Riot Games reveal major VCT 2027 changes: here's how it works

Owen Harsono Published 19/06/2026

After a long wait, Riot is finally moving away from the current closed league structure in VCT, and is opening the floodgates for anyone to compete. The 2027 VCT Season introduces a new ecosystem where teams can climb from open qualifiers all the way to champions. Here’s what you need to know about the VCT 2027 structure.

Everything is a Tournament

In the current VCT season, we have long, drawn-out regional leagues where teams play group stage matches with some of them not mattering at all. Riot is looking to wipe this away by making every single match count – making everything a tournament.

Riot’s goal in the 2027 VCT season is to add stakes to every single stage:

Open Qualifiers are tournaments.
Regional Cups are tournaments.
Masters and Champions are still global tournaments.

With this new system, teams are always fighting for advancement, qualification, money, or titles. So, even though there are still the same number of regional and international tournaments per season, we now have open qualifiers, which will serve as additional tournaments fans can watch.

Partner Teams vs. Open Teams

Right now, almost all teams in the VCT ecosystem are partnered teams in Riot’s franchised league. The only way for teams to get into the bubble is by winning VCT Ascension that year – and that only opens one slot for every region. Ascension will be completely removed in favor of open qualifiers.

Now, Riot Games is making a huge change, decreasing the number of partner teams and opening the scene to anyone.

Partner teams are Riot-selected teams. They’ll receive VCT benefits like team capsules and revenue sharing. They also get a guaranteed place in Kickoff at the start of the year. However, they are not permanently guaranteed spots in every regional league. Partner teams that fail to perform well will have to compete through open qualifiers to reach future Cups like everyone else.

“Open teams” refer to any non-partner teams. The beauty is you can form your own stack with your friends and consider yourself an open team. These teams enter through open qualifiers, and by winning them, they can reach Regional Cups. If they continue playing well – they can even reach Masters or Champions and win them.

The main takeaway here is that partner teams get a head start, but if they fail to perform, they’ll be sent to open qualification like open teams.

How the 2027 VCT Season Works

The number of regional and international tournaments per year will stay the same. However, the addition of open qualifiers is a significant new layer.

The season starts with VCT Kick-off once again. Eight partner teams will be directly invited to the regional Kick-off, while four open teams will join them via open qualifiers, creating a 12-team event. The top three teams from each Kick-off will then qualify for the first VCT Masters.

Image via Riot Games

After the first Masters, we’ll have Regional Cups, replacing the current Stage 1 and Stage 2 structure. Masters participants will receive an advantage in qualifying for the first Regional Cup, getting advanced placement into the later stages of open qualifier playoffs. Meanwhile, everybody else, including partnered teams, will claim their slots through open qualifiers.

So, this system forces teams to consistently perform well. Otherwise, there will be a cycle of promotion and relegation throughout the entire season. This reinforces Riot’s idea of making “every match count.”

Riot Introduces Guaranteed Payments for Open Teams

Teams that qualify for Kick-off, Cups, or international tournaments will also receive financial support from Riot.

Open teams get fixed payouts whenever they qualify for events:

$100,000 for Kick-off or Cups
$200,000 for Masters
$400,000 for Champions

Image via Riot Games

This money is separate from tournament prize pools. Riot also claims they will support open teams with travel costs and other ecosystem incentives.

These incentives are only offered to open teams – partner teams will still receive revenue sharing from capsules and other sources.

VCT 2027 Regions

Riot has maintained the four major regions, which are the Americas, EMEA, Pacific, and China. However, these major regions will be split into 14 sub-regions. These sub-regions will start their journey in their own open qualifiers en route to Kick-off and Regional Cups.

Image via Riot Games

Here’s how they’ve distributed the regions:

VCT Americas: North America, LATAM North, LATAM South, Brazil
VCT EMEA: Europe, Türkiye, MENA
VCT Pacific: South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Wild Card (Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Rest of SEA)
VCT China: China

Riot did note these are still subject to review based on future results or information, but this is the current blueprint they’re working with.

Feature Image Credit: Liu Yicun / Riot Games

Owen Harsono

About Owen Harsono

Owen lives for competition, spending most of his gaming hours on Dota 2, CS2, and Valorant. A regular on the SEA Dota 2 leaderboards, he combines his first-hand experience with a deep passion for esports journalism, following the professional scenes of all three esports betting titles religiously. When he’s not writing, he’s most probably betting on esports and watching the latest events.

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