Riot Games has announced changes regarding the allocation of slots for the 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour Masters and Champions events.
In the most recent blog post titled “VCT Challengers Kicks Off Soon!”, Anton Ferraro, the Global Communications Lead for Valorant Esports, highlighted a few things, including the VCT schedule and timeline for all Challengers events around the world, as well as slots allocation for this year’s VALORANT Champions Tour at Masters and Champions.
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This year, Masters events will feature the top twelve teams from the regional Challengers competition, down from 16 slots reserved for last year’s Masters 3 Berlin. Each region is guaranteed at least one spot, with larger regions obtaining more slots depending on “player populations and competitiveness.”, according to Riot’s statement.
Southeast Asia (now APAC) will be given an extra spot, bringing the total to two. It is more than the previous year’s allotment of only one slot in the previous two Masters, taking into consideration the fact that Oceania is now part of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) area instead of North America. Additionally, South Asia will now have a direct pathway to Masters and Champions through the APAC Playoffs.
EMEA and North America will each be given one fewer spot. Brazil, Latin America, Korea, and Japan have each been allocated one spot, with Brazil and Latin America sharing an additional slot that each region’s teams will fight for prior to each Masters tournament.
VALORANT Champions guarantees a total of six Asian representatives (APAC, KR, JP)
VALORANT Champions will feature the same number of teams but with minor changes, with ten qualifying through VALORANT Challengers points and six through regional Last Chance Qualifier tournaments. In total, North America will receive three slots. Brazil and LATAM will receive four combined, one exclusively for each and then two for both through Last Chance Qualifiers.
EMEA will have three, while Korea, APAC and Japan will each have one, two and one, respectively. APAC will also feature two Last Chance Qualifiers, with the APAC North LCQ featuring Korea and Japan and the APAC South LCQ, which will contain SEA, South Asia, and Oceania. Each LCQ will be entitled to one slot, ensuring that Asia has at least six representatives in this year’s VALORANT Champions.
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Cover photo courtesy of Lance Skundrich/Riot Games
