T1 announce first North American Valorant event under Ignition Series

North American VALORANT competitive scene fans rejoice, your time has finally come. The prestigious esports organization, T1, announced the region’s first ever official VALORANT Ignition Series tournament.

Dubbed the T1 x Nerd Street Gamers VALORANT Showdown, it will pit 16 teams in the region against each other to determine the winner, split between players, streamers, and influencers. The tournament holds a $50,000 prize pool, with $25,000 dedicated to the first place. This marks the biggest prize money attributed to a North American tournament to date and the biggest from the Ignition Series as well.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Nerd Street Gamers to bring Riot’s first VALORANT Ignition Series event to North America. In addition to T1’s VALORANT team, we’ve invited some of the biggest names in gaming to battle it out for the record-breaking $50K prize pool in North America and look forward to sharing some exciting programming elements as we get closer to the event,” commented CEO of T1, Joe Marsh, on the announcement.

There are even four qualifier spots for those who are willing to prove themselves. On June 20th, 2020 and June 21st, 2020, two play-in qualifier events will take place, where the players will compete for one of those four available entries. Registration has already opened so make sure to ping the squad. The qualifiers themselves will have a $1,500 prize pool as well.

The T1 x Nerd Street Gamers VALORANT Showdown is part of Riot Games’ new Ignition Series partnership program, where the studio provides intensive media and streaming channel coverage, a dedicated page with an updated schedule, and guidance on how to run the event. We already have the upcoming G2 Esports VALORANT Invitational on June 19th, where eight captains compete alongside their squads for a €15,000 prize pool. Not only that, as Japanese organization RAGE has its own tournament coming up as well, with DetonatioN Gaming, JUPITER, and other professional teams invited to the tournament to fill its 16 participant slots.

“From big-time partners to an impressive prize pool and the chance for amateurs to compete alongside household names, T1 and Nerd Street Gamers are helping us kick off North American VALORANT esports in a big way. We have no doubt that the Showdown will be an incredible opening to the rest of the NA Ignition Series," said Matt Archambault, head of NA esports partnerships and business development at Riot Games.

The T1 x Nerd Street Gamers VALORANT Showdown will kick off on June 26th, 2020, and runs till June 28th. All the matches will be streamed on T1’s Twitch channel. Make sure to stay tuned on THESPIKE.GG for our coverage of the event. Let us know your thoughts on the newly announced tournament and if this will get things rolling in VALORANT’s esports scene.