Pacific vs. Americas: Which VALORANT region is truly the strongest in VCT 2026?

What the report says

The 2026 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) season has already produced two very different international results. The earlier Masters Santiago saw two Pacific teams meet in the grand final, while Masters London saw an unlikely Americas team win from the lower bracket.Ahead of VALORANT Champions 2026, we crunched the numbers from two major events this year to see which side performed the best internationally. We compared overall cross-regional records, playoff results, and head-to-head matchups to find out which region is the strongest in VALORANT.Pacific and Americas lead the overall resultsAcross Masters Santiago and Masters London, Pacific and Americas have been the two most convincing regions overall.

The table below combines every cross-regional series played at both Masters events, including each region’s rounds, maps, and series results, while excluding same-region matchups.Americas showcases better team depthAmericas has shown greater depth across its lineup, which explains why the region has more total rounds, maps, and series.The region finished with a 15–12 series record against international teams, giving it the most cross-regional series wins of any region at 15, two more than Pacific. Americas also played 27 such series, seven more than Pacific.This depth was most apparent at Masters Santiago, where both NRG and G2 Esports finished in the top four.

Both teams went 4–3 against other regions, while the top-seeded FURIA, which earned a bye directly to the playoffs from its Americas Kickoff victory, failed to score a series win.In London, G2 Esports entered the playoffs directly but was immediately eliminated after losses to Xi Lai Gaming (XLG) and FUT Esports. It suffered a similar fate to the top seed at the previous Masters, while NRG managed only one international victory before failing to qualify from the Swiss stage.This left Leviatán to pick up the slack and deliver one of the most exciting lower-bracket runs, winning five straight elimination series before clinching the grand final in a full five-map series.Compared to other regions, Americas has a more balanced contribution in international play, with Leviatán going 6–1 in London, while NRG and G2 Esports posted records of 5–4 and 4–5 across both Masters, respectively.Pacific’s strong records come from outlier teamsPacific’s strength has been much more concentrated than Americas, with most of its international success coming from two standout teams rather than across the full lineup.The table below shows the regional head-to-head record, where Pacific leads its international matchups against Americas and China, while splitting its series evenly with EMEA.The region was undoubtedly the star at Masters Santiago, where Nongshim RedForce won the event and Paper Rex (PRX), another Pacific team, took second.

Key details

Both squads earned their places in the grand final by repeatedly beating international opposition, boosting their cross-regional series record.In London, none of Pacific’s Swiss-stage teams qualified for the playoffs. While PRX was the sole Pacific team in the playoffs via direct invite, it still reached another grand final.As a result, Pacific’s great international record and 65% cross-regional series win rate reflect an extremely competitive top end. In fact, 12 out of the 13 victories against other regions came from Nongshim RedForce (3) and PRX (9), with T1 contributing one win against China’s EDward Gaming (EDG).China trails behind despite decent playoff placementsUnfortunately for China, the region has the weakest showing so far in 2026.

Its best result came from EDG, winner of VALORANT Champions 2024, which finished third at Masters London, followed by XLG, which finished 5th–6th in the same tournament. This is already a marked improvement on Santiago, as both teams were promptly eliminated during the Swiss stage without winning a series. The region has had a rough VCT season, as reflected in its 26.7% cross-regional series win rate and 41.6% round win rate. Keep Reading “We’ve admittedly created an unintentional imbalance over the last few years”: VCT Pacific has an inclusivity problem, but can Riot fix it?Riot gave Tier 2 VALORANT a chance and it exposed VCT Tier 1 teams’ vulnerabilityHow well did Paper Rex f0rsakeN perform on each VALORANT agent?VALORANT’s viewership at Esports World Cup has fans worried that the game is “dying” once and for allAgainst international teams, XLG contributed two wins, EDG and All Gamers added one each, and Dragon Ranger Gaming failed to record a win.

Even its top-seeded representative in Santiago struggled internationally, as All Gamers went straight to the lower bracket and were eliminated in the second lower-bracket round, only scoring one series win.All in all, China finished just 4–11 in cross-regional series across the two Masters, giving the region a 26.7% series win rate.