Bren Esports and five other Valorant teams completed the cast for the VCT Stage 1 – Challengers PH Group Stage which is set to unfurl on Feb. 10.
Action PH, Oasis Gaming join Bren Esports and Team Secret in the Group A while Zeal Esports is set to test its mettle against qualifiers survivors South built Esports, Naos Esports and Looking for ORG in the Group B.
Both Team Secret and Zeal Esports got direct invites to the group stage based on last season’s accumulated VCT points.
The six teams meanwhile survived a two phased qualifier which ran from Jan. 22-23 for the Open Qualifier Phase 1 and Jan. 29-30 for the Phase 2.
They survived through tough competition and emerged as the six best teams in the 128 strong participants in the open qualifiers that also featured the likes of Nexplay Esports, RRQ Philippines, Alpha Esports Pro, Nigma Galaxy and Grindsky Esports.
Group stage is divided in two phases with the Phase 1 running from Feb. 10-13. Teams will play each other in their groups in a best-of-three double round robin format.
A second best-of-three double round robin will happen in the Phase 2 with the teams once again divided in two groups of four teams. The top teams at each group at the end of the two phases will get an upper bracket round 2 berth in the playoffs while the bottom teams will be eliminated from the competition.
No. 2 and 3 teams will then battle in the upper bracket round 1 on Feb. 24. All matches in the playoffs will be in a best-of-three series except the Grand Finals which will be in a best-of-five showdown.
Top three teams at the end of the Challenger PH will advance to the VCT SEA Finals.