No Home Glory as Shanghai Heads for Its Champions Finale

China finally got its first VALORANT Champions. Its teams barely got to enjoy it.

EDward Gaming, JD Gaming, TYLOO and Xi Lai Gaming all went out in the group stage, leaving the home crowd without a local team to follow through the playoffs. Across eight series, China’s four representatives did not win once. Their combined map record was 2-16. For a region that celebrated EDG’s world title only two years ago, that is a painful way to welcome the biggest tournament on the calendar.

Yet Champions Shanghai, running from September 24th to October 18th, still has plenty to offer. LOUD can become the first organization to win Champions twice. Team Vitality is carrying EMEA’s remaining hopes. G2 Esports and 100 Thieves are trying to turn lower bracket survival into a world title.

As of now, four teams remain, with the decisive matches scheduled for October 16th to 18th.

Four Chinese Teams and No Series Wins

What makes China’s exit sting even more is that all four teams went out the same way. Every team lost its opening match, dropped into an elimination match and lost again. Nobody reached a group decider. Nobody bought the region another weekend.

TYLOO lost 2-0 to G2 before taking a map from Team Liquid in a 2-1 defeat. Xi Lai Gaming lost 2-0 to both Karmine Corp and Nongshim RedForce. EDG suffered straight-map defeats against LOUD and Global Esports. JD Gaming lost 2-0 to FUT Esports, then 2-1 to T1. That left all four teams tied for 13th-16th. TYLOO and JDG supplied China’s only map wins; EDG and Xi Lai finished without one.

A bad tournament can happen to any team. Four teams leaving with the same series record is a sign of something fundamentally wrong. Fans will want to know why domestic success translated so poorly against international opponents, especially with Champions taking place at home.

The results alone can’t explain the whole debacle. They don’t prove that preparation or coaching were the main problem. What they do show is that China never found a way back after its opening losses.

For EDG supporters, the contrast is particularly harsh. The organization that gave China its first Champions trophy in 2024 couldn’t win a map at the country’s first edition. Hosting the event gave fans a chance to celebrate the region’s progress, while the matches gave them something much harder to process.

Playing at Home Has Rarely Ended with the Trophy

Shanghai continues the tradition of hosting Champions without winning the championship. Across the first five championships, the host region won the title twice. Acend won in Berlin in 2021, giving EMEA the title on home territory. Evil Geniuses won in Los Angeles in 2023, doing the same for the Americas.

The other three titles went to teams outside the host region. Brazil’s LOUD won in Istanbul in 2022, China’s EDG triumphed in Seoul in 2024, and North America’s NRG claimed the title in Paris in 2025. That leaves host regions with two titles from five tournaments, dropping to two from six after China’s elimination in Shanghai. This record highlights why home support alone is a poor indicator of a team’s chances. Recent form, map performance and the strength of the opposition offer more useful context determining the VALORANT betting odds. A loud crowd can give a team a boost, but it’s no guarantee of victory.

Still, there is a difference between failing to win at home and losing every representative before the playoffs. China’s result is especially severe because the possibility of a home champion disappeared so early.

Crowd support can make a close match feel enormous, but it cannot rescue a lost series after the final round. Shanghai’s supporters now have to choose another team, follow individual players or simply enjoy the remaining competition. The tournament continues, even though its local celebration has taken a difficult turn.

The Americas Brought Four Teams and Kept All Four

While China lost its entire delegation, the Americas sent every representative into the playoffs. NRG, LOUD, G2 and 100 Thieves all advanced, taking half of the eight available places.

Pacific claimed three through Paper Rex, Nongshim RedForce and T1. EMEA had just Team Vitality. China had none. Those playoff places gave us a sharp contrast before the knockout matches even began.

The Americas already owned three of the first five Champions titles, through LOUD, Evil Geniuses and NRG. Getting four teams through groups gave them several chances to add another. That doesn’t mean every American team survived all the way to finals weekend. NRG has since been eliminated. All four survived groups, with three still competing.

Having several contenders also changes how a region takes losses. NRG’s exit ended the defending champion’s campaign, but LOUD, G2 and 100 Thieves could continue. EMEA has had no such cushion: every Vitality elimination match would also be the region’s last chance.

Fans want their region to win, but for 100 Thieves and G2, this is also a chance to claim their first Champions title and join the few teams that have lifted the trophy. Winning would mean much more than extending an Americas tally. It would mean earning their own place on a very short winners list.

LOUD Can Still Make History

NRG arrived as the 2025 champion, with the chance to achieve something no team had managed: consecutive Champions titles.

Their playoff run began with a 2-0 win against T1. Then LOUD beat them 2-1 in the upper semifinal, sending the defending champion into the lower bracket. The defeat left NRG with another chance, but no further room for error.

Against 100 Thieves on October 11th, that chance disappeared. NRG lost 2-0 and finished tied for fifth-sixth. Their attempt to win Champions in both 2025 and 2026 is officially over.

LOUD’s opportunity remains. The 2022 winner is the only former winning team still competing, so the possibility of a first repeat champion now depends entirely on them. This is a major milestone.

Individual players can win titles with different teams, and roster changes mean a returning team doesn’t necessarily represent the same five player lineup. The question in Shanghai is whether a team name can appear twice on the Champions winners list.

