Several top teams from North America have already been direct invited to the VALORANT Challengers circuit, hosted by Knights Arena, while four are against each other to qualify next week, according to Dot Esports.
Fan-favourites in the region like TSM and FaZe have been invited to compete in Challengers without having to qualify through open qualifying competitions, which commence on Jan. 9. Shopify Rebellion, The Guard, G2 Esports and newcomers M80 will join them.
Six teams will qualify for the league with four open qualifiers, which will start on Jan. 9 and conclude on Jan. 13 respectively and final two teams will win on the last chance qualifier, which will take place between Jan. 