The beginning of the VCT games or Valorant Champions Tour starts with the arrival of the Valorant Challengers Tournament. In 2021, it was held in 3 Stages, along with 3 Stages of the Masters Tournament before VCT Finals. The winners from the Challengers Series enter the Masters Series, along with the winners of Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQ) Events.
As the conclusion of all these separate events, the Valorant Champions Tournament is hosted in December. Within its brackets, the winners of Masters & LCQ events compete against each other to become the Annual Valorant Champions.
Valorant Challengers Tournament Explained
The Valorant Challengers is one of the three types of the Valorant Tournament leading to the annual VCT Finals Event. Previously, the Challengers tournament was held in three stages, featuring teams from over 7 regions. Each Valorant Challengers Tournament is separate for individual regions in all three stages.
The Challengers Game Series is hosted by Riot and third-party organizers, where teams qualify via Two Open Qualifiers games. The top four teams from the first qualifier bypass the next Qualifier rounds. A total of 8 teams qualify from the Challengers Stage 1 games and gain entry to Masters Stage 1 games.
Top teams from the Valorant Challengers Stage 3 & 2 Finals, i.e., 8 teams, enter the next Masters event(s).
What is Valorant Challengers Bracket?
The Valorant Challengers Schedule is based on the total teams participating in the two Open Qualifiers. A huge pool of +250 teams competes against each other (brackets) for two weeks in the respective Open Qualifiers. At the culmination of the Open Qualifiers, 8 teams enter the Challengers Final Series.
Each Valorant Challengers Bracket games feature Best Of 3 (bo3) games between all teams. But, the Challengers Final Match is a Best Of 5 (Bo5) that declares the ultimate winner.
For 1st, 2nd, and Valorant Challengers 3 bracket events, the same is true. But, the two regional finalists from Challengers 1 Finals earn entry into their region Masters 1 event.
All Valorant Challengers 2022 Regional Events!
The hierarchy of all VCT Challengers matches and events isn’t yet concrete. But, based on the previous year’s event, you could expect tournaments to feature teams & Tournaments for the following regions.
- Valorant Challengers NA
- Valorant Challengers EU
- Valorant Challengers CIS
- Valorant Challengers BR
- Valorant Challengers LATAM
- Valorant Challengers JP
- Valorant Challengers SEA
- Valorant Challengers KR
Valorant Champions Tournament: Masters Events Explained
The Valorant Masters Event takes place thrice a year, in March, May, and September. (Not in 2022, read more below). The Masters Stage 1 Tournament occurs across nine regions, out of which each top team earns their entry into Masters Stage 2 games.
Stage 2 and Stage 3 are different because they’re Valorant LAN games between 16 and 10 teams, respectively.
Within the games in these brackets, global teams compete against each other for prizes and Champions Tournament Qualification. The finalists of the Masters Stage 2-3 matches become qualifying valorant champions tour teams, who further compete in Finals.
Rumors of the Valorant Champions Location are usually leaked during the ongoing Masters Stage 2 event, with the official confirmation arriving before or during Masters Stage 3 event.
VCT: Valorant Champions Tour 2022 Finals
In 2022, the Valorant Challengers Stage 3 will be scrapped along with Valorant Masters Stage 3 games. It is done to make room for Offseason Valorant Game Events & Series organized by third parties.
So, there will be two Challengers Stages – 1 & 2, without the old double elimination brackets format arising from Open Qualifiers. Instead, both stages will have a single qualifier followed by a seven-week Main event, where a five-week-long round-robin play will yield a double-elimination bracket to determine teams that enter the Masters.
The winning team from the Masters Stage 2 will gain direct entry to the Champions event in December.
Here’s the Entire Schedule for the announced VCT 2022 Events:
VCT Stage One
| Region/Event | Date |
| EMEA – Challengers Stage One | February 11 – March 27 |
| NA – Challengers Stage One | February 11 – March 27 |
| BR – Challengers Stage One | February 12 – March 27 |
| KR- Challengers Stage One | February 23 – March 27 |
| JP – Challengers Stage One | February 26 – March 27 |
| LATAM – Challengers Stage One | February 10 – 12 | Playoffs – March |
| Valorant Masters Stage One |
| April 14 – April 29 |
VCT Stage Two
| Region/Event | Date |
| NA – Challengers Open Qualifiers | May 5 – May 8 |
| NA – Challengers Closed Qualifiers + Main Event | May 13 – June 26 |
| Valorant Masters Stage Two |
| July |
LCQ
| Region/Event | Date |
| NA – Last Chance Qualifier | August |
VCT Champions
| Valorant Champions Final |
| September |
Valorant Game Changers
| Region/Event | Date |
| EMEA – Game Changers Stage One | Concluded[G2 Gozen vs Guild X][3-1] |
| EMEA – Game Changers Stage One | TBA |
| NA – Game Changers Series OneOpen Qualifier | March 31 – April 3 |
| NA – Game Changers Series OneMain Event | April 7 – April 10 |
| NA – Game Changers Series TwoOpen Qualifier | June 30 – July 3 |
| NA – Game Changers Series TwoMain Event | July 7 – July 10 |
| NA – Game Changers Series ThreeOpen Qualifier | October 6 – October 9 |
| NA – Game Changers Series ThreeMain Event | October 13 – October 16 |
| Valorant Game Changers Championship Final |
| TBD (Late 2022) |
Read More: Valorant Ranked Leaderboard – Join Radiant Valorant Players Club!
The Takeaway!
Keeping track of all these matches may seem tiresome. But, you can do so by reading about them here as new announcements are updated to the tables above. Alternatively, websites like vlr.gg and brackets.gg are also available for those who like a touch of interactive UI & Live Broadcast Links.