The next major North American VALORANT tournament is almost underway.
The best teams in the region will go head to head for a chance to qualify for the VALORANT Championship Tour Stage 3 Challengers 1 via an open qualifier. Any team could sign up to participate against the best.
Since both Sentinels and V1 qualified for the most recent international event, they have been granted a bye in the round of 32. This means that these two teams don’t have to play four games to qualify. Sentinels and V1 must win two matches to both qualify for Challengers 1.
Format
The North American Stage 3 Challengers 1 Open Qualifier follows a best of three single elimination bracket.
The bracket is split into eight different mini-qualification brackets. Unfortunately, this format doesn’t allow all teams to play each other due to the size of the bracket.
Sentinels, for example, have been placed in the first mini-bracket. Evil Geniuses, Soniqs and Renegades are also in this bracket but they have to defeat Sentinels if they want to qualify for Challengers 1.
The top eight teams will qualify for Challengers 1, which will begin on July 8.
Some of the potential matches during the Open Qualifier are as follows:
- Sentinels vs. Renegades
- NRG vs. Immortals
- Built by Gamers vs. C9 Blue
- Andbox vs. Gen.G
- V1 vs. Luminosity Gaming
- Envy vs. T1
- XSET vs. Faze Clan
- 100 Thieves vs. TSM
The full bracket is available via VLR.gg.
When and how to watch VCT Stage 3 Challengers 1 Open Qualifier
The Open Qualifier begins on July 1. The following times for each match are averaged to be delayed or moved forward.
The first round of matches will begin at 5 p.m. ET on July 1.
The second round of matches in the round of 64 begin at 7:30 p.m. ET on July 1.
The third round of matches in the round of 32 begin at 5 p.m. ET on July 2.
The fourth and final round of matches in the round of 16 begin at 3 p.m. ET on July 3.
As the tournament is hosted by Nerd Street Gamers, fans can watch the event via the two NSG Twitch channels available here and here.
What about KAY/O?
The newest cybernetic agent, released by Riot Games on June 22, will be disabled for the tournament.
Notable roster moves
Almost all major North American teams, excluding Sentinels, have made at least one roster change over the offseason.
Most notably, former TSM player Braxton “brax” Pierce joined T1 again while youngster Sean “bang” Bezerra will replace him on the TSM roster, as first reported by Upcomer on May 25.
NRG lost in-game leader Damian “daps” Steele, following his retirement from VALORANT on June 11. He was replaced by former XSET player Matthew “Wedid” Suchan, as first reported by Upcomer on June 23.
Following the temporary suspension of Version1 player Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro, former Luminosity Gaming player Brady “thief” Dever will stand in for the side, as first reported by Upcomer on June 24.
Fans can find out almost all other roster moves below:
So for those that haven't been able to keep up, here's what's happened in NA before #VCT Stage 3. (Thread)
• Sentinels -No changes❌
• V1 -Zellsis +Thief (temp.)✅
• TSM -brax +bang +Chet ❔
• Cloud9 Blue -poiz +xeppaa✅
• Envy -kaboose +Marved❔
• FaZe -Marved +BabyJ❔— george (@GeorgeCGed) June 25, 2021
What’s next?
Once the top eight teams have solidified their qualification, they will face off at Stage 3 Challengers 1, which begin on July 8.
