Riot Games and its VALORANT esports department announced the return of the VALORANT Champions Tour for 2022 today—and the second VCT campaign is slated to feature a plethora of new and exciting changes.
One of the most significant changes based on player and supporter feedback is the alterations made to the Challengers format. Each regional Challengers “split” will now feature a single open qualifier that leads to multiple weeks of league-style play between the top teams. This split will culminate in a Challengers Finals that will determine the split’s winner as well as which teams will represent their region at one of two Masters events.
These two Masters events will take place in April and July, and should serve as a continuation of the offline, international competitions that Masters Two and Three were during the 2021 campaign. These 2022 Masters events will eventually lead to Champions 2022, this time scheduled for September as opposed to early December.
Following Champions 2022, the remainder of the year will be dedicated to a new offseason tournament series that will be coordinated with and by third-party tournament organizers to recreate the feel of the Ignition series of events that took place in 2020. These events are meant for “new, existing, and re-tooling teams to test their skills” during the offseason, according to Riot.
Additionally, the 2022 VCT will look to continue developing both the amateur and women’s scenes. Riot plans to invest in new country-based leagues to foster a new generation of domestic stars, much like it’s done with the national leagues in League of Legends that feed into the LEC. The company plans to start with European teams and expand from there. Riot is also doubling down on Game Changers, with an expanded international women’s tournament scheduled for the end of 2022.
The 2022 VCT campaign begins in February with the first Challengers split.
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