VCT Challengers Ascension 2023: Start date, format, and more

VCT Challengers Ascension 2023 tournament details (Image via Riot Games)

The VCT Challengers Ascension 2023 league is set to begin this year and will allow one team each from the Pacific, EMEA, and Americas regions to enter the 2023 VCT season as a franchised team. The selected teams will be able to show their prowess in the international Valorant circuit, where they will face the top dogs. This makes the Ascension tournament exciting and one of the most anticipated events of the year.

Although fans already knew about this tournament since its announcement in 2022, Riot has confirmed that the Challengers Ascension will conclude as a LAN tournament in front of live fans.

This article will provide all the necessary information regarding VCT Challengers Ascension 2023.

When does VCT Challengers Ascension 2023 begin?

VCT Challengers Ascension 2023 will be hosted across three regions - the Pacific, EMEA, and the Americas - much like the normal VCT Leagues. The beginning and the concluding day for each region alongside their venues are as follows:

Pacific (Asia)

VCT Challengers Ascension 2023 Pacific (Image via Riot)

Group Stage: June 28 to July 4
Playoffs: July 7 to 9
Playoff venue: Bangkok, Thailand

Riot has mentioned that from the 10 Challenger Leagues in the Pacific region, each will qualify only a single team for the Ascension tournament. The 10 teams will be divided into two groups that will engage in a single round-robin format. All matches in this tournament will be held as best-of-threes, except for the Grand Finals, which will be a best-of-five series.

Only the top three teams from each group will advance to the playoffs, with the #1 seeds capturing a semi-final spot and the remaining teams entering the quarter-finals. Unlike other Ascension tournaments, both the Group Stage and Playoffs will take place in front of a live audience in Bangkok, Thailand.

EMEA

VCT Challengers Ascension 2023 EMEA (Image via Riot)

Group Stage: June 30 to July 4
Playoffs: July 13 to 16
Playoff Venue: Berlin, Germany

For EMEA, the rules are a bit different since the region has only nine Challengers Leagues. EMEA Ascension will feature 10 teams, of which nine will have to earn their spot by winning their respective EMEA Challengers League. A Play-In tournament will be conducted to select the tenth team.

An online single round-robin Group Stage will mark the beginning of the competition, where the teams will be narrowed down to four. The Playoffs will be held in front of a live crowd at the VCT EMEA Coliseum in Berlin.

Americas

Dates: June 30th to July 9th
Tournament Venue: São Paulo, Brazil

For the Americas region, VCT Challengers Ascension will feature a total of six teams, two each from the Challenger Leagues of Brazil and North America, one from LATAM South, and another from LATAM North. The participating teams will head to São Paulo, Brazil, to compete in two separate locations in the city.

All six teams that qualify for the Americas Ascension will initially be split into two groups of 3 teams each as they compete for seeding in a single round-robin Group Stage. All six teams will qualify for the double-elimination Playoffs and will be seeded based on their Group Stage performance.

Riot has mentioned that more information about the venue is coming soon for VCT Challengers Ascension 2023 Americas.

The tournament for the APAC region will begin on June 28, 2023, which will mark the beginning of the inaugural edition of Challengers Ascension. The Ascensions are expected to be extremely tough for the participating teams as the level of competition will be at its peak from all regions. Moreover, the reward for the playoffs is also something that many teams are looking forward to.

Edited by Adarsh J Kumar