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The upcoming Valorant tournament season for 2023 is shaping up to be quite interesting. With the franchise format kicking off, many roster changes have been witnessed recently.
Since the official tournament season only begins in February next year, the off-season is currently underway. While it was previously known that the off-season would be considered the primary transfer window for next season, Riot Games finally announced that they've partnered up with multiple organizations around the world for third-party leagues during the aforementioned off-season.
The news came as a delight to Indian fans as the TEC Challenger Series was also announced as an official off-season event by Riot Games.
Further details about Valorant TEC Challenger series
For now, not much is known about the Valorant TEC Challenger series. All that Riot Games revealed was the fact that they had listed it as an official off-season event. The tournament began early yesterday, and the South Asia Qualifiers are already underway.
With that being said, the TEC Challengers series is set to run until October 13, and all participating teams will be competing for a prize pool of $30,000. Multiple teams from South Asia and Southeast Asia will be participating in this tournament. Although not as grand as the big tournaments hosted directly by Riot Games, it's a good platform for new and upcoming teams to showcase their talent.
A few days ago, The Esports Club took to Instagram to announce the schedule for the entire course of the tournament. Here's what the schedule looks like:
SA Qualifiers
- September 29 - Round of 128
- September 30 - Round of 64
- October 1 - Round of 32 & Round of 16
- October 2 - Quarter Finals #1
- October 3 - Ouarter Finals #2
SEA Qualifiers (Closed Qualifiers)
- September 30 - Round of 16
- October 1 - Quarter Finals #1
- October 2 - Quarter Finals #2
- October 3 - Semi Finals
As noted from the given calendar, four teams will make it to the main event from the SA Qualifiers, and two teams from the SEA Qualifiers will qualify for the main event. This leg of the tournament is set to begin on October 5 and will come to an end on October 13.
From these qualifiers, a total of six teams will make it to the main event. Out of the eight spots available, two spots have already been decided. XERXIA and Bleed Esports have been directly invited to the tournament and will go up against the teams that qualify.
As for the main event, the group stage is set to follow a single round-robin format. Starting from the quarter finals of the TEC Challengers, all subsequent rounds will see a best-of-five format. It will be interesting to see which team prevails at the end of the tournament.
Other than the TEC Challengers, the Pacific region will witness a few more third-party tournaments. They are as follows:
- TEN 5_Valorant Korea vs. Japan Showmatch
- Valorant India Invitational by Galaxy Racer (GXR)
- Penta Pro Series - Valorant
- TEN 5_ Valorant Korea vs. Japan
- TEN 5_ Valorant Special Match
- Gwangju Esports Series (GES) Asia
- WCG Rivals - Valorant : Korea vs Japan
- Afreeca TV SEA Invitational
As mentioned above, these third-party tournaments are a great way for upcoming teams to showcase their talent. While it's unlikely, given that these are being held during the transfer window, scouts from teams already partnered with Riot Games for the upcoming tournament season may be present at these events to look for potential hires.
