The 2024 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Americas League is almost here, and in place of LOCK//IN, Riot Games has introduced the Kickoff tournament. Here is everything you need to know about the VCT Americas Kickoff 2024, as the top two teams from this tournament will advance to the Masters Madrid.
VCT Americas is one of four international leagues in the expanded VCT structure that now includes VCT Pacific, VCT EMEA, and VCT China. This year, Riot will be having three global events for teams to qualify for: the VCT Masters Madrid, VCT Masters Shanghai, and finally, the VCT Champions 2024. Riot has currently announced that the first international event to take place in 2024 is the VCT Masters Madrid. There will be a total of eight teams competing in it, making it the smallest VCT Masters ever.
VCT Americas will be featuring 11 partner teams from various regions in North America and South America. There will be 11 teams this year as the winners of last year’s VCT Ascension Americas will be joining the partnership league. The 11th team this year is none other than G2 Esports. Below are all the teams that will be taking part in the upcoming VCT Americas Kickoff Tournament:
– NRG
– Furia Esports
– Cloud 9
– MIBR
– Loud
– Sentinels
– Leviatan
– 100 Thieves
– KRU Esports
– G2
– Evil Geniuses
VCT Americas Kickoff will be split into three phases: the group stage, play-in, and the playoffs. Teams will fight through a total of 19 matches across eight days.
**Group Stage**
The 11 teams will be split into three groups, where the first two groups will have four teams each, and the third group will only have three teams due to the highest-placed team in the Champions 2023 receiving a bye. The groups will compete in a double-elimination GSL-style bracket with the top team making it to the playoffs. The second-placed team will make it to the play-in stage.
**Play-In Stage**
The three teams who placed second in each group will compete in the play-in, competing in a single round-robin with the winner making it to the playoffs.
**Playoffs**
The four teams will compete in a single-elimination bracket to determine the champions of the VCT Americas Kickoff. Additionally, the top two teams from this tournament will earn a spot at Masters Madrid.
VCT Americas Kickoff will begin on February 16th and run until March 3rd. Catch all the action live on the VCT Americas YouTube and Twitch channels.
The timing for the matches is as follows:
– Group stage (16 – 25 February)
– Matches between 16th to 24th February will start at 7:00 KST // 14:00 GMT+8
– Matches on 25th February will start at 5:00 KST // 16:00 GMT+8
– Play-ins (26 February): matches will start at 5:00 KST // 14:00 GMT+8
– Playoffs (2nd – 3rd March): matches will start at 7:00 KST // 16:00 GMT+8
