The first quarterfinal pairs of the playoff stage of Valorant Champions 2023 have been announced

After the group stage is over, the teams have a few days to rest and prepare for the upcoming matches, and we continue to follow the tournament. Today, Riot Games published the schedule and pairs for the playoffs, which we will now inform you about.

Fnatic - LOUD – August 16, 22:00 EEST

The playoffs will begin with an unexpected pair of two favorites and this match is definitely worth watching. European tops, dominating international competitions this season, Fnatic will face the reigning world champions LOUD. It's hard to determine the favorite for the match. On one hand, Fnatic is currently at the peak of their strength and are the main contenders for the championship title. On the other, LOUD, even though they slipped during the season, excel in tournaments of this caliber, so all we have to do is watch and enjoy.

It should be noted that the Fnatic organization, in their Twitter account, posted an image of the upcoming pair and commented that they had a heart attack. This indicates that the "Oranges" respect their future opponents and consider them dangerous.

Paper Rex - FUT Esports – August 17, 01:00 EEST

In the second pair, the outsiders FUT Esports will face the tops of the Asia-Pacific region, Paper Rex. It seems the match result will be evident, as the Turkish team made it to the playoffs because they had a weak group, apart from EG, the rest of the opponents were even bigger underdogs than FUT Esports themselves. Paper Rex, in turn, confidently played the group stage without losing a single map, so we think they will replicate this success this time.

The team players posted a video in which they guessed the future playoff pairs and greeted their future opponents for making it to this stage.

DRX - Bilibili Gaming – August 17, 22:00 EEST

The third pair seems to show us again a meeting of favorites and outsiders, but it's not that straightforward. Yes, DRX emerged as the best in the group of death where they beat the reigning champions LOUD and the Europeans from NAVI. However, Bilibili Gaming proved that they are not weak newcomers from China and can show a level. During the group stage, the Chinese team defeated the American tops from NRG twice, thanks to which they made it to the playoffs. Still, in our editorial opinion, DRX is stronger, so we give an advantage to the team from Korea.

Evil Geniuses - EDward Gaming – August 18, 01:00 EEST

The last quarterfinal match, but not the least in terms of spectacle. One can follow the clash between EG and EDG just because the teams are actively arguing on social media. You can read more in our article. Recall that as soon as they announced the inclusion of the Chinese region with the others, the EG captain - Boostio expressed a negative opinion about the Chinese teams. Later, an EDG player responded, and a dispute arose, making the match essential. If the Chinese win, they will prove to the arrogant Americans that they were wrong.

Remember that after the group stage, only the 8 strongest of the 16 teams remain. Over the course of 10 days, from August 16 to 26, they will compete for the main prize fund of $1,000,000 for the winner and the title of world champion.

Also read: Great performance of the Chinese region, favorites dropping out, and conflicts between players - the group stage of Valorant Champions 2023 in a nutshell.