VCT 2027 | VLR.gg

#1

GruntCrab

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6 regions with 8 teams each, maintaining the current total of 48 teams.

APS (SEA, SA, OCE): BME, GAM, PRX, RRQ, TS, VLT and a OCE / THAI org
APN (KR, JP, HK / TW and Mongolia): CFO, DRX, GEN, RC, SZ, T1, MGLZ, ZETA
CN: AG, BLG, EDG, FPX, JDG, NOVA, WBO, WOL
EMEA: FNC, FUT, KC, MOUZ, NAVI, TH, TL, VIT
NA: 100T, 6K, C9, EXL, G2, NRG, SR, SEN
SA: FÚR, KRU, LEV, LOUD, MIBR, PNG, RED, VKS

Kick-off

Playoffs in a double elimination format
Champion of each region qualify for the Masters

Masters #1

Group stage in a round-robin format
Top 4 teams qualify for the playoffs

Stage #1

Group stage in a round-robin format
Top 4 teams qualify for the playoffs where they will compete against the top 4 teams from challengers
Champion and runner-up of each region qualify for the Masters and EWC

EWC Qualifier

Play-in with the Challenger teams so that there are 8 teams instead of 10
Playoffs in a double elimination format
Champion and runner-up of each region qualify for the EWC

Masters #2

2 groups with 6 teams each in a round-robin format
Top 4 teams from each group qualify for the playoffs

EWC

24 teams, swiss format
Swiss format matches are Bo1, and playoff matches are Bo3 (except for the Grand Final and Lower Final, which are Bo5)
Top 8 teams qualify for the playoffs

Stage #2

Same as Stage #1

LCQ

Same as EWC Qualifier

Champions

Same as EWC but swiss format matches are Bo3

Ascension

The format would be different for each region, but 2 partner teams would have to compete in the ascension (similar to what was done in LoL this year, where Isurus Estral entered as a guest but had to compete for their spot at the end of the year)

#2

natalieeeee

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why am i seeing so many format changes threads involving more teams at champs

#3

PP12123213123

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AMER doesn’t deserve 16 teams

#4

PP12123213123

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imma help u fix it

NA+KR(seoul) : SEN, G2, C9, NRG, DRX, GENG, T1, HLE
JP+SA(tokyo) : DFM, ZETA, FL, RC, LEV, KRU, Loud, MiBR

#5

Nef0r0

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Knowing Riot's policy of 2 BO3s in a day, your swiss stage at champs will take 3 fucking weeks

#19

Linardinssssss

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I would like that

#6

Anguibok

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Split of APAC is good, but any split that will not give a slot to OCE is a bad way to do it. Put OCE with JPKR, KR with 4 slot, JP with 2 slot, OCE with 1 slot, MN with 1 slot is better, OCE need to be put with Japan and KR for timezone reason.

I like your way to make a "Path of inter" for tier 2, people will complain, but I can go with that, even if I kinda like the concept of ascention (But since they are so many problem I can agree to accept to remove it since you where generous with the path of inter)

6 BR team and 0 LAN TEAM is absolutely crazy, the dilution of talent will be insane and literally ruin the region. Even going to 8 partner team to NA instead of 5 is not good for a market that slowly go down.
Keep in mind that Americas got a smaller playerpool than EMEA and APAC (Especially APAC), thats why I don't think the split is a good idea, but since I like your path of inter I will consent to do try something. And keep in mind, in the future CIS will be even bigger and India will developpe

So here is the 7-8 region model (I'm sorry but if you split Amer, you have to split EMEA)

