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Riot Games recently revealed more details about the upcoming VCT 2023 tournament. A total of 30 teams will be participating, and the new tournament structure allows teams to acquire players from other teams or players who are free agents.
The participating teams will be able to negotiate and finalize deals with these free agents over the course of the two transfer windows that the tournament season will have. Once this transfer window ends, teams will no longer be able to get in touch with these free agents for the remainder of the tournament season. But what are these different types of free agents that everyone has been talking about?
Understanding the different types of free agents in VCT 2023
There are two basic types of free agents in the VCT scene. The first one is an unrestricted free agent, and the second is a restricted free agent.
A restricted free agent is a player who currently holds a contract with a team, but other teams are allowed to make offers to the player. Interested teams will either have to get in touch with the team or with the player's agent. In such cases, a complete buyout is the only way in which interested teams can acquire the said player. Finally, the decision to accept or decline the buyout offer rests entirely upon the team holding the player's contract.
Following recent updates in the past couple of days, Jaccob "yay" Whittaker is now a restricted free agent. The Guard is another prime example of a restricted free agency. Despite the team not making it into the VCT partnership, it has allowed players from its roster to explore offers from other teams selected for the partnership program.
Unrestricted free agents are the players who aren't associated with any teams. They are free to join any team as per their liking. The two most famous free agents are Victor "Victor" Wong and Austin "crashies" Roberts. Their contracts with OpTic Gaming expired during the course of the Champions 2022 tournament itself, and since the team didn't receive a spot in the VCT 2023 tournament, the two individuals decided against renewing their contracts with the team. It will be interesting to see which team signs them for the upcoming tournament.
VCT 2023 transfer window
Over the course of the tournament, players and fans from all around the world will be able to witness two transfer windows. The first window, called the pre-season transfer window, will begin on September 26, 2022 and conclude on February 1, 2023.
The second transfer window is known as the mid-season transfer window and is expected to begin on March 5, 2023 and conclude on March 26, 2023. This window is comparatively shorter because, as the name suggests, it's scheduled for the period right before the International League splits begin.
Over these two windows, teams will be allowed to sign new players and make changes to their roster. Most teams are yet to reveal their VCT 2023 rosters, so that's something players will be looking forward to in the coming months.
