VCT Americas Stage 2 sets the stage for Champions Shanghai
The final league stop for North and South America’s top VALORANT teams runs from July 16 to September 5 at the Riot Games Arena in Los Angeles. Twelve teams will compete across a condensed schedule that packs group play, play-ins, and playoffs into a seven-week window before Champions Shanghai.
Group stage action opens the tournament from July 16 through August 9 with a single-round robin format where every match is a best-of-three. Each regular-season win earns teams one Championship Point, building the foundation for playoff seeding and the race toward international qualification.
The play-ins take over from August 13 to 23, featuring a 12-team double-elimination bracket that combines eight group stage qualifiers with four teams from the Americas Regional Challengers. Playoffs follow immediately from August 27 to September 5, where the top four finishers from each group enter a double-elimination bracket with best-of-three series throughout most rounds and best-of-five matches for the lower final and grand final.
Championship Points escalate significantly in the playoffs, with the winner claiming eight points, the runner-up six, third place five, and fourth place four. The tournament champion and runner-up both secure direct qualification to Champions Shanghai, making every series in the playoff bracket a high-stakes affair for regional supremacy.
All matches stream live on the official VCT Twitch and YouTube channels, with live score updates available throughout the event. Fans tracking the global qualification picture can also follow VCT Pacific Stage 2 and VCT EMEA Stage 2 hubs to see which teams from other regions will join the Americas representatives in Shanghai.