Premier Ignition Stage FAQ

The Premier Beta is over, but there’s one last test before we launch in August.
Game Updates

The Premier Beta is over, but there’s one last test before we launch in August: Premier Ignition. Below is what you need to know to get started, or if you’ve got a few extra questions.

As always, keep the feedback coming in your favorite VALORANT community space.

Summary of What’s Changed:

ENROLLMENT PERIOD

  • Enrollment period has been extended from four days to 1-week
  • Team creation and enrollment flow has been improved

WEEKLY FORMAT

  • Queue schedules are now tailored to each Zone

PLAYOFF TOURNAMENT

  • Tournament brackets will now update progress in real time
  • Consolation bracket has been removed

PREMIER IGNITION STAGE FAQ

GENERAL

How long is the Premier Ignition Stage?

  • July 11 - August 13
    • Enrollment period: Jul 11 - Jul 20
    • Weekly Matches: Jul 20 - Aug 12
    • Playoff Tournament: Aug 13

Will anything transfer from the Ignition to Stage 1 (launch) in August?

  • Yes! Your Team, match history, and Premier MMR will carry over to Stage 1.
  • Premier Score, Division, Zone, and Enrollment will NOT carry over between Stages

Where do I find Premier in the client?

  • On launch, a full-screen takeover will feature Premier
  • Homepage navigation should have Premier as an entry, second in the list under “Play”
  • An explanation modal will pop up when you visit the Premier Hub for the first time.

When will I get my rewards?

  • Rewards for participating and for winning the Playoff tournament will be distributed on August 13 - the day after Ignition Stage ends.
  • Rewards include a unique Gun Buddy and Title for winning, and a Player Card for playing at least one match.
  • Visit your collection to equip!

ELIGIBILITY & VERIFICATION

How do I become eligible for Premier Ignition?

  • You need to verify two conditions in order to be eligible to create or join a Premier team:
    • Verify your identity account verification via SMS verification
    • Establish your MMR by completing your ranked placements at any point in your account lifetime
  • If you’re already eligible, you will automatically skip to the next step and just see the option to “CREATE A TEAM”

Can anyone play in Premier Ignition?

  • Aside from the eligibility requirements outlined above, anyone with a VALORANT account in good standing is able to play during the Premier Beta period.
    • An account in good standing is one that is not currently banned. This also applies to accounts facing a Ranked queue restriction if the restriction period coincides with the enrollment or play period.
  • If you have received a Game Ban, Vanguard Intervention, Ranked Restriction or Comms Restriction in the last 30 days you will be ineligible to join a Premier Team and/or queue up for Premier matches.
  • If you receive a Comms Restriction, Game Ban, or Vanguard Intervention during Premier, you will be disqualified for the rest of the Premier Stage.

How do I verify my phone number?

  1. From the Premier Hub, click Verify
  2. Select your country code from the dropdown
  3. Enter your phone number (area code first) into the second box
  4. You’ll receive a text message with a confirmation code - enter that into the next screen
    1. You should only submit this once initially and the confirmation message may be delayed.
  5. You’re verified!

What if I have issues verifying my phone number?

  • Most issues are solved by waiting ten minutes then trying again.
  • We’ve seen some cases where the resolution of the client can cause compression with the text box pop up and lead to errors. Try changing to 1920x1080 and verify again.
  • For any other issues, reach out to Player Support!

What happens if I un-verify my account?

  • If you un-verify your account, the client will warn you that you will not be able to play in Premier until you go through the verification process again.
  • Only one number is allowed per account, with a 6-month cooldown on used phone numbers. If you unlink a phone number from your account, you're unable to use a different number on the account for 6 months. You can relink the original number at any time with no lock out.
  • In case you are unverified and are on a team already, you will NOT be kicked from your team, but you will be ineligible to queue.

INVITES

What is the difference between a party leader and Team Owner?

  • The Team Owner is able to invite players, customize the team logo, promote another player to owner, and/or delete the team entirely. (They can also leave the team - if they do, Team Owner will be passed to the player that's been on the team the longest.)
  • The party leader gets the team into queue when ready to play a Premier match, and is responsible for locking in choices during map pnb in tournaments.
    • The Team Owner doesn't have to be present in order for a team to play a Premier match.

Can I join more than one team?

  • No, only one team per account.

Can I cancel team invites/remove teammates?

  • Team Owners may cancel team invite requests and remove players from their team.

