EMEA

why do the bottom two spots in EMEA go to VCT promotion series?
won't this incentivize teams that won't qualify to sack games to get lower?
sorry if i do not understand

4th-10th teams probably will get invited to challengers 2 or a closed qualifier

vct promotion series is a tournament with the winners from each VRL (Valorant regional leagues) + 2 lowest teams from EMEA Challengers 1 so basically if they dont win vct promotion series they dont qualify for challengers 2, also there is no more qualifiers for the rest of the year in EMEA so no it wont incentivize teams to sack games cuz basically if you lose your spot on the EMEA Challengers your chances of making worlds are over

It's a tournament to PROMOTE TO NEXT VCT (rather, to stay in the league and not end up being relegated)
Why would you want to play that tournament instead of a guarantee to stay in VCT by not ending last in the groups?

But I get your point, technically it should be called promotion/relegation

TOP 10 stay in VCT, others are demoted to VCT promotion and will have to get top2 to play in next VCT.

from now it will be like this: VRL >>> VCT promotion >>> VCT >>> Masters. So its better to stay in VCT.

So first VCT qual was very important for every team, to keep playing at top tier.