VCT 2024: Riot Games reveals schedule without LCQ

Riot Games has revealed a new 2024 Valorant Champions Tour structure, introducing a series of big changes.

VCT 2024 calendar is packed with events, and unlike years before, aspiring Valorant players will have a solid shot at competing with the pros or at least make their way into VCT through an elaborate path.

VCT 2024 will kick start from Madrid, Spain, in the middle of February and culminate in Champions in late summer. This year the VCT season is split into: 

• Masters Madrid: Feb – April
• Masters Shanghai: April -June
• Valorant Champions: Aug – Sep
• Valorant Game Changers: Oct – Dec

The first split will begin with a two-week tournament in International League, where only 8 teams will make the cut to compete at the first global event of the season – Masters Madrid. The second split at Shanghai will follow the same format, sifting out the best teams for Champions.

This year, Riot has omitted the Last Chance Qualifier, a tournament that allows teams to take their final and best shot at qualifying, from the calendar. This removal could be related to the addition of new Championship Points.

“Championship Points will be the unifying mechanism across International Leagues and Global Tournaments, serving as a measure of each teams’ performance and the qualification mechanism for global events,” Riot said.

In 2024, Riot Games might be considering evaluating team performance through a point-based system, akin to cricket, instead of the traditional method of tracking mere wins and losses. But it’s tough to say more until Riot elaborates on the new point system.

As a result, this year, there’d be a small gap between Masters 2 and Champions. The month of July would be slow unless Riot has more announcements in store.

VCT 2024 Ascension and Premier

Challengers will run simultaneously with the main VCT season. At the end of Ascension, three teams will become eligible to enter the International Leagues for the 2024 season. This way, competitive teams brimming will potential will have a fair chance at competing at the highest level for two years.

Besides Challengers, competitive Valorant players will also have an in-game route that leads straight to VCT. Premier will be running alongside the main tournaments as well, with its own schedule, maps, and formats. 

All of this begins mid of January with Masters split 1 at Spain. There’s a lot planned for 2024 VCT, including China as a new international league for VCT 2024. Exact details and teams will be announced soon, likely in September 2023.