Following the results of the first European Challengers weekend of the VALORANT Champions Tour, the esports team at Riot is expanding the qualifiers to include more best-of-three series.
During the first Challengers weekend qualifier, the tournament used best-of-one matches all the way through the round of 64 and started incorporating best-of-threes with the round of 32. Going forward, best-of-three series will start back at the round of 128.
This decision comes after “receiving valuable community and competitor feedback” following Challengers One. It’s a step toward the VCT goal of determining “the best of the best in their respective region.”
“By implementing the changes above we aim to reward consistency and reduce randomness,” Riot said. “We want results to have more weight, be it in victory or defeat.”
In addition to expanding more maps into the rounds of 128 and 64, the teams that make it to the round of 16 but aren’t one of the four that qualify for the next event will automatically be entered into the next qualifier in the round of 128. Thus, they get to skip the best-of-one that starts the qualifier in the round of 256.
These changes will take effect as early as the upcoming open qualifier for the second Challengers weekend. The four teams that qualified from Challengers One have already earned their spot in the eight-team play-in stage of Challengers Two. The four teams that advance out of Challengers Two will get a spot in the first European Masters event.
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