Schedule and format for NA 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour and Game Changers

After a highly successful 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour season, folks are already starting to look to 2022, and so is Riot. Fans didn’t have to wait long before they released all of the details for the 2022 VCT season.

Fans also don’t have to wait long for the start of the next North American VCT, since competition starts in late January and will continue into September, with third-party tournaments happening in the offseason.

The year will be jam-packed with VALORANT competition, but 2022 will look a little bit different than 2021. Here is everything you need to know about dates, format and what’s new for Game Changers.

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Dates

The VCT circuit is taking place a little bit earlier than in 2021 with qualifying tournaments beginning in January. The season will be ending sooner than it did this year too, with Champions occurring in September instead of December.

Here is a quick look at all of the dates we know so far for VCT 2021, including Game Changers.

VCT

Stage 1 - Challengers NA

• Open qualifier: Jan. 27-30
• Main event: Feb. 11 - March 27

Stage 1 - Masters

• Mid-April - Exact dates TBA

Stage 2 - Challengers NA (dates tentative)

• Open qualifier: May 5-8
• Main event: May 13 - June 26

Stage 2 - Masters

• July - Exact dates TBA

North American Last Chance Qualifier

• August - Exact dates TBA

VALORANT Champions 2022

• September - Exact dates TBA

Game Changers

Series 1

• Open qualifier: March 31 - April 3
• Main event: April 7-10

Series 2

• Open qualifier: June 30 - July 3
• Main event: July 7-10

Series 3

• Open qualifier: Oct. 6-9
• Main event: Oct 13-16

International Game Changers Championship

• November TBA

Format

NA Challengers events will look a little different this year. There will be a 128-team open qualifier for Challengers NA that takes place in one weekend instead of multiple weekends. Then, the top 12 teams will head to the main event, which has been expanded from two weeks of play, to seven.

The first five weeks of the main event are round-robin matches, and Weeks 6 and 7 will see teams in a double-elimination playoffs to determine which NA teams will represent the region at the Masters tournaments. Stage 1 and Stage 2 events are formatted the same.

Riot alludes to matches taking place in-person again this year, but they have not revealed the locations where a LAN may take place. There also have been no details revealed about what the format will look like or how long the competition will be.

Game Changers events will likely look the same as last year. No details surrounding the format have been revealed by Riot, but the dates lead to the notion that the format will be similar to last year, where there are two weekends of play in each series. There are also no details yet about the international tournament.

New tournament circuit for 2022

The VCT season ends in September this year, but the action doesn’t. In a press release, Riot states “there is no offseason – only preparation for 2023.” There have been few details about what this tournament circuit will entail, only that it will be similar to the 2020 Ignition Series and that Riot will be working with third-party tournament organizers to bring more competitive VALORANT.

Lead photo credit: Riot Games