VALORANT Ascension: the new esports tournament in the Champions tour

VALORANT Ascension was recently announced and added to the esports scene of Riot's most beloved shooting game, the Champions Tour. So here is everything you need to know about the upcoming VCT Ascension, including its format, dates, teams, and how it affects the competitive season and the future of VALORANT esports.

VALORANT Esports is still the new kid on the block, and Riot seems to be still experimenting with how they want to go with the VALORANT esports scene. Heading on to 2023, Riot revamped the VCT season to add more competitiveness to it by getting rid of the 7 region format to just three international regions: Americas, EMEA, and Pacific. Additionally, a brand new tournament, VCT Ascension was also announced, and it is right around the corner.

Before we get into the details, don’t forget to check out our VALORANT competitions and how Stryda can make your GGs more exciting and more rewarding!

What is VCT Ascension?

To put it simply, VCT Ascension is a brand-new league in the VALORANT Champion Tour tournament lineup that acts as a qualifier series for teams from the Challengers tournaments to get into the partnered international leagues. Back in 2022, Riot announced that they would be revamping the entire VCT format and the ecosystem in the 2023 season to cover more players in more regions. This was done by introducing an overhauled progress system where tournaments have been intricately divided according to the regions and the competitive level.

Source: Riot Games

As shown in the image above, the entire VCT format was reimagined to fit more players and teams into the journey. Still, the Challengers level will act as a doorway for all the teams from 20 different leagues worldwide to qualify for the main international leagues. Main international leagues have been divided into 3 new leagues according to the 3 main regions: Americas, EMEA, and APAC. It will act as a qualifier for the main global events such as VCT Masters and Champions, where the best teams fight for the international titles. 

Unlike the Challengers level, the International Leagues only has 30 spots in 2023, 10 per each main international region. These 30 spots are considered partnered teams for the season, and they are given out to already partnered top teams. However, Riot has also introduced an additional qualifier, VCT Ascension, where 3 teams, 1 from each main region, get to qualify for the next year’s (2024) international league. 

Source: Riot Games

Additionally, the VCT Ascension tournament will be conducted each year, giving 3 additional teams a chance for a spot in the International League. Teams who win Ascension tournaments will be promoted to their respective region’s international league for a contract of 2 years, and this will continue until the international leagues hit the cap of 42 teams in 2027. The image below summarizes how the promotion system work.

Source: Riot Games

When Does VCT Ascension 2023 Begin?

2023 is the inaugural year for the brand new tournament, and it is just right around the corner. Since VCT Ascension 2023 is a qualifier for the 2024 season, there is no urgency to them. However, the tournament series will commence right after the 2023 Masters tournament concludes to not conflict with any of the other tournaments planned for the year.

The first VCT Ascension tournament, which is the Challengers Ascension: PACIFIC, will kick off on June 28 and will take place throughout the month. Following is a breakdown of all the VCT Ascension tournaments’ timelines, including their respective locations as well:

• Challengers Ascension: PACIFIC:

• Group Stage: June 28 - July 4

• Playoffs: July 7-9

• Playoff Location: Bangkok, Thailand

• Challengers Ascension: EMEA:

• Group Stage: June 30 - July 4

• Playoffs: July 13-16

• Playoff Location: Berlin, Germany

• Challengers Ascension: AMERICAS:

• Dates: June 30th - July 9th

• Location: São Paulo, Brazil

What is the Format for VCT Ascension?

The format for the 3 VCT Ascension tournament series isn’t consistent, as each region has different numbers of teams and qualifying methods. Since the APAC region has the most amount of Challenger leagues, each league will qualify a single team for the Ascension Tournament, totaling 10 teams. The VCT Ascension EMEA also features a total of 10 spots. However, since the region only has 9 Challenger leagues in total, the final team will be qualified through a Play-In Tournament. And finally, VCT Ascension Americas will only feature 6 teams, where 2 spots are sourced from Challenger Leagues of Brazil, 2 from North America, 1 from LATAM South, and 1 from LATAM North. 

