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Valorant enjoyed a highly successful season in its first year of franchising, and Riot Games has already unveiled its plans for the VCT 2024 season. The changes for the upcoming season are aimed at the improvement of the existing system with new features and more tournaments. These modifications should prove to be very effective in the overall growth of the Valorant esports scene.
This news also means that VCT enthusiasts have plenty of tournaments and matches to catch up with and stay satisfied. This article lists everything you need to know before the VCT 2024 season.
All new changes set to be introduced in the 2024 Valorant esports season
The VCT 2024 season is expected to field a couple of changes to improve Valorant's esports circuit and allow regional as well as international talents to display their craft and make themselves known as superstars. Here are the upcoming changes that fans can expect to see:
The Chinese League
The Chinese region has been making plenty of noise ever since EDward Gaming's debut at Champions 2022. The region has only continued to improve as they have had a very successful 2023 season, with teams such as Bilibili Gaming, Attacking Soul Esports, and EDward Gaming displaying great performances.
With the release of Valorant in China, the game is only expected to grow in the incredibly large country, and as such, a brand new league similar to the likes of EMEA and Pacific will be introduced.
The Kick-off tournaments, VCT Masters Madrid and VCT Masters Shanghai
With the introduction of the VCT 2024 season, each international league will have a kick-off tournament that will allow only two teams to qualify for the first international event of the year, VCT Masters Madrid 2024. A total of eight teams across the four regions will be competing in this tournament.
VCT Masters Shanghai will be the second Masters event of the VCT 2024 season. With the introduction of the Chinese region as an official franchised league, this tournament should prove to be very exciting and have tons of hype. Unlike Masters Madrid, which will feature eight teams, Masters Shanghai will witness twelve teams competing for championship points and Valorant Champions qualification.
Championship points
VCT 2024 will also re-introduce the Championship points system which was in effect before the franchising era began. These points will serve as the qualifying system for global events such as Masters and Champions. This system will be utilized by all teams present in the four franchising leagues.
Changes to Valorant Challengers
The final exciting change to the VCT 2024 circuit will be the year-long running of the Valorant Challengers League present across multiple regions of the franchising leagues such as Brazil, Spain, and Thailand, among other regions. This will serve as a great way to scout and develop regional talent, as the leagues will be running during the tier-one off-season as well.
The Challengers League will also see the addition of a new player loan and team affiliation system. This will allow regional talents to have a better chance at being loaned out to franchising rosters and promote closer connections to the tier-one and tier-two systems.
The in-game Premier tournaments worldwide will serve as the gateway to the Challengers Leagues, further improving the pipeline for producing new and exciting players.
Official calendar of the 2024 Valorant Esports season
The VCT 2024 season is packed with tournaments throughout the year for fans to enjoy. Events across the two tiers start from January all the way to December.
The following is the current schedule for the international tournaments and the tier-one leagues:
- January-February: Kick-off tournaments for EMEA, Americas, Pacific, and China leagues.
- March: VCT Masters 2024 Madrid
- April: Stage 1 for EMEA, Americas, Pacific, and China leagues.
- May: VCT Masters 2024 Shanghai
- June: Stage 2 for EMEA, Americas, Pacific, and China leagues.
- August: Valorant Champions 2024
- November: Valorant Game Changers Championship 2024
The tier-two system is also filled with exciting tournaments with non-franchised teams of all four major regions having the ability to showcase their talents on the world stage and have a shot at making it into the international leagues.
Here is the VCT 2024 schedule for the Valorant Challengers circuit:
- February-April: Challengers Split 1 Playoffs
- May-July: Challengers Split 2 Playoffs
- September: Challengers Ascension
- October-December: Challengers League during off-season
Finally, the recently introduced Premier tournaments will run in three phases. These events will serve as the direct path to the pro system for aspiring teams and players. The schedule for Premier in the VCT 2024 season is as follows:
- January-April: Phase 1 and Promotion
- May-August: Phase 2 and Promotion
- September-December: Phase 3 and Promotion
Overall, these are some great changes that Riot Games is set to introduce for the 2024 VCT season. Despite recent criticism regarding EMEA's lack of LAN events in the tier-two system, these changes holistically should prove to be very beneficial for the ecosystem of the circuit.