CN-TW : 6 teams (8 is obviously viable)
Europe : 6-teams (8 is obviously viable)
Altaic : 3-CIS, 2-TR, 1-MENA (I like the idea of punting Russia and Turkey in the same league, since 50%of people that speak Turkic languages live in CIS, even in Russia), MN could steal a russian spot, hard to guess if 8 could be viable, we need the end of war.
NA : 6-teams (I consider giving them one OCE teamfor cultural reason, but it's bad for timezone, talent dilution wil be bad for Amer, 6 is okay, 8 would hurt a lot)
SA : 3-BR, 2-LAS, 1-LAN (4-BR max, 1 more LAN, so we have a Mexico-serv team and a Bogota-serv team)
SEA : 1-ID, 1-MY, 1-VN, 1-TH, 1-PH, 1-IN (In the future India may need 3, but for the moment in case of 8 i'll go +1 IN, +1 ID)
EA : 3-KR, 2-JP, 1-OCE (If 8, then add 1 MN, and 1 KR)
Last region pending Africa development (1 Nigerian team coming from Lagos playerpool, 2+1 French african team from Lagos playerpool, 1+1 team coming from Cape playerpool, 2 team from East Africa playerpool)

But I still think the best model is the 5 region model (Even if that could change a lot the day CIS is back) :

8 CN-TW
6 EU, 1 TR, 1 West-CIS
4 NA, 2 BR, 1 LAN, 1 LAS
1 ME, 1 IN, 1 ID, 1 MY, 1 VN, 1 TH, 1 PH (Last one is pretty Open, but i'll say India, to help to conquere the market, but Indonesia is the frontrunner)
4 KR, 2 JP, 1 OCE, 1 MN

#7

GruntCrab

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6 BR team and 0 LAN TEAM is absolutely crazy >

I put the LAN teams on NA (6k and EXL) and i included 6 BR / NA teams because the region would be based in Sao Paulo / Los Angeles so I think there should be more teams from those regions than from LAS or LAN, for example

So here is the 7-8 region model (I'm sorry but if you split Amer, you have to split EMEA) >

I like the format with 8 regions and 6 teams each, and I only didn't divide EMEA because of the Russia-Ukraine war. If the war is over by then, I agree that if we divided the Americas, we should divide EMEA as well, and i think we shouldn't have an odd number of regions (5, 7), considering the format and distribution of slots per region for internationals

#9

Anguibok

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I think there should be more teams from those regions than from LAS or LAN, for example

To me it's the countrary, if your T2 team can scrim T1 team, then your young player don't need more slot to improve, they can already do it. While in case of LAS/LAN if you cant scrim T1 (Wish is the case at least for COL team), you will need more slot to make improve your best player. Also region that dont host a T1 league have already the advantagte od hosting, it's not good to give them moreslot.

and i think we shouldn't have an odd number of regions

I think it's okay for what you propose, A round robin with 7 region is okay, and you can give a direct slot to the top 2 of last international event, to make 16 team international tournament everytime (14+2), For championship, qualify the 28 top 4, then you have 7 team for 4 place, you just to have to make a playin (With potentially the best region not participating in the playin, so we have 6 team for 3 places wish is absolutely purrfect)
Best solution would be to directly add Africa, it will not be worth it the first year, but it would definitly make Valorant as the best esport in Africa, and help Riot capitalise on the future, it would be a long term investment (And the first year they would be destroyed of course, but with slots in international event they would improve faaast)

#10

GruntCrab

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Best solution would be to directly add Africa

I agree, but I don't think it's possible. I know that players from North Africa have a reasonable ping to European servers, but I don't know if the rest of the continent could comfortably play on the server in Cape Town, South Africa; we also need to consider infrastructure and power distribution issues. Many things that are not under Riot's control would have to be done for this to happen, unfortunately.

I think the best thing to do for African organizations and players is to integrate them into Europe, as was theoretically the case today (EMEA = Europe, Middle East and Africa).

I think it's okay for what you propose, A round robin with 7 region is okay, and you can give a direct slot to the top 2 of last international event, to make 16 team international tournament everytime (14+2), For championship, qualify the 28 top 4, then you have 7 team for 4 place, you just to have to make a playin (With potentially the best region not participating in the playin, so we have 6 team for 3 places wish is absolutely purrfect)

One region could have 1, 2, or even 3 more slots (assuming the top 2 from the last international tournament were from that region and the top 4 wouldn't compete in the play-in since that region would probably be the best) than the others, and why does the 2nd place finisher from the last international tournament deserve a direct spot in the next one? Last year we saw Sentinels, champions of the Madrid Masters, not even reach the playoffs of the next stage.

