The Valorant Ignition Series is Riot’s way of entering the competitive eSports scene. The series was announced last month, and the end goal is to host worldwide tournaments.
Valorant came out fairly recently, and it gained a huge following immediately. With the Valorant Ignition series, Riot is planning to make a global competitive scene.
Riot Games hosted nine events in the past with Twitch live streams. However, the company has not released the full details of the next tournaments yet.
What is the Ignition series?
Riot partnered with several eSports brands to host several Valorant tournaments. The tournament is called the Valorant Ignition Series.
According to Riot, the goal is to “build global recognition for top Valorant pros and teams.”
The company has been with several organizers, and it came up with 20 eSports events so far. The events are scattered all around the world.
The Ignition series is also a way to give Valorant players the chance to compete globally. Other eSports are often U.S. and Europe-centric. Thus Riot wants to change that.
The press release mentions that the Ignition series will be composed of open qualifiers, show matches, and several invitationals featuring top-tier teams and top Valorant players.
Riot’s move shall open up the possibilities of amateurs to build their team and get competitive in the game. There will be opportunities for low-tier teams to make their spot in the global scene.
Where can people watch the Ignition series?
Riot is streaming all games in its official Twitch account. There is also a tab for past broadcasts.
It is still unknown whether Riot will venture into other platforms. But for now, Twitch is doing a great job in streaming past and upcoming games.
What is the format of the tournament?
The Ignition series shall have different tournament formats. There will be small and medium-sized tournaments to cater to the average teams. Meanwhile, all top-tier teams may take part in the major tournaments.
There will be 11 different regions where participants can join, depending on their location.
The Americas will be divided into three—North America, Brazil, and Latin America.
Asia will have five regions—Korea, Japan, South-East Asia, Middle-East, and Turkey.
Two regions compose the European continent. There will be a tournament for Europe and Russia.
Oceania will have its region.
Here are the upcoming tournaments
1. PAX Arena Valorant Invitational
See Hiko from @100Thieves showing off his moves as he preps for July 22-26. Get ready for amazing plays and clutch rounds in The PAX Arena VALORANT Invitational- Powered by @seagategaming More info at https://t.co/YPxFbi5JiQ pic.twitter.com/3DLHWBzhAW
— PAX (@pax) July 19, 2020
The upcoming tournament will start by tomorrow. It will take place until July 26. Various top-tier teams are joining the tournament.
Confirmed teams include Team Solo Mid, T1, Cloud 9, 100 Thieves, Renegades, among others.
There will be a total of twenty teams competing in the tournament. They will be grouped into four. All teams will compete for a playoff spot.
The playoffs will be a knockout tournament and will follow the best of threes format. The final round will be a best of five matches.
PAX Arena Valorant Invitational awards the winner US$10,000 [AU$14,106] and the pride of winning the Ignition series.
2. Mandatory.GG X Ignition Series Valorant Cup
Riot packed July with its tournament. The month-ender Mandatory.GG X Ignition Series will start on July 31 and will end on August 2.
The three-day tournament will cater to European teams only. Mandatory.GG made the mechanics simple. It will be a single-elimination tournament.
This will be a tough one as 32 teams try to defeat each other and take home €10,000 ($11,400).
Competing teams include G2, Royals, Prodigy, and Giants. Most notable among them is G2. This team already won two Valorant Ignition series tournaments so far.
However, other teams shall not be neglected. Who knows, an underdog might take down the champions this time.
3. RAGE X Ignition Series Valorant tournament
Riot is not taking a break this time. The RAGE X Ignition series Valorant tournament will take place on August 1 – 8, 2020.
This time, Japanese teams will compete for an undisclosed tournament prize. It is also the third time that a Valorant Ignition series will take place in the country.
There will be 256 teams joining the tournament. But, there are only eight slots for the playoffs. It will be a tough match for sure as Absolute Jupiters, the previous Japanese Valorant Ignition series winners, will compete to keep the crown.
Riot Games is aiming for variety and global presence. It is tapping on several regions to host its tournaments.
The Valorant Ignition series has been great so far. It has variations and clear guidelines that cater to all kinds of teams. Hopefully, the tournament finds success in these tournament types.
Images used courtesy of Valorant, Mandatory.GG