Riot Games has unveiled its schedule for the upcoming Challengers stage, which will kickstart the much-awaited Valorant Champions Tour.
Riot has decided to spread out the competition by staggering each region with different dates. We’ve listed down each Challenger competition, along with the region’s reigning First Strike winning team.
The first region to host its Challengers competition is Latin America on January 26. During their First Strike competition, LazerKlan claimed the Latin America North championship, while Estral Esports secured the Latin America South title.
A few days after, both Brazil and Korea will begin their Challengers stage on January 30. And all eyes will fall upon the highly touted Vision Strikers roster, which has dominated the Korean Valorant scene and maintained its tournament win streak leading up to the Champions Tour. Meanwhile, Brazil’s Gamelanders hope to prove their First Strike win will carry over into the Champion’s tour.
Next is the highly-anticipated return of North American Valorant on February 3 to 7. First Strike NA champions 100 Thieves look to build on their momentum, while teams like TSM, Sentinels, and Team Envy attempt to claim the NA throne for themselves.
The Southeast Asian region will take place on February 5, with all the Asia Pacific champions ready to start the Champions Tour. First Strike’s SEA champions will need to prove their worth yet again as Thailand’s MiTH.Attitude, the Philippines’ Bren Esports, Malaysia & Singapore’s Todak, Indonesia’s Team nxl, and Hong Kong & Taiwan’s Ahq e-Sports Club look to reign supreme in their respective competitions.
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The CIS and European region will also be progressing the Valorant competitive scene on February 11. We will finally be able to see if Team Heretics are the real deal, after they shocked their region by winning First Strike. Or, if G2 Esports will be able to reclaim their European throne. For the CIS region, First Strike champion squad forZe tries to continue their success in the Champions Tour.
Finally, we have the Japanese, Middle Eastern, and North African regions, whose Challenger start dates remain pending. After dominating the Japanese region’s Ignition Series and First Strike tournament, Absolute JUPITER will try to recreate the same results in 2021 in the Challenger stage. First Strike MENA champions RvN, NASR Esports, and Fox Gaming will also be teams to look out for, once the schedules are finalized.
As a reminder, the Challengers stages act as Riot’s qualifier tournaments, which will lead up to the Valorant Masters event. Once in the Valorant Masters events, teams will earn points that will help them secure a spot at the year-end Valorant Championship.
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