And we also have to consider the calendar; in the format I showed earlier, the calendar would already be extremely tight, and there would be Valorant tournaments happening at the same time as the LoL Worlds (which Riot tries to avoid as much as possible).

I think the best thing we could think of doing in a scenario where we would have 7 regions is that, for the international events, we would have 4 regions (following the format of this year's Toronto Masters with 12 teams, the slots would be distributed like this: 3 CN, 1 APS + 1 APN + 1 slot contested by the 2 places from these two regions, and so on).

#11

Anguibok

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we also need to consider infrastructure and power distribution issues.

FIFA have a Lagos server for west Africa, we really need a Lagos server, almost all the french Africa would have a decent ping on a Lagos server, it's good from Dakar to Kinshasa. In addition potentially a Mombasa server (It's the eastern Africa internet cable hub) could be a good thing, the swahili EAC is getting stronger every year and have a strong potential

I think the best thing to do for African organizations and players is to integrate them into Europe

I would have agree if we had 8 regions :P. If Valo will exist in 50 year, Subsaharian Africa league will me an obligation so anticipating it would be nice

One region could have 1, 2, or even 3 more slots

No if I keep your proposition, everyone would have 1slot in first master, and on the other master everyone would have 2 slot, plus the additionnal slot (Maybeit's better to give a slot oif the 2 best region instead of a slot to a team)

why does the 2nd place finisher from the last international tournament deserve a direct spot in the next one?

Cause it's the team that deserve it the most, any model that isnt 4 or 8 team will feature this kind of arrangement sadfully (If you want we can qualify 2 team directly and 1 teams in a playin, but it's may be easier to give 2 spot to an African qualifier :/)

2 groups with 6 teams each in a round-robin format

This would be insanely long, I think it's even more game than current champions (34 vs 44, my solution make the schedule way less tight since we escape the round robin. But to be fair if you want a model for 12 team, I think I've finally found one that is good. :

2 round robin,
then 6 team in 1-1 play each other, best team in 2-0 play best team in 0-2 thanks to bucchlozz, remaining 2 team in 2-0 team play each other, remaining 2 team in 0-2 team are out, you need 3 win to qual, and 2 loose to be out, (If you want to make a bracket for 0-2 team it's possible)
Thats qualify 4 teams for playoff

And we also have to consider the calendar; in the format I showed earlier, the calendar would already be extremely tight

My proposition make number of game lower. Tournament with 16 teams are WAY shorter that 12 team tournament with round robin ^^

#12

GruntCrab

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I agree with you completely, an African qualifier like the one China had in 2023 would be PERFECT.

Masters #1

8 teams, champion of each region + African Qualifier

Masters #2

16 teams, champion and runner up of each region + African Qualifier
Group phase or swiss format, it doesn't matter

EWC

Same format as Masters #2 or Champions, but with matches being Bo1 or with some way to make the tournament as short as possible.

Champions

My vision for the Champions is to expand it to 32 teams: the top 4 from each region plus the African Qualifier. This would create 8 groups where the top 2 teams from each group would advance to a second phase with 16 teams in a Swiss format. Teams with 2 wins advance, and those with 2 losses are eliminated, leaving 8 teams to form the playoffs as we know them today.

My goal was to increase the number of games, especially since in the current format some teams play up to 12 matches in the entire year, but I ended up overdoing it :P

#18

Anguibok

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I really like that ! Really good.

If you want to read a proposition that I did here it is :
https://www.vlr.gg/587554/how-id-restructure-vct-if-they-made-me-the-owner/#31

It's more oriented on quadruple elim, and less on round robin, but nboth are okay to me ^^

#31

GruntCrab

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The only problem I see is more than half of the partner teams would be in the Champions

Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely read the proposition you did

#34

Anguibok

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The only problem I see is that only in the Champions would more than half of the teams be partners.

