Valorant
Year one of the Valorant Champions Tour has now come to an end. With all official tournaments ending, we are currently in the Off-season of Valorant. Teams who have won VCT Ascension for their respective regions will join the franchising league next year. Players and fans during this season wondered how is the Off-season for so many months. This could result in players being rusty due to the massive break provided between the two seasons. As such, Valorant has announced a new schedule for the Valorant Champions Tour for 2024. In this article, we will break down the schedule in all three tiers of VCT. We will also look at the program from the perspective of a fan and an up-and-coming professional player.
(Image Credits: Riot Games)A Deep Dive Into The Premier and VCT Challengers in 2024
VCT Challengers in 2023 began in various regions from the start of the year. Due to this, there were times when fans felt a form of fatigue from professional Valorant. Each regional league took place on the weekends, while the Challengers leagues took place during the weekdays. This made it quite challenging for many fans to be able to follow teams who were taking part in the various Challengers leagues. As such, the first significant change in VCT 2024 is that VCT Ascension will be taking place after VCT Champions 2024 is over. Hopefully, this will provide more exposure to Ascension teams who could be joining the franchised league in 2025.
The second major change to VCT Challengers is the season will be a year-long season. There will be three splits in total, spread all throughout the year. The last split of the season will be taking place post-VCT Ascension. This is done to ensure that there is no gap for VCT Challenger leagues in all regions and that there is no form of competitive rust in any players.
Why Is Premier A Major Introduction to the Valorant Ecosystem?
Looking into Premier, which is the new tournament feature in Valorant. This feature was tested this year in beta in two phases. Premier will be the new route for players to become professional players in Valorant from 2024. The new divisions for Premier are as follows:
- Open
- Intermediate
- Advanced
- Elite
- Contender
There will be weekly matches that will cover all 7 maps in the current map pool. Now, the minimum requirement for any team to be able to play in the VCT Challengers league is that they need to be in the contender division. In the year's second quarter, the top Contender Teams will play against challenger teams for a promotion-relegation event. This event will help feed new groups into the VCT Challengers League for the given region. Interestingly, no player from the International or Challenger leagues can be a part of a Premier team. As such, there will always be new players who will get a chance to take part in a team in their respective Challengers leagues, providing a chance for new talent to gain exposure in their regions.
(Image Credits: Riot Games)A Deep Dive Into The 2024 VCT League
Similar to Lock//In last cycle, another Kick-Off event will take place at the start of 2024. This will be a single-elimination tournament format tournament. The top 8 teams from this tournament will qualify for the first VCT Masters Tournament, which is said to take place in Madrid. This will be the first VCT Masters of the year with just 8 teams, making it the most minor Masters event ever. In 2024, there will be a re-introduction of Championship points for each time. The various teams will receive these points based on their participation and finishes in certain events around the year. As of now, we don't know the specifics behind the points system. The league will now be split into two phases: Stage 1 and Stage 2. Following the completion of Stage 1, the top teams from each region will play in VCT Masters Shangai 2024.
Finally, VCT Champions will take place around August 2024. Following this, there will be the VCT Game Changers Championships in October.
Is The Path To Glory A bit Too Long Of A Journey?
As a player who wishes to reach the top, they will need to play in the Premier game mode during the first quarter of the year. If they are in the top teams in this tournament phase, they must play in the promotion tournament against the other teams to make it to the top. Finally, if they get to their respective VCT Challengers, they must win the second split to qualify for VCT Ascension. This tournament is said to take place after VCT Champions 2024, thus taking place in September. As such, a player must be active in the first 6 months of the year and go on quite a winning streak. Accomplishing this will only take them to VCT Ascension, where they must face teams from various Challenger Leagues in their region.
