G2 and Vitality win and meet in the Valorant upper semifinal
G2 swept 100 Thieves and Vitality outlasted Nongshim in overtime; the two now meet in the upper-bracket semifinal in Shanghai.
The upper-bracket quarterfinals of Valorant Champions 2026 wrapped up on Oct. 8 in Shanghai. G2 Esports beat 100 Thieves 2-0 and Team Vitality beat Nongshim RedForce 2-1, according to VLR.gg.
G2 took Abyss 13-5 and also Ascent, the map 100 Thieves had picked, by a tight 13-11. On Abyss, leaf finished with 19 kills and a 1.46 rating. On the losing side, 100 Thieves' Asuna stood out: on Ascent he had 25 kills and reached 310 ACS, average combat score per round.
Vitality's series was closer. It won Split 13-8, lost Abyss 4-13 to Nongshim, with Xross at a 1.80 rating, and settled Haven in overtime, 14-12, according to VLR.gg. For Insider Gaming, the decisive moment was a 1v1 won by Jamppi with the map tied 11-11, which put Vitality one point from closing it out; Chronicle finished the series.
After the win, Valorant's official account posted, per Insider Gaming, a message from G2: "this is not the city of love, this is the city of G2". It is the only statement from the team that could be found.
The playoffs are double elimination. G2 and Vitality play the upper semifinal on Saturday, Oct. 10, and whoever loses drops to the lower bracket with a single life. On the other side, NRG and LOUD, who won their series on Oct. 7, also meet that day.
100 Thieves and Nongshim, knocked out of the upper bracket, face each other in the opening lower-bracket round on Friday, Oct. 9. T1 and Paper Rex play in that same round. A second loss sends any team home, and the final is on Oct. 18. The event pages do not say which time zone their schedules use, so only dates are given here.