LOUD have already removed the defending champion from the upper bracket. Now they have to finish their own run. A second title would connect two successful campaigns separated by four years, giving them a Champions record nobody else currently owns.

LOUD and Vitality Are One Win Away from Sunday

The upper final on October 16th pairs Team Vitality with LOUD. Its winner advances directly to the grand final on October 18th. Its loser drops into the lower final and has one last opportunity to qualify.

Vitality reached this point by beating Nongshim RedForce 2-1 and G2 2-0. LOUD defeated Paper Rex 2-0 before overcoming NRG 2-1. Neither has lost a playoff series.

There’s already a result between them in Shanghai. Vitality beat LOUD 2-0 in the group stage winners’ match. LOUD then qualified by beating Global Esports in the decider. That earlier meeting gives Vitality a way to draw on, while giving LOUD a result to improve.

It doesn’t settle the rematch. LOUD have since beaten two highly accomplished opponents, while Vitality have continued winning. Both teams have had more matches to review and more time to study each other.

For fans, it’s going to be an exciting watch. Vitality can move EMEA within one series of its first Champions title since 2021. LOUD can move within one series of becoming the first repeat winning team.

The upper final also offers breathing room. Winning means preparing directly for Sunday. Losing means playing again on Saturday, with elimination at stake. Both routes remain possible, but one leaves much less room to recover.

G2 and 100 Thieves Take the Longer Route

The other October 16th match is already an elimination series. G2 faces 100 Thieves in the lower bracket, and only one will continue. G2 won their first playoff meeting 2-0, pushing 100 Thieves out of the upper bracket. Since then, 100 Thieves have beaten Nongshim RedForce 2-1 and NRG 2-0. G2 lost 2-0 to Vitality, then stayed alive with a 2-1 victory against T1.

That makes the rematch more interesting than simply watching whether G2 can repeat an earlier result. The teams have taken different paths since their first meeting, and 100 Thieves have already survived two elimination matches. Whoever wins must then beat the loser of LOUD versus Vitality in the October 17th lower final. Only after that can they reach Sunday’s championship match.

The lower final and grand final are the best of five series. Most earlier matches, including the upper final, are best of three. The longer closing series demand more from a team’s map pool: reaching the trophy requires winning three maps in the final.

A lower bracket run can give us a champion, but there’s little comfort while it’s happening. Each victory earns another match. Each defeat ends the campaign. For G2 and 100 Thieves, the next three days offer that bargain repeatedly.

Pacific’s Champions Wait Gets Another Year

Pacific’s hopes are already over. Paper Rex and Nongshim RedForce finished tied for seventh eighth, while T1 departed in fifth-sixth. The region still has no Champions title.

Paper Rex’s exit hurts because their recent finals record has offered so many reasons to believe. They lost the 2023 Champions final to Evil Geniuses, then reached both Masters finals in 2026 without winning either. In Santiago, Nongshim RedForce beat them 3-0. In London, LEVIATAN won a much closer final 3-2. Those are different defeats, but both left Paper Rex one position short of the trophy.

Shanghai ended earlier. LOUD sent Paper Rex into the lower bracket, and T1 eliminated them. Nongshim also lost both playoff series, against Vitality and 100 Thieves.

Nongshim’s Santiago title remains a major achievement. It also demonstrates why Pacific’s missing Champions trophy shouldn’t be mistaken for an inability to win internationally. The region can produce Masters champions. It has yet to finish first at the tournament that decides the annual world champion. For Paper Rex, reaching two Masters finals still says plenty about the quality of their season. Champions add a frustrating ending, without erasing everything that came before it. Fans can recognize both with disappointment.

Five Winners, With a Sixth Title Still Available

Before Shanghai’s final, the Champions winners list reads:

• 202 -Acend, in Berlin.
• 2022-LOUD, in Istanbul.
• 2023-Evil Geniuses, in Los Angeles.
• 2024-EDward Gaming, in Seoul.
• 2025-NRG, in Paris.

Five championships gave us five different winners. Shanghai will crown the sixth annual champion, but it will only add a sixth different name if Vitality, G2 or 100 Thieves win.

If LOUD takes the trophy, the list gains a second LOUD entry. Will Shanghai give us a new champion, or will LOUD become the first team to win Champions twice?

Either outcome gives this championship a place in history. There is no defending champion left to get the trophy, but there’s still a former champion capable of reclaiming it.

One Last Champions Before the VCT Changes

Shanghai also closes the current league based partnership era before VCT’s 2027 overhaul. Riot is replacing a long regular season league play with a model featuring Cups and bigger open qualifications.

It’s a big change for the VCT, though partner teams will still be part of the new system. Riot will keep their role while requiring continued results to move forward, while open teams will have routes toward the major international events, including Champions.

That makes the championship in Shanghai more significant. The next Champions season will begin under a changed structure, with more opportunities for teams outside the partner group.

First, though, there is a trophy to award. China’s campaign is over, Pacific’s wait continues, and NRG’s repeat bid has ended. Four teams can still give their supporters the finish they came for.

By October 18, one will have turned a demanding month in Shanghai into a world championship. LOUD could do it for a second time. Vitality, G2 and 100 Thieves are trying to make sure their own name gets engraved instead.