The VCT EMEA 2022 format
The Valorant Champions Tour recently resumed with the qualifying rounds of the first Challengers of the year. The perfect opportunity to introduce you to the format of the VCT EMEA 2022 !
How to qualify for the VCT EMEA?
This year's format is somewhat complex, but not insurmountable. First of all, a maximum of 256 teams compete in a first open qualification phase, from 10th to 12th January. The matches are played in BO3 and single elimination.
The top four teams from this Open Qualifier 1 qualify for the Closed Qualifier 1. There, they join four other teams that were invited and did not have to go through the Open Qualifier. These teams are among those who accumulated the most points last year and kept at least three of their five players from their 2021 roster, but did not make it to the Champions.
The teams are as follows:
- EU : G2 Esports, Team BDS, Alliance, TENSTAR
- CIS One Breath Gaming, 5M (ex GMT Esports), NAVI, KPI
- Turkey Futbolist, BBL Esports, Fire Flux Esports, Zero Zone
During this Closed Qualifier, teams compete in double elimination matches, first in BO3 and then in BO5. This phase runs from 13th January to 16th January. At the end of the four days of competition, the top two teams advance to the main event of Challengers 1, while the next four teams advance to a second Closed Qualifier stage.
A Closed Qualifier is played with eight teams, so four more teams will be needed to compete against those already qualified in Closed Qualifier 2. For this purpose, a new Open Qualifier phase will take place from 17th to 19th January. As in the first phase, a maximum of 256 teams will compete and the four best will win their place in the Closed Qualifier 2, which will be held from 20th to 23rd January. This new stage will be run like the first one, with double elimination matches that will see four teams triumph.
These four new teams will finally join the four previous teams already qualified for the main event. But not only that! They will also join four guest teams, namely those who participated in Valorant Champions 2021. They will join the reigning World Champions, Acend, as well as Gambit Esports, Team Liquid and Fnatic.
These qualification stages will also be valid for Challengers 2, except that, this time, they will be preceded by a promotion tournament in which the winners of the Valorant Regionals League will face the last two teams in the VCT ranking. Two places will then be up for grabs, and the top two teams from the tournament will advance to the VCT Phase 2.
After the qualifications
Once these qualifying stages are over, the teams will compete in the Challengers in double elimination matches. They will be divided into two groups of eight and the top three teams in each group will qualify for the playoffs. Finally, the best team qualifies for the Masters which will take place in April and July.
The first Challengers of the year starts on 11th February and ends on 27th March. We do not yet have the dates for the second Challengers.
Throughout the year, teams will accumulate points and, at the end of the season, the three teams with the most points will go directly to the Valorant Champions in September. The next eight teams will have a final chance to qualify by participating in the Last Chance Qualifier in August.
At the end of the competition, the winning team will join the other three teams in the final event to compete for the title of World Champion and succeed Acend.
Where to watch?
The VCT EMEA 2022 will be broadcasted in several languages: English, German, Polish and French for the EU region, Turkish for the Turkey region and Russian for the CIS region.
English Twitch - English YouTube - French Twitch
See you on 11th February for the start of the Phase 1 Challengers main event!
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