NRG and LOUD sweep Valorant Champions quarterfinals
The defending champions and the Brazilian side reach the upper semifinal in Shanghai; T1 and Paper Rex drop to the lower bracket and meet on Oct. 9.
The upper bracket of Valorant Champions 2026 opened its quarterfinals on Wednesday, Oct. 7, in Shanghai with two sweeps. NRG, the reigning champions, beat T1 2-0, and LOUD did the same to Paper Rex, according to VLR.gg scores.
NRG took Lotus 13-11, the map T1 picked, and Summit 13-7. In the match breakdown, the best average combat score per round belonged to brawk on Summit, at 300; T1's BuZz averaged 210 and 212 across the two maps.
LOUD had the tighter series. On Split it trailed 8-4 at halftime and won 13-9 after stringing together nine rounds. On Sunset, Paper Rex went up 9-3; LOUD answered with seven straight rounds and closed 15-13 in overtime, per VLR.gg and CNN Brasil.
Alecks, of Paper Rex, summed up the opponent this way: "It's not a firepower thing", but rather the intelligent way they work the map.
The playoffs are double elimination. NRG and LOUD meet in the upper semifinal on Saturday, Oct. 10, and T1 and Paper Rex, who lost in the upper bracket but are still alive, play the first round of the lower bracket on Friday, Oct. 9. A second loss knocks them out.
Tomorrow, Oct. 8, the quarterfinals continue with 100 Thieves against G2 Esports and Team Vitality against Nongshim RedForce. The final is Oct. 18. VLR.gg does not say which time zone its schedule uses, so only dates are given here.
