instantly see which parts of your bracket are still alive and where you need to make changes.

Match times: watching Champions 2026 from Europe

Shanghai is in the UTC+8 time zone, six hours ahead of Central European Summer Time. Group matches start daily at 11:00 and 14:00 CEST – which is 17:00 and 20:00 local time. Here’s how that translates for other regions:

For many viewers, that puts the matches right in the middle of school, university or work. That’s no problem for your prediction: the predictor adds the real results, and you can check how your bracket is doing in the evening. Clocks in Europe don’t go back until October 25, 2026 – after the Grand Final – so the whole tournament runs on CEST. The exact start times of the playoff days and the final are kept up to date in the Champions Live Hub. If you prefer watching with commentary from the community, our streamer overview shows which German Valorant streamers are live right now.

Bracket challenge with friends: step by step

With the predictor, you can set up your own prediction contest with friends in just a few minutes. Here’s how to run it without arguments over the scoring at the end:

1. Set a deadline: The fairest option is the same cut-off as the official Pick’Ems – Wednesday, October 7, before the first playoff match. By then, everyone knows the real draw.
2. Collect the brackets: Everyone fills in the predictor and posts their link in a shared Discord channel or group chat. The link restores the complete bracket including the draw.
3. Save proof: Everyone also uploads their PNG. That way, it’s clear later on what was predicted before the deadline.
4. Agree on scoring in advance: Decide how many points a correct winner and an exactly correct score are worth, and pick a tiebreaker.
5. Post the standings: After each playoff day, one person updates the table. That keeps the tension up right to the final.
6. Final tally on October 18: After the Grand Final, the winner is decided – and gets to call themselves “Bracket King” until next season.

For scoring, we suggest a simple, escalating points system: one point for each correct winner in the quarterfinals and Lower Round 1, two points for the Upper semifinals, Lower Round 2 and Lower Round 3, three points for the Upper Final and Lower Final, and five points for the correct world champion. An exactly correct score earns a bonus point. The exact Grand Final score makes a good tiebreaker. That’s just our suggestion – feel free to adapt the rules to your group. And if you fancy a match of your own after the final, organise a 5v5 with friends using Valorant Gather.

The most common bracket prediction mistakes

• Forgetting about the draw: If you predict before October 4, you’re working with a simulated draw. As soon as the real matchups are known, the quarterfinals – and with them the whole path through the bracket – change. Make sure you review your prediction afterwards.
• Group winner equals finalist: A 2–0 in the group is a good sign, but no guarantee. Group winners face teams in the quarterfinals that have just battled through the decider and are in rhythm.
• Mixing up 3rd and 4th place: 3rd place goes to the loser of the Lower Final, 4th place to the loser of Lower Round 3. If you’re tracking the prize money, keep the two apart.
• Missing the Pick’Ems deadline: The official Playoff Pick’Ems close on October 7 at around 11:10 CEST. If you only transfer your predictor picks in the evening, you’re too late.
• Blanket home advantage: Shanghai is a home event for the Chinese teams, but a crowd alone doesn’t win maps. Use it at most as a tiebreaker in close matchups.
• Building just one bracket: Feel free to play through several scenarios – a favourites bracket, one with your favourite team and one with “Random fill”. You can simply save the link for each scenario.

Bracket glossary: the key terms

Esports brackets have a language of their own. You’ll come across the following terms again and again in the predictor, on broadcasts and in the Pick’Ems:

After the draw on October 4: what happens next

The group stage ends with the decider matches on October 3 and 4, and the eight playoff teams are set. Straight afterwards, the quarterfinals are drawn and the official Playoff Pick’Ems open. Between the draw and the first playoff match on Wednesday, October 7, you have around three days to finalise your bracket.

We’ll switch the predictor to the real matchups as quickly as possible. Use those days to compare your group-stage picks with reality: which teams surprised you, which ones disappointed? Who scraped through the decider, and who marched through 2–0? If you want to know which agents the pros favour, build your own ranking with our agent tier list and compare it with the pro picks.

And one look beyond the bracket: alongside the tournament, there’s the Champions 2026 Bundle for 6,640 VP, with a Phantom and a melee weapon that transforms into a fan. In the past, part of the bundle revenue went to the participating teams – how that model works and why it matters so much to the teams is explained in our analysis of the Champions bundle economics.

Frequently asked questions