Why the VCT 2027 Format is GOOD

The Valorant Champions Tour will enter a new era in 2027 thanks to the team agreements ending at the end of this current season, and with the new era comes a new system. The trademark statement, “EVERYTHING is a tournament,” from Leo Faria, global head of Valorant esports, takes us back to a similar style to before franchising, incorporating the best of both worlds to create an improved future for Valorant.

Above is the new schedule for 2027, complete with regional open qualifiers that funnel into international cups and global events.

The current VCT format is restricted to the 10 partner teams and 2 Ascension teams, all of which compete through Kickoff and two Splits to qualify for the three big tournaments of the year, with three teams going to Masters Santiago and Masters London and four teams going to Champions Shanghai. However, this system causes a multitude of issues. Firstly, there is no opportunity for a team that isn’t in the franchising leagues to qualify for a tournament once the season begins. This alone has caused a severe financial constraint for tier 2 teams, leaving organizations such as TSM to leave the esport after failing to qualify for VCT through Ascension. Secondly, stage play is a round robin format followed by a playoffs bracket, which puts the viewer in a predicament where they often have to watch games that either don’t matter, or aren’t close. For example, on May 1st, both matches in Pacific contained teams that were unable to qualify for playoffs, having zero significance to the seeding thanks to spots being locked in by week 4.

Aside from the entertainment and org. interest issues, another hole in this system is the inflexibility of the locations for league play. All Americas matches happen in LA, EMEA matches in Berlin, and most Pacific matches happen in Seoul. While this is great for the teams practicing in these areas, for those unable to do so, notably South American teams in the Americas, it greatly weakens the competition they can play against, and thus their ability to strengthen themselves. This also hurts the teams originating from the LATAM regions, as it becomes much more difficult to scout talent without playing against them frequently.

Four South American teams sit atop the groups of Americas, yet none of them practice against South American Challengers teams due to the distance.

However, the 2027 schedule fixes all of these problems. With open, regional qualifiers, any team will be able to participate, and the spreading out of individual regions (North America, LATAM, Brazil, etc.) will allow for more diversity in the competition put on display. International cups will bring Valorant to even more areas, even places where Riot Games doesn’t have locations since Leo Faria himself said they’ll be renting out venues in a Plat Chat Valorant interview. Of course, the Masters and Champions tournaments will remain the same, bringing the highest level of Valorant to different places around the world three times a year and crowning teams new & old the best in the world, just with a whole new path to get there.