Are there restrictions on who I can be on a team with?

  • Nope! Feel free to join a team with your Bronze friend and your Diamond friend—we’ll find the best Division for your team based on the MMR of the top 5 players on your team
  • There are restrictions once you enroll your team: You’ll be limited to only inviting other players that would not cause your team to change Divisions.
    • If inviting a player would cause your team to change Divisions, the Team Owner will see an error message when attempting to invite: "This player is outside your team's skill range and cannot be invited."
  • If Enrollment hasn’t ended, you can unenroll your team and are again open to invite anyone you’d like. Just make sure to re-enroll before the cutoff time!

After weekly matches begin, can I still make roster changes on my team?

  • Once the weekly matches begin, only changes to roster that will not affect the Division will be permissible.

ENROLLMENT & ZONES

Can I unenroll my entire team?

  • If the team is enrolled, the Choose Zone button converts to an Unenroll button and your team will be able to opt out.

How do I know which Zone to choose?

  • During the enrollment process, the Team Owner will select a Zone.
  • Within the Zone, you’ll be recommended the top 2 pods (example, Central vs. Texas) based on the lowest average latency of the Team Owner.
  • Players that choose Zones with multiple pods should be matchmade as per our usual matchmaking heuristics (ping-based)

Can I change Zones?

  • You cannot edit your Zone once your team is enrolled, but you can un-enroll and re-enroll and select a new Zone. If the team wants to unenroll in order to change Zones you’ll have to first unenroll your team and redo the team enrollment process.

My team missed enrollment. Can we still play?

  • No, you will not be able to play if you miss the enrollment process.

Can I add a new player to my team after the weekly matches have started?

  • Yes! So long as the player being invited would not cause the team to change Divisions. If a player would cause your team to change Divisions, the Team Owner will see an error message when attempting to invite: "This player is outside your team's skill range and cannot be invited."

Where can I see my team enrollment status?

  • The Premier Hub and Team Tab both show your team's enrollment status.

TEAM HUB & PREMIER SCORE

Where can I view team standings?

  • From the menu, navigate to > PREMIER > STANDINGS
  • Sectioned by if teams made the qualification cut-off
  • Standings are updated when Premier matches are completed

How are ties in Standings broken?

  • Teams are listed on the Standings by Score first, with ties broken by match W/L, then rounds W/L

Where can I view my team’s match history?

  • The match history tab shows team-level match history where individual game participation still appears in player-level match history
  • Team Match History contains a way to view past tournament match brackets and final tournament standings

What is the Premier Score?

  • Each match you play earns points towards your Premier Score which will determine if your team qualifies for the Playoff Tournament at the end of Open Beta!

How do I accumulate points?

  • Teams earn 100 points for a weekly match win, and 25 points for a loss.
  • Tournament matches do not award points.

QUEUEING UP

Where can I queue for Premier matches?

  • Click the “Play” button under the Premier Hub or under the general client Navigation. Both will take you to the lobby.
  • When the queue window is open, you'll be able to queue up when you have your party together.
  • We highly encourage you to queue as early in the weekly window as possible, as doing so at the last minute may result in not being able to find a match.

When can I queue for my Premier matches?

  • The schedule on the Premier Hub shows the queue window for your Zone. You can only queue during these windows.
  • You can queue up anytime within that one hour window and we’ll try to find you a match. We highly encourage you to queue as early in the window as possible, as doing so at the last minute may result in not being able to find a match.
  • The complete schedule will appear in your Team Hub when Premier launches in client, but expect to typically see at least two evenings per week in your local time zone for weekly matches.

When are the queue windows?

  • Queue windows are unique to each Zone, and are on match days or tournament days in the evening for your local time zone.
  • Most weekly matches are held around 7pm local time, but this can vary per Zone anywhere between 7-9 pm local time. Check your Team Hub for exact queue windows.

What if a player in my party is displayed as ineligible to queue?

  • Confirm the player is verified via SMS.
  • Confirm all players are on the same Premier team.
  • Confirm player accounts are not restricted for disruptive behavior

What if my party is unable to queue?

  • For any match:
    • Confirm the queue windows are open
    • Confirm the party has 5 eligible players
    • Confirm the roster is currently enrolled
  • For weekly matches:
    • Confirm your weekly match limit has not been reached
  • For the Tournament:
    • Confirm your roster has enough points to qualify for the tournament
    • Confirm the tournament limit has not been reached

WEEKLY MATCHES

How many matches can I play each week?

  • Premier teams can play two matches per week, reset on Tuesday.

Can I play both of my weekly matches in one day?

  • Yes! If you queue up early in the window, finish your match, and the queue window for your Zone hasn’t closed yet, you can queue up again. (Note: Queuing up near the end of a window may result in not being able to find a match.)
  • If you play two matches during a weekly match window on a map, you won’t be able to play in the other match window(s) on that same map. (Ex. If you play two matches on Thursday on Bind, you won’t be able to play on Saturday. The weekly match window resets on Tuesday.)

How do I know what map I am playing each match?

  • The featured map for each weekly match is listed on the schedule in the Premier Hub to give you enough time to prepare.

MATCHMAKING

How fair is matchmaking in Premier Ignition?

  • You will only play against teams within your Division, which means they are within a consistent range of team MMR thresholds.
  • We will do our best to find you a match against teams within your Division that are close in performance at that point in time.

How long can you expect for queues?

  • We expect most weekly matches to be made within 8 minutes at maximum. If you end up waiting longer, please stay in queue as leaving and re-queuing will only increase the total time your team will wait in queue.
  • We expect tournament brackets to be made within 20 minutes at maximum. If you end up waiting longer, please stay in queue as leaving and re-queuing will only increase the total time your team will wait in queue.

I’ve been waiting in queue a long time. Will my match still be fair?

  • You may end up playing against teams with a better performance in your respective Division when waiting in queues longer. But you will always be playing teams in your Division, so you should always have a fair chance at winning.

My team was queued and a match was never found. What gives?

  • While it is highly unlikely that your team never finds a match, there may be rare instances where your team is literally the only team in the queue. However, even if you exceed the max expected wait time (8 minutes), please stay in the queue as you should get matched against the next team that joins.
  • Also, as we said above, we highly encourage you to queue as early in the weekly window as possible, as doing so at the last minute may result in not being able to find a match.

LIVE MATCHES

Are the rules different from standard Competitive?

  • Overtime rules are different and are as follows:
    • The first team to win 12 rounds gains Overtime Priority
    • Team with Overtime Priority chooses Starting Side for Overtime by voting, using a simple majority of the 5 players
    • Teams must win by 2. Every round, teams swap sides.
    • If 2 sets of Overtime have been played, play one final round of Sudden Death
    • Sudden Death side choice is whatever the team with Overtime Priority chose during Overtime Starting Side Choice Phase

Are weekly matches Best of 1?

  • Yes.

TOURNAMENTS

What Premier Ignition Score qualifies for the Playoff tournament?

  • Teams must earn 375 points to qualify for for the Playoff Tournament

How are ties for qualification resolved?

  • Qualification for Playoffs is based on your team’s Premier Score, not position on the Standings. As long as you’ve hit the qualifying Premier Score and queue up at the right time, you’ll be eligible to be placed into a bracket.

Is there more than one winning team per Division?

  • Yes! All teams within a Division that qualify for the Tournament are matched into a bracket of up to 8 teams. Each bracket results in one winning team.

What if my team misses the tournament queue window?

  • You will not be able to participate in the tournament.

How many teams are in a playoff bracket?

  • A Tournament bracket can have up to 8 teams in it, and may start with as few as 5.

What happens if I lose?

  • If your team loses in a tournament, you’re eliminated.

What is the map pick-and-ban system?

  • During map pick and bans, teams take turns banning maps. All members on the team can vote on which map to ban, and the party leader locks in the team's choice.
  • The process alternates between teams until a map is chosen. The team that did not choose the map then gets to choose if they'd like to attack or defend.
  • Map pick and ban is only available in Tournament matches.

Can you pause a match (timeout) and strategize?

  • We do not currently support pauses during Premier matches.

Can I substitute a player in between matches?

  • We do not currently support subs during tournaments.
  • The 5 players that queue up for the first match of the tournament will be locked in for the rest of the matches in that tournament.

How much time do I have between tournament matches?

  • Teams will have at least a 5 minute rest period between tournament matches.
  • You may end up waiting longer if your match is complete and you’re waiting on your upcoming opponent’s match to finish.

Do we play all tournament matches in one day?

  • Yes - matches will be played consecutively until your team is eliminated or you reach the finals.

Will I know in advance what teams are in my tournament bracket?

  • No - tournament brackets are decided based on who queues up at the designated time