The VCT EMEA League, Riot Games’ semi-closed VALORANT league, has announced changes to its competitive format for 2024.
VCT EMEA 2024 will have two stages this year, with each stage seeding teams for the Masters Shanghai and VCT Champions Seoul.
The first VCT stage is set to be played in April and May, with the second one during June and July 2024. Teams will also accumulate points throughout both stages to gain a qualification spot to VCT Champions.
According to a release, performance from teams across both stages will be the ‘deciding factor’ for the overall VCT EMEA 2024 Champion.
With VCT EMEA now having 11 participating teams, Riot Games has divided organisations into two groups, called Alpha and Omega. Group Alpha will feature Karmine Corp, Fnatic, Team Vitality, Team Liquid, and BBL Esports. Team Heretics, NAVI, Movistar KOI, FUT Esports, Gentle Mates, and GIANTX, will operate the Omega group.
These groups will be used throughout both stages, however, they will be utilised differently depending on the stage.
During the first stage, every team from Group Alpha will play every team from Group Omega in a round of cross-group play. After the group stage, the top three teams from each group will advance to the playoffs, with the top teams from Alpha and Omega gaining a bye for the first round. The best three playoff teams will advance to the Masters Shanghai, the second international LAN of the season.
The second stage will be slightly different, with inter-group play scheduled. This means that teams will only play against other teams in their group. Once the group stage is done, the best team in each group will once again receive a bye for the next round, and the second and third-placed teams from both groups will advance to the first round of playoffs. The three best teams in the playoffs will go on to compete in the VCT Champions tournament.
A points system was also included for 2024 for Champions qualification. Each stage win will award a single point to a team. The winner of the playoffs will receive 3 points, moreover, one point will be given to teams that have received a bye. If a team wins Masters, an additional three points will be givn. The winners of the EMEA Kickoff Karmine Corp have automatically been given three points for its Season Kickoff victory.
The team with the most points at the end of the season that did not finish first, second or third in Stage 2 will qualify for VCT Champions 2024 for the fourth seed.
The changes in the competitive season follow a successful Season Kickoff event which saw Karmine Corp and Team Heretics qualify for Masters Madrid. The event also recorded almost 420,000 peak viewers, according to the esports data platform Esports Charts.
