VALORANT’s Esports Product Manager, Tomek Borowka, has revealed a list of tournaments which will offer direct qualification to Project Blender Phase 2.
The game’s new EMEA competition was announced last week, featuring a unique four-phase format that gives players of every experience level the chance to face tier-two and even VCT teams later on.
Project Blender is set to kick off in October, with team registrations opening a month prior to Phase 1.
From 1024 competitors in the open bracket, the top 16 will advance to Phase 2. On social media, Borowka shared that Blender’s second phase is planned to take place right after VALORANT Champions in November.
The project’s initial announcement already revealed that Phase 2 may feature teams from VALORANT Challengers, Game Changers, Premier and VALORANT Regional Competitions (VRC).
Now, fans know more about the EMEA tournaments offering direct Phase 2 qualification for the winning team:
- Circuito Tormenta
- Spike Tour
- NAL Road to VCL
- MENA Regional Championship
- Equal Esports Queens
- PROJECT V
- TETO Games Always-ON VALORANT
- VALORANT MENA AL Majd
- Artemis Cup
As a result of today’s news, some teams have already secured a second-phase spot if the teams chooses to participate in the event. This includes Spike Tour 2025 Stage 2 winner Colors Esports and Artimis Cup: Stage 2 champion ZennIT Orange GC.
Mixed-gender teams may also qualify for the second phase by winning November’s Blender Spotlight event.
What’s Unique About Project Blender?
As an open-for-all tournament, all players from the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, North Africa) can register for Project Blender. The only additional requirement is a ping of less than 80ms on the Paris and Frankfurt servers.
Project Blender not only offers a €75,000 (~£65,000) combined prize pool, but also rewards amateur teams with prize money bounties for defeating tier-two or tier-one opponents.
Finally, the tournament introduces two novel format features, called ‘Blender Draft’ and ‘Challengers Call’.
Blender Draft bans all agents from the previous map of a series for the team that selected them. Meanwhile, Challengers Call allows squads who have qualified through Phase 1 or 2 to choose their opponent in the next phase.
