Over the past year, the new additions to VALORANT‘s map pool have forced Riot Games to implement a rotating map pool, but players think they’ve figured out a trend that’s helped them predict where the newest map will be.
The secret lies in the Episode Seven, Act One battle pass rewards, namely in the player cards that players can earn by leveling up their pass. One of those cards suggests the next map could take us to the destination of the upcoming VALORANT Champions 2023 event, the city of Los Angeles.
The card, titled Golden Hour, shows a sunny, palm tree-clad street with houses that appear to feature characteristics similar to the Mission Revival architecture style that is very popular in California. On the hill looking over the houses is a building that could also be inspired by the iconic Griffith Observatory that overlooks the center of Los Angeles. There’s also a street vendor, but it’s too difficult to make out what is being sold.
This card is being considered as a future map teaser because Riot previously released future map teasers as player cards. Pearl was released at the start of Episode Five, but in the Episode Four, Act Three pass, a player card titled Yellows On Rails hinted at the underwater city that Pearl is a part of. After that, Lotus was teased in a similar fashion via the Astral Conduit player card.
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Aside from just following the battle pass player card trend, VALORANT players have noted that numerous Riot folks have promised additional content that will be released when the game heads to Los Angeles for the year-end Champions 2023 esports event, with some of it likely to be related to the event’s location. Fans will likely have to wait until August to find out anything more concrete.
