2021 VALORANT Champions Tour Overview

An in-depth look at the format of the 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour, and how it all ladders up to Champions.
Esports

VCT Overview

Here’s an in-depth look at the format of the 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour, and how it all ladders up to Champions.

Challengers

Let’s start with Challengers. Regions from all around the world will compete in Challengers events across three stages of the year. Each stage has 2 Challengers Main Events, which any team in the region can qualify for through Open Qualifiers. In Main Events teams compete for a spot at Challengers Playoffs. Teams who make it and win at Challengers Playoffs qualify for global competition at Masters events. For more info on how exactly that works, see ‘The Details’ below.

01_Challengers_Format_March_26_20.jpg

Note: Some regions may see slight variations on this format, based on total number of teams or sub-regions competing in Challengers

Masters

Each of the three stages of the VCT are capped off with a global Masters tournament (Note: 2021 Stage 1 Masters was a regional tournament, due to Covid-19 travel restrictions). These are global competitions which see the best teams from around the world compete for circuit points. Teams who have accrued the most circuit points in each region, will qualify to compete in the biggest event in competitive VALORANT: VALORANT Champions.

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Champions

Champions is the culmination of each year of the VALORANT Champions Tour. It’s an event which will see 16 of the top teams from around the world compete for the title of the best VALORANT team in the world.

The Details

If you’re looking for more detail, we’ve got you covered. Here’s how the VALORANT Champions Tour plays out over the course of the year, and how teams qualify from one event to the next:

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Teams who compete in Challengers Playoffs and Masters events, will earn circuit points based on their performance. At the end of the year, teams earn a spot at Champions based on their qualification point ranking in their region. 11 teams will qualify for Champions in this way, while teams below that threshold may still qualify for a Last Chance Qualifier event based on their circuit point ranking. Regional breakdown below:

  • EMEA
    • Top 2 qualify for Champions
    • Top 3-10 qualify for LCQ
  • North America
    • Top 2 qualify for Champions
    • Top 3-10 qualify for LCQ
  • Brazil
    • Top 2 qualify for Champions
    • Top 3-6 qualify for LCQ
  • Southeast Asia
    • Top 2 qualify for Champions
    • Top 3-4 qualify for LCQ
  • LATAM
    • Top 1 qualifies for Champions
    • Top 2-5 qualify for LCQ
  • Korea
    • Top 1 qualifies for Champions
    • Top 2-3 qualify for LCQ
  • Japan
    • Top 1 qualifies for Champions
    • Top 2-3 qualify for LCQ

Circuit Point Awards

Amount of circuit points awarded for each event can be found below:

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(Note: In regions where 2nd/3rd place in Challengers Playoffs qualify for Masters, those places will not grant Circuit points)

Teams who don’t earn enough circuit points to qualify in their region will have one more chance to make it to Champions, through Last Chance Qualifiers. At these events four final spots will be distributed to the winners of four pan-regional tournaments in North America, South America, EMEA, and APAC.