2021 VALORANT Champions Tour Kicks Off in NA On January 27

Nerd Street Gamers to serve as official tournament operator and producer for VCT Stage 01
Esports

Last November, we previewed the 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour, a global competitive ecosystem that will enable VALORANT to become the next great, multi-generational esport. Today, we’re thrilled to provide more details on Stage 01 of the VCT in North America, and unveil our long-time partner, Nerd Street Gamers, as the official tournament operator and producer for this first stage.

Beginning January 27 and running through March 21, Stage 01 will provide a mix of open and closed qualifiers to ensure opportunities for both amateur and established orgs to qualify into the Masters. The first stage will consist of three Challenger Weekends, which function as closed qualifiers to determine who moves on to the concluding Masters event. A weekly open qualifier will determine which teams compete in the Challenger Weekend.

To ensure the safety of all participants as the global COVID-19 situation evolves, all competitions, including Masters tournaments, will remain intraregional and fully remote in Stage 01.

The full Stage 01 schedule is below:

CHALLENGERS WEEKEND 1

  • Open Qualifiers: January 27 - 31
  • Closed Qualifiers: February 4 - 7

CHALLENGERS WEEKEND 2

  • Open Qualifiers: February 11 - 14
  • Closed Qualifiers: February 18 - 21

CHALLENGERS WEEKEND 3

  • Open Qualifiers: February 25 - 28
  • Closed Qualifiers: March 4 - 7

MASTERS STAGE 01

  • March 13 - 14
  • March 19 - 21

We’re proud to continue our partnership with Nerd Street Gamers, who have been key to the success of VALORANT’s inaugural year as an esport in NA. Nerd Street Gamers will lead registration, operations and production of the Challengers events from January through March, as well as the Master tournaments in March.

Visit nerdstgamers.com/vct to see the full Stage 01 schedule and register to compete in the qualifiers

2021 promises to be a groundbreaking year for VALORANT esports, and we’re tremendously excited to kickoff global play. Our commitment to the grassroots scene through the use of open qualifiers will ensure that new stars and engaging stories will continue to populate VALORANT esports.

We hope you’ll join us for more nail-biting defuses, creative site takes and mind-bending outplays starting on January 27 at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET, at twitch.tv/nerdstgamers or twitch.tv/valorant_esports_na.