CJMYIntroduced in June 2020 as Riot Games’ first FPS (first-person shooter) game, Valorant didn’t need long to blossom into one of the biggest titles in the esports industry. It didn’t even take long before Valorant betting started becoming very popular, and nowadays, it’s not as uncommon to find Valorant betting odds at any bookie, not too far from NFL odds.
But while Valorant established itself as one of the top esports titles in 2021, Riot’s FPS title seems to have even bigger plans for the future. Based on the strategy Riot Games presented for Valorant, it’s more than fair to say that the Valorant ecosystem will reach new heights in 2022.
With new tournaments and expanded talent pipelines put into play for 2022, there’s a lot to look forward to. But most of all, it’s the changes Valorant has made to its amateur and semi-pro leagues that should make you excited about its future.
New Amateur Leagues
The Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) is Valorant’s official tournament structure, which will enter its second year of operating in 2022. It was officially introduced in November 2020 and is fresh off its inaugural season.
Although VCT proved to be a massive success in 2021, Riot Games plans to improve it further in 2022, with a new competitive structure that will vary across regions. Unfortunately, the current information about the next season is still very scarce.
Thus far, we only have information about how the EMEA region’s VCT will look like next year. But it’s fair to assume that Riot will take a very similar approach for other regions.
In 2022, the EMEA region will be divided into multiple leagues. That includes the addition of three amateur leagues in Valorant Regional Circuit (VRC), Valorant Game Changers, and Valorant Regional League (VRL).
The VRC, Game Changers, and VRL have been introduced to help the amateur scene grow and provide a sustainable ecosystem that will help the scene develop in the future. Teams competing in the three leaguers will also be eligible to qualify for the Valorant Challengers league, where they will get to compete against some of the region’s best teams.
Beyond that, the teams can qualify for the Challengers Finals tournaments, which will grant the best-performing squads VCT Circuit Points and tickets to the Masters tournaments.
As one of the biggest esports events of the year, Masters tournaments are also extremely popular amongst viewers and bettors alike. So don’t be surprised to see betting odds on Valorant Masters while scrolling through BetUS or any other big-name sportsbook.
The three new leagues have been introduced to allow even the amateur players to compete for the right to attend some of Valorant’s top events. Although a very ambitious idea, it’s unlikely that this system will be used across all regions, mainly due to the lack of a player base in some.
How Will The Amateur Leagues Work?
The EMEA Valorant will feature five tiers of competition, starting with the Valorant Regional Circuit (VRC) as the lowest tier.
The VRC will offer amateur Valorant players a chance to start a professional Valorant career. In addition, the circuit will emphasize the development of the amateur scene and the development of young talent by setting up several competitions under the VRC series.
Above the VRC are the Valorant Game Changers, as the exclusive platform to accommodate new Valorant talent. To keep the competitive integrity of the Game Changers intact, Riot Games introduced the Game Changers EMEA Academy as a learning platform in a bid to prevent “smurfs” from running the experience.
The Game Changers Series is set to occur throughout 2022, starting with the first in January, followed by two more in May and September. The top-performing teams of Game Changers will then advance to the Global Game Changer tournament, slated for November.
It remains to be seen how popular the Game Changer will be, but it shouldn’t surprise you sportsbooks will accept bets on the series. So keep your eyes peeled when scrolling through BetUS esports betting markets.
There will be eight Valorant Regional Leagues (VRL) in Europe, spread across different countries, including Spain, the UK, Poland, France, MENA, Turkey, and DACH. The idea behind the VRL’s is to help the semi-pro scene, and while Riot Games has introduced the VRLs, the leagues will be run by respective partner organizers, with two stages across the year.
The VRLs will feature regular seasons and playoffs, with the top teams advancing into the VCT Promotion Tournament, where they will compete for a spot in the EMEA VCT.
By introducing amateur and semi-amateur leagues, Valorant plans to achieve what many other esports titles failed to – a system to nurture the region’s talent and help the scene as a whole develop further.