To make things clearer, the following is a breakdown of each region’s VCT Ascension format, including how many teams will be competing in VCT Ascension, seeding, and the tournament drafts:

Challengers Ascension: PACIFIC

Source: Riot Games

• No. of teams: 10 teams (2 groups of 5)

• Qualifying: 1 team from each Challengers League

• Group stage: Single Round Robin, Bo3 matches

• Playoffs: Single elimination, Bo3 matches, Bo5 grand final

The 10 teams will be divided into 2 groups of 5, where the group stage will be held in a Single Round Robin competition of Bo3 matches. While the top 3 teams from each group will advance to the playoffs, the top 2 from the group stage will earn byes directly into the semifinals. The Single Elimination playoffs bracket features best-of-three matches except for the grand final, which features a best-of-five match.

Challengers Ascension: EMEA

Source: Riot Games

• No. of teams: 10 teams (2 groups of 5)

• Qualifying: 1 team from each Challengers League and 1 from Play-Ins

• Group stage: Single Round Robin, Bo3 matches

• Playoffs: Single elimination, Bo3 matches, Bo5 grand final

The 10 teams will be divided into 2 groups of 5, and the group stage will be held in a Single Round Robin competition of Bo3 matches. It is also worth noting that the group stage will be held online. Only the top 2 teams from each group (4 total) will qualify for the playoffs, while the rest will be eliminated. The playoffs will be a LAN event held at VCT EMEA Coliseum in Berlin and will feature a Single Elimination Bracket with a Best-of-Five final.

Challengers Ascension: AMERICAS

Source: Riot Games

• No. of teams: 6 teams (2 groups of 3)

• Qualifying: 2 from Brazil, 2 from NA, 1 from LATAM South, and 1 from LATAM North

• Group stage: Single Round Robin, Bo3 matches

• Playoffs: Double elimination, Bo3 matches, Bo5 grand final

VCT Ascension Americas will only feature 6 teams. They will be divided into 2 groups of 3, and the group stage will feature a Single Round Robin format. All teams will advance to the playoffs, while the top 2 teams earn a bye straight into the second round of playoffs. The playoffs will feature a double elimination competition of best-of-three matches except for the grand final, which is best-of-five.

Top Challengers Ascension Teams of 2023

Source: Riot Games

There are a lot of teams that will take part in this year’s inaugural VCT Ascensions tournament. While picking a favorite or deeming the best team is rather impossible, you can still make some educated guesses as to which teams will dominate in their respective regions. Let us break down the top picks from each region and reason who might be the favorite teams to win the VCT Ascension tournaments this year.

Best teams from the Americas

While the Americas is the smallest region compared to other regions, it still has some big names that often come on top in the VALORANT competitive scene. Some of the top dogs in this region include:

• Moist Moguls

• The Guard

• The Union

• FUSION

Best teams from EMEA

EMEA is a massive region, and choosing a favorite team to place your bets on is a much harder job here. However, taking a quick look at stats reveal how they each performed in their Challengers tournaments, giving you room to make an educated guess. Our top picks are:

• Apeks

• Acend

• Case Esports

• Gentle Mates

• MOUZ

• Fire Flux Esports

Best teams from APAC

APAC is the biggest region of them all and features a ton of talented teams. With the same reasoning and some calculated deductions, top-performing teams can be picked out to give you a rough idea of how they will perform. Here are our picks from this region:

• Bleed eSports

• Dplus

• ONE Team

• NAOS Esports

Are you ready for VALORANT Ascension?

Introducing this new tournament series is definitely a step in the right direction and a crucial decision in making the future of VALORNT esports more solid and competitive. Apart from giving more exposure to the competitive VALORANT scene as a whole, it also gives ambitious teams to reach the big leagues and compete in them. We have summarized everything you need to know about this upcoming tournament and given you our guess on the possible winners, so let us know which teams you are rooting for in VCT Ascension!

Also, if you love VALORANT, check out our competitions and enter our Stryda Ladders to see how you perform against other players!