VCT Americas 2026 Stage 1 runs from April 10 to May 24 at the Riot Games Arena in Los Angeles. Here is the format, both group breakdowns, early Week 1 results, and the storylines worth following through to Masters London qualification.
The 2026 VCT Americas season has moved past Kickoff and into its first full league split, with matches at the Riot Games Arena in LA running until May 24. Twelve teams across two groups are each chasing one of just three available berths at Masters London, the second international event of the year in June. Miss the top three — and that is nine out of twelve teams — and Stage 2 becomes the next opportunity to keep a Champions run alive.
After Masters Santiago, the Americas region has results worth building on. NRG finished second after falling to Nongshim RedForce in the Upper Final, G2 reached fourth place, and FURIA exited in the quarterfinals. Stage 1 opens as a test of whether that form holds inside a domestic circuit. International events reward peak performance across a short bracket. A regional league is a different beast — results stack up over weeks, and one bad series can knock a team off their preferred playoff seed. Players who want their Valorant Points ready for cosmetic purchases during the event can top up through LootBar between match days.
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Format: Group Stage Through Double-Elimination Playoffs
Stage 1 breaks into two distinct phases. The group stage opens April 10 and wraps around May 10, dividing the twelve teams into Group Alpha and Group Omega with six sides each. Within each group, every team meets every other team once in a best-of-three — no rematches, no second chances in the group itself. Series wins translate directly to championship points. Half the group advances to playoffs; the bottom two go home.
Playoffs kick off May 14 and wrap May 24 in a double-elimination format. How a team finishes in their group shapes where they start: first and second go straight to the upper bracket, third and fourth enter from the lower side. Every match is Bo3 until the final two days, when the Lower Bracket Final and Grand Final both go the distance at Bo5. Falling into the lower bracket after the group stage is not fatal — teams have come from there to qualify before — but every series from that point has to be earned the hard way.
The group draw used each team's Kickoff result as the seeding basis. FURIA and G2 Esports, who took first and second at Kickoff, drew from the top seeding pool. NRG and MIBR came from Pool 5 as third and fourth-place finishers. The seeding system distributed these top teams across Group Alpha and Group Omega to prevent the best teams from all landing in the same group.
Group Alpha: MIBR, G2, LOUD, Cloud9, Leviatán, ENVY
Group Alpha is where most of the narrative headlines landed before Stage 1 began. MIBR arrived with aspas — Erick Santos — now on the roster, turning what was already a dangerous Brazilian squad into a genuine championship contender. MIBR ran: zekken, tex, Mazino, Verno, and aspas. G2 Esports, who finished fourth at Masters Santiago after a strong Kickoff run, entered with their established roster of BABYBAY, valyn, jawgemo, leaf, and trent hungry to push further in an international event.
LOUD runs erde, Virtyy, cauanzin, Darker, and lukxo — erde signed ahead of Stage 1 as the new IGL and controller, replacing pANcada in the active lineup. The Brazilian roster carries name recognition and regional rivalry weight against MIBR, making the Alpha group matchup between these two one of the most anticipated series in the group stage. Cloud9 with Xeppaa, v1c, Zellsis, penny, and OXY are a North American side that has stayed competitive at the top without yet converting that into an international title. Rounding out Alpha are Leviatán — running kiNgg, blowz, Sato, spike, and Neon — and ENVY. ENVY grabbed attention by signing Demon1 ahead of the season — a name that carries serious weight in North American Valorant — and they got here by winning through the 2025 Ascension tournament rather than holding a founding partner spot.
Group Omega: NRG, FURIA, 100 Thieves, Sentinels, Evil Geniuses, KRÜ
Group Omega opened as the consensus stronger group. NRG entered as the team to beat across all of Americas — their Masters Santiago run cemented their reputation as the region's most consistent international performer. The NRG roster of brawk, mada, skuba, Ethan, and keiko showed genuine synergy across maps and agent pools at Santiago, and entering Group Omega as the top seed makes them the measure against which every other team in the group is being evaluated.
