Shortly after Leviatán's win against G2 Esports at the VCT Americas Stage 2 grand final, Riot Games unveiled the groups for the Valorant Champions Seoul.
The Valorant Champions Seoul will be played between August 1 and August 25. Before the start of the competition, Riot Games is expected to release the Valorant Champions 2024 Bundle.
The 16 qualified teams have been split into four groups of four. Each group includes a roster from one of the four top-flight regions. Let's have a look at them:
Group A
Group A includes the VCT 2024 EMEA champions Fnatic, the VCT 2024 Pacific second-seed DRX, the VCT 2024 Americas third-seed KRÜ Esports, and the VCT 2024 China fourth-seed BiliBili Gaming.
Considering Fnatic's fourth-place finish at last year's Valorant Champions and the team's results during the second split, the orange roster is the favorite to take Group A's first seed. Meanwhile, the South Korean lineup of DRX is the favorite to take the group's second seed, following the organization's Top 3 and Top 6 finishes in the 2022 and 2023 editions, respectively.
Group B
Group B includes the VCT 2024 Pacific champions Gen.G Esports, the VCT 2024 China second-seed FunPlus Phoenix, the VCT 2024 EMEA third-seed Team Heretics, and the VCT Americas 2024 fourth-seed Sentinels.
Curiously enough, Group B will see the VCT Masters Madrid champions, Sentinels, and the VCT Masters Shanghai champions, Gen.G Esports, clashing in their opening match. Meanwhile, Team Heretics will play against FunPlus Phoenix, who they defeated in Shanghai.
While talking about favorites in Group B is difficult, we expect Gen.G Esports to take the first seed. Then, the second place should be contested by Team Heretics, Sentinels, and FunPlus Phoenix, in this order.
Group C
Group C includes the VCT 2024 Americas champions Leviatán, the VCT 2024 EMEA second-seed Team Vitality, the VCT 2024 China third-seed Trace Esports, and the VCT 2024 Pacific fourth-seed Talon Esports.
This group is arguably the weakest in the competition, with Leviatán's Top 8 finish in 2022 being the best result in the whole group. Moreover, except for Leviatán, the rest of the teams in the group will make their Valorant Champions debut in Seoul.
Group D
Group D includes the VCT 2024 China champions EDward Gaming, the VCT 2024 Americas second-seed G2 Esports, the VCT 2024 Pacific third-seed Paper Rex, and the VCT 2024 EMEA fourth-seed FUT Esports.
This will probably be the most contested group of the four. While EDward Gaming comes from a Top 6 finish in last year's Valorant Championship, the team struggled in this season's international competitions. The Chinese's first clash will be against the Turkish side FUT Esports. Meanwhile, the only Ascension team in the competition G2 Esports will play against last year's grand finalists Paper Rex.