Game Changers teams looking forward to global LAN later this year

At the Esports Awards, Riot Games’ head of esports operations Whalen Rozelle said that Riot was "doubling down" on Game Changers in 2022.

So far, fans and players have only received word that there will be a global competition at the end of the 2022 tournament circuit.

Although a global competition is something just about every competitor wants, and what the fans want, it isn’t exactly “doubling down” on the Game Changers series from the 2021 iteration of the tournaments.

Last year, there were three tournaments held in each region. This year, there are three tournaments planned for each region, but there also will be a global competition on LAN.

To get some perspective on what the competitors think, Nerd Street caught up with some of them to get their thoughts on the next season of VALORANT Game Changers.

“I think it’s great that they added a LAN,” XSET’s Katherine “starriebun” So said. “I think a lot of us were really anticipating one, and we really wanted one because we saw like with the VCT, and Champions, they all got a LAN. And we were really waiting for one. So I'm glad that they added one because it kind of adds extra incentive for us to just play that much harder so that we could play at LAN.”

XSET's women's team competed at Nerd Street's Frag VALORANT LAN in December. Photo credit: Nerd Street

Every player Nerd Street talked to agreed with starriebun’s sentiment, and agreed that there need to be more LANs for the female and marginalized gender scene, but not everyone thought that it was enough.

There were some different ideas as to what players wanted within the Game Changers umbrella. Some wanted more incentive to participate in tournaments, such as increased prizing or regional LAN events that resulted in a trophy like the Masters events had.

CLG Red’s Benita “bENITA” Novshadian is happy that there is a LAN, but wishes that the tournament organizers had adopted a different format for the 2022 season.

“I would have really liked to see a different path to [the LAN]. Like maybe like a circuit, something that's more consistent where it's not just an open qualifier and then you qualify and then there's going to be the main event,” bENITA said. “We're going to see many of the same teams getting into the same closed event, three times a year, and then we're going to have the LAN. But I'm so happy there's a LAN, I'm so happy.”

Cloud9 White dominated the NA Game Changers scene in 2021. Photo credit: Nerd Street

As for who the North American players want to face from other regions? The answer varies wildly. Some players said they’d like to play the European teams G2 Gozen and TENSTAR Nova, while XSET’s coach Daniel “Ducky” Duong thought teams like G2 were overrated.

“I really want to see Alter Ego, I think it’s a very undiscovered region, I think G2 is a little overrated in my opinion,” Ducky said.

Alter Ego Celestè is an Indonesian VALORANT team that competes in the APAC region and has had a lot of success in the tournaments they’ve entered.

The VCT Game Changers NA series will have three main events like last year. They are set to take place in April, July and October this year, with a global LAN at the end of the year.

Each series will consist of an open qualifier where teams can then move on to the main event and compete for cash prizes. Last year, Cloud9 White was unstoppable and won all three of the events in 2021, so they will have a target on their backs and other teams will be working to claim victory over the undefeated champions in 2022.

Lead photo credit: Nerd Street