by The 2022 Valorant Champions Tour concludes with the VCT Champions event in Istanbul, Turkey, kicking off on Wednesday, August 31.
The tournament will feature 16 of the world’s best Valorant teams battling it out in four separate groups, with only the top two from each group making the playoffs. Once the playoffs begin on September 10, the remaining eight teams will then compete in a typical double-elimination bracket.
All matches up to and including the semi-finals will be best-of-three series. Both the lower-bracket final and the grand final will be best-of-five.
As of right now, no one actually knows what type of prize money will be up for grabs at the VCT Champions 2022 event, but considering there was a US$1,000,000 prize pool at the 2021 edition, we should expect a similar figure with the winner taking home over $300,000.
Below are www.behindzioncurtain.com’s best bet and value pick for the VCT Champions outright winner, with odds from the best esports betting sites.
BEST BET: FunPlus Phoenix
FunPlus Phoenix will enter the VCT Champions 2022 event as the reigning VCT Masters Copenhagen champions after they defeated Paper Rex 3-2 in the grand final, earning them US$200,000 and maintain their no.1 regional ranking. FPX have now been the top-ranked European team in Valorant since April of this year.
The VCT Masters win in Copenhagen was outstanding, even while they were missing Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky for half of the tournament due to visa issues. In Group C with KRU Esports, XSET and XERXIA, there should be very little challenge for FPX to get out of their group.
As we saw at VCT Masters Copenhagen, once FPX hit the playoff stage of a tournament they can flick a switch and hit a new gear in their play. If FPX cruise through the group stage, they could well be primed and ready for another deep run at the final event of the year.
FunPlus Phoenix to win outright
BEST VALUE: Optic Gaming
OpTic Gaming finished in third place at the VCT Masters Copenhagen after they were knocked out by FunPlus Phoenix in the lower-bracket final. The top-ranked team in North America earned a cool US$85,000 prize after another solid VCT event. OpTic went into the Copenhagen event as one of the favoured teams after they had won the VCT Masters in Reykjavik in April of this year, but they fell short of back-to-back VCT Masters wins.
Considering the short history of Valorant and its esports scene, it is pretty crazy that a team could earn $350,000 in prize money, but OpTic Gaming have done just that. Given they won the first VCT Masters and finished third in the second event, OpTic will be very hard to beat in Istanbul, so their +600 outright odds at BetOnline look like great value.