FURIA sit alongside NRG in Omega, carrying momentum from winning the Americas Kickoff despite a quarterfinal exit at Masters Santiago. Their lineup of nerve, eeiu, koalanoob, artzin, and alym represents a Brazilian roster that has steadily developed into a consistent international threat. The FURIA-NRG group stage match is the most-watched matchup in Omega and potentially the most-watched single match of the group stage across all of Americas.
100 Thieves bring Asuna, bang, Cryocells, vora, and Timotino — a roster with individual talent scattered across roles. Sentinels entered Stage 1 with a lineup change complication: new Duelist signing Jerrwin faced visa issues ahead of the tournament, requiring a substitute for early matches while the paperwork resolved. The working Sentinels roster featured Victor, johnqt, JonahP, cortezia, and Reduxx. Evil Geniuses and KRÜ Esports complete Group Omega — KRÜ brought saadhak, mwzera, Less, silentzz, and Dantedeu5, a LATAM roster with individual players who have performed at the highest level at previous organisations.
Week 1 Results: FURIA Opens Strong, KRÜ Upsets Sentinels
Week 1 produced immediate results across both groups. In Group Alpha, MIBR swept G2 Esports 2-0, a result that established MIBR's credentials early and signalled that the aspas addition had already sharpened the roster's execution. LOUD beat ENVY 2-1 in a close series, a result that gave the Brazilian roster an early win and kept ENVY looking for their first points of the stage. 100 Thieves swept Evil Geniuses 2-0 in Omega, and Cloud9 lost to Leviatán 0-2 in Alpha.
The most significant Week 1 result came from FURIA defeating NRG 2-0 on April 12. FURIA dropped NRG cleanly, the most direct early statement that the Americas region will not be a one-team story heading into Masters London qualification. NRG entering the second week with a loss to work back from changes their group stage position and raises questions about whether their Santiago form was a peak or a baseline.
KRÜ Esports beat Sentinels 2-0 on April 10, a result that added to the ongoing narrative around Sentinels navigating the Jerrwin visa situation. Whether the result reflects a legitimate KRÜ quality step-up or a Sentinels roster operating at reduced capacity will become clearer as more matches complete with the full lineup in place.
What to Watch For Through the Rest of Stage 1
MIBR versus LOUD is the Alpha group series with the most regional weight. Two Brazilian organisations with roster pedigree, facing each other inside a group where both are competing for playoff position. The aspas factor for MIBR makes this a different matchup than previous encounters between these two organisations.
NRG's response after the FURIA loss defines their group stage trajectory. If they drop another series in Omega, they risk finishing below the top two and entering the playoffs from the lower bracket rather than the upper — which means more maps on their legs before the London-qualifying positions become available. A team that was Masters Santiago's regional representative arriving at playoffs from the lower bracket would represent a significant narrative shift.
ENVY's performance across the full group stage is the development storyline worth tracking. Demon1's addition theoretically lifts the team's ceiling, though dropping their opening series to LOUD means they need to string wins together from Week 2 onward. Whether Demon1's integration produces results through the full round-robin determines whether ENVY is a genuine top-four threat or a team that will struggle against Alpha's stronger sides.
All matches air on Twitch and YouTube. For anyone watching from home, LA showdays generally get going at 2 PM PT. Group stage action continues through early May, then playoffs take over starting May 14.
Conclusion
Week 1 already scrambled the expected order. NRG dropped to FURIA, MIBR put G2 on notice, and LOUD beat ENVY to open their campaign — results that shifted the narrative before Week 2 even began. None of the pre-season favourites are broken, but none of them look untouchable either. Three Masters London spots from twelve teams creates a bracket where every group stage result matters — the double-elimination playoff format gives second chances, but finishing higher in the group stage means entering the bracket from a position of advantage. With Week 2 underway and matches running through May, the three teams representing Americas at Masters London are still very much undecided.
Players who want their VP stocked for any cosmetic drops during the broadcast window can manage their Valorant top up through LootBar and catch every match day live.