WDYM ? ^^

#35

GruntCrab

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more than half of the partner teams would be in the Champions

continue thread →

#14

foythvlr

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Americas is too big geographically and different culturally to put all of the teams in one league. It's actually kinda insane Riot did americas league the way it is currently in the first place

#17

Anguibok

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Land doesnt play, it's people that play, and Amer doesnt have the sustainability to be split in 2.
Diversity isnt an argument, but if it was... America is way less diverse than EMEA that litterally feature people in war currently Diversity in the same league is a good thing especially when it's split in half because it creat rivalries

#20

foythvlr

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Environment is a big part of competitiveness. It's not easy to go live in a place so far away and different from home at a young age for players. It's also not sustainable for non-american orgs to pay 5x more expenses on a different currency to live in NA. Taking only player base as a criteria is ignoring other issues with the league. Also americas is NOT way less diverse culturally than EMEA what the hell

#24

Anguibok

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Everybody would agree to moove VCT out of LA

#25

foythvlr

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It's not enough. Canada is even worse for SA. Moving to Mexico or SA make it bad for NA players. There's no good scenario here

#26

Anguibok

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They are a scenario where every T1 team could play NA or BR with under 50 ping

#8

FNSaimcoach9

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allat

#13

glittering_yard

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Insane flag + flair

#15

Nats_2nd_biggest_fan

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What region will central asia be in

#30

GruntCrab

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I don't know, but players from Central Asia and other regions not represented by a league wouldn't face the import rule.

#16

foythvlr

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2 partner teams would have to compete in the ascension

then it wouldn't be partners. no reason to make franchising in the first place if the teams aren't, in fact, franchised

also theres no need for a lcq with a stage 2. if you want to get rid of the points system, just give 4 champs spots on playoffs. don't think EWC is happening next year too

truth is, Riot needs to open the system. theres way too few matches on T1, and making more would conflict with T2 and GC calendars

#21

GruntCrab

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then it wouldn't be partners. no reason to make franchising in the first place if the teams aren't, in fact, franchised

Two of the teams I mentioned weren't actually partners; they entered as guests in the first year and then competed for their spot at the end of the year against the Challenger teams.

It would be the same thing that happened with Boom this year, where they returned to the Ascension to compete for their spot; the only difference is that it would be like this from the beginning of the circuit, instead of one team being promoted at a time until there are 8 (the invited teams would have to compete for their spot at the end of the year, regardless of their results throughout the year)

theres way too few matches on T1, and making more would conflict with T2 and GC calendars

If the main circuit were to be redesigned, these would also (obviously) be reworked.

I think Riot has a contract with EWC for at least 3 years, right?

#23

foythvlr

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they entered as guests in the first year and then competed for their spot at the end of the year against the Challenger teams.

This is just the concept of current Ascension lol

the invited teams would have to compete for their spot at the end of the year, regardless of their results throughout the year

and this is unfair. imagine current G2 having to defend their spot?

If the main circuit were to be redesigned, these would also (obviously) be reworked.

there's no way to do that without making it way too difficult and rushed for T2 and GC

as for EWC i think the saudis are pulling off soon

#28

GruntCrab

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This is just the concept of current Ascension lol
and this is unfair. imagine current G2 having to defend their spot?

Literally what I said, the only differences are that we would have this format from the first year (instead of the teams entering one at a time until the league had 8) and that the teams would have to defend their spot regardless of their result (but okay, I understand your point and even agree).

#22

Drakath

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RNG is broke
also no JDG is crazy considering they are like top 2 biggest orgs
I would also add IG as well

#29

GruntCrab

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I have absolutely no idea about Chinese organizations, so I just removed the ones that showed the least results and replaced them with others.

#27

Warlordwibz

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48 teams and 24 of them make champs…. Champs doesn’t feel prestigious at all, mid table teams make champs… too many teams.. 16 is perfect.
Team that won kickoff/1 masters and stage 1 will guarantee to be neglectful and not trying in stage 2 cause VCT points is enough to guarantee champs since only 8 teams in the league. Saving Strats excuse is all time high on this one.

#33

GruntCrab

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Team that won kickoff/1 masters and stage 1 will guarantee to be neglectful and not trying in stage 2 cause VCT points is enough to guarantee champs since only 8 teams in the league. Saving Strats excuse is all time high on this one.

In this format, there are no championship points; I added the LCQ again.

#32

Two_Percent

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Already made a thread for this:

https://www.vlr.gg/528113/6-region-franchising-best-possible-solution