The Initiator: Valorant 2021 Roadmap!
By Cameron Bray
This year our coverage will kick into high gear once the inaugural 2021 Valorant Champions Tour begins in January, so stay tuned and subscribe for updates on this exciting new event! May 2021 be a much better year, for esports and the world.
2021: The worldwide Valorant Champions Tour!
This year, the main event to watch for will be the inaugural 2021 Valorant Champions Tour, in which one Valorant team will be crowned the first-ever global Champion in December.
In Valorant last year, we’ve seen teams rise and fall across North America, Europe and Japan. We’ve seen TSM and Sentinels claim two Ignition Series titles each in North America. We’ve seen 100 Thieves rise from the ashes and be crowned North America’s first regional champions at First Strike. And we’ve seen G2 Esports win seven straight Ignition Series titles in Europe, only to lose at First Strike. But we’ve never seen a worldwide Valorant tournament take place, nor a global champion yet emerge.
That changes now.
“The Champions Tour is our next step to grow Valorant into a global esport worthy of the passion of our fans,” said Whalen “Magus” Rozelle, senior director of esports at Riot Games. “We’ve spent a couple of years now talking to players, teams, fans, prospective partners and other stakeholders, and we’re extremely excited to launch our first official season. Our focus will be on elevating and showcasing the creative and talented players who are shaping this game across the globe. Fans and players both wanted high stakes competition, and that’s what the Valorant Champions Tour is designed to do.”
In addition to player interviews — such as we’ve done in the past — and tournament recaps, The Initiator will cover the ins and outs of next year’s worldwide Champions Tour, with a focus on North America and Europe. So stay tuned and subscribe for updates on this incredible upcoming event.
As announced by Valorant and League of Legends developer Riot Games and its esports partners, Redbull and Secretlab, the Champions Tour will be divided into three levels of competition: Challengers, Masters and Champions.
Challengers will focus on regional competition (North America, Europe, Japan, etc.) and will be organized by Riot Games and its tournament partners, some of whom we saw organize Ignition Series events and First Strike qualifiers.
Masters, meanwhile, will be larger events, happening three times next year, and will feature the top teams from each region battling it out for supremacy. Because COVID-19 continues to limit international travel, Masters will be limited to regional events, similar to First Strike. However, Riot Games has expressed an interest in hosting international LANS for its Masters events and is monitoring the situation for when it is safe to do so.
Finally, Champions will be the high point of the season, featuring the top 16 teams from around the world as they vie, in a two-week-long tournament, for the title of global Champion — the first-ever worldwide king crowned in Valorant.
Over the course of next year, three stages consisting of Challengers and Masters events will provide teams with multiple opportunities to compete, earn points and qualify into Champions. And after each Masters event, there will be a tournament break, giving players, teams and organizations the chance to recharge and prevent burnout.
The first stage of Challengers and Masters events will begin in late January and end in March. The second will begin in late April and will end in June. And the third will begin in late July and end in September.
More specific dates regarding each stage will be released next year, and specific details regarding the point distribution and prizing for Masters events will be shared at a later date.
With the Champions Tour beginning in late January next year, each Challenger stage will consist of three tournaments and a Final taking place over the course of six weeks. Each Challenger tournament will feature eight teams who will earn their spots through open qualifiers, and each Challenger Final will feature the best eight teams of each region, awarding prizes and qualification slots into the next Masters event.
In addition to teams that qualify through points, the team that wins the third and final Masters event of the year will automatically earn qualification for Champions and an additional team slot for the event.
And after the third and final Masters event, a series of Last Chance Qualifiers will give teams a final, do-or-die, make-or-break opportunity to qualify for Champions. Four Last Chance tournaments will take place in October, giving one team per continent a chance to qualify for Champions.
For Riot Games, its partners and esports fans, the inaugural 2021 Valorant Champions Tour is the equivalent of Riot Games’ hugely successful annual event — the League of Legends World Championship — so be sure to subscribe to The Initiator for coverage of this massive new event. It’s no understatement to say that a worldwide Valorant Champions Tour may outstrip Worlds in viewership someday, so hop into the action early and check back with us all year for news on Stage 1 of the Champions Tour.
Cameron Bray is the lead writer for The Initiator, a recently created newsletter about Valorant sponsored by Numlock News. He also contributes to No Bid Nation, a new sports blog about William and Mary basketball. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @spike_cameron or send him an email at cameron@numlock.news.