Details revealed for VALORANT Challengers Korea

Riot Games Korea have revealed the format, dates, prize pool, and more for the first three VALORANT Challenger events in the region, and how teams will qualify for Korea's Masters event.

Each challengers open qualifier will take one of three formats, based on how many teams register. If 32 teams enter, they’ll be sorted into 8 groups of four teams, with the top two of each group making it to the next day. There, first seeds will play second seeds, with the winner moving on to the first Challengers event. If 48 teams enter, there will be 16 groups of 3 teams each, with the top two teams making it through, and teams will have to win two matches instead of one to qualify for Challengers. If 64 teams enter, rules will be the same as for 48 teams, with the exception that groups will be of 4 teams each instead of three.

The first of these open qualifiers will send 8 teams to Challengers #1. There, teams are sorted into 2 groups of 4 teams each, and will play best-of-2’s, with a win awarding 3 points, a tie 1, and a loss 0. The top two of each group will qualify for Challengers #2. After being joined by another 4 teams from the open qualifier, the format will be the same. The top two teams from each group will then qualify to Masters, while the bottom two of each group will get a bye to Challengers #3. Here, following the same format as before, the top two of each group will join those from Challengers #2 to form the 8 teams participating in Masters.

When it comes to scheduling, the events will be taking place from January 30th-March 7th. The first open qualifier will be from the 30th-31st of January, with the first Challengers from February 4th-7th. Challengers #2 qualification will be on February 8th-9th, and the main event from the 18th-21st. Finally, Challengers #3 qualification is scheduled for February 27th-28th, and that main event from March 4th-7th.

Prize pools for Challengers are as follows: the first place team in each group receives ₩4,000,000, second place ₩3,000,000, third place ₩2,000,000, and fourth place ₩1,000,000, translating to roughly $3600, $2700, $1800, and $900 USD respectively. This is handed out for each Challengers event, for a grand total of ₩60,000,000 in prize money.

Finally, a few smaller details. Participants must be over 16 years of age, and have reached Immortal in either of VALORANT’s two acts thus far. Everything is scheduled to be online, though the Challengers main events may be hosted offline if the COVID-19 situation allows it. And lastly, registration takes place from January 18th-24th.

To have essentially a month straight of top-tier Korean competition directly supported by Riot will undoubtedly be great to watch. What teams do you think will rise to the top? Can anyone dethrone DRX, and who? Dplus? TNL Esports? BearClaw Gaming? ZFGaming? Let us know your thoughts!