Valorant Off-Season series to host a plethora of new tournaments

With VCT 2022 - Champions Istanbul coming to an end almost five months before the official start of VCT 2023 marked by VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN, the Valorant community was left wondering how they would cope with an absence of the intense and entertaining competitive gameplay they had taken for granted during the year.

Riot having a thorough understanding of the existing demand had several events planned ahead, which they had managed to keep a secret until today when they announced a dedicated Off-Season tournament series with TO (Tournament Organizers) being granted the opportunity to experiment with new formats.

Each of the three regions featured in Valorant’s new League System will have esports organizations hosting tournaments with a potentially unique twist, instead of the conventional format Riot had previously sanctioned on such events. Courtesy of such freedom a combination of competitive open qualifiers, show matches, and invitationals are scheduled to take place with varying rules regarding participation.

All tournaments with a VCT Off-Season mark will be supported by Riot Games granting them greater exposure, a spot on a dedicated schedule page as well as feedback on improving future tournaments. Here are some of the key events scheduled to take place during the off-season:

Americas:

Copa Rakin (Brazil): Oct 25 - Dec 4

For its 7th edition, the Raking cup will feature 128 teams from Brazil as they face-off each other for a 30k BRL prize pool.

Knights Arena VALORANT Freezeout (NA): Dec 15 - Dec 18

If you regularly keep tabs on the NA Valorant scene, then you are bound to have heard of Knights Arena tournaments and they will be returning once again with the VALORANT Freezeout featuring a whopping 256 teams in a single elimination bracket with all games going to best of three. To make things more interesting, the tournament will have Agent Drafting with no duplicate agents in the game as each team will take turns picking their agents in a snake style draft. Teams will play for a $25,000 prize pool.

VALORANT Latam Gods: Nov 28 - Dec 4

An Invitational LAN tournament with 4 teams scheduled to take place at the "Movistar Game Club" in Santiago, Chile.

Ludwig x Tarik Invitational (NA): Jan 14-15

The Ludwig x Tarik Invitational will be a unique LAN event bringing together the best VALORANT teams and the biggest VALORANT content creators in the world. This event will give both Pros and Creators to exhibit their talents in front of a live crowd.

EMEA:

Red Bull Home Ground 2022: Oct 7 - Dec 11

Red Bull Home Ground is set to return for its third season bringing together some of the world’s most elite teams to battle it out for victory in a unique ‘Home and Away’ format, from December 9th-11th.

BME Superdome: Oct 13 - Oct 22

SUPERDOME is an international championship born in Egypt that will create an esports experience featuring the top MENA and EMEA teams.

Pacific Territory:

TEC Challenger Series: Sept 29th - October 13th

The TEC Challenger Series is a hybrid tournament that will grant teams from South Asia (SA) and SouthEast Asia (SEA) a platform to compete for a massive prize pool of 30,000 USD. However, it will also have two of reputable teams in the region invited directly giving the qualified teams a strong opposition to face off against.

Valorant India Invitational by Galaxy Racer (GXR): Oct 14 - Nov 20

Scheduled to take place in Hyderabad, India, this tournament will feature top international teams battling it out in a unique format which has yet to be revealed.

To find out more about the tournaments scheduled in your respective regions, visit Riot Games’ official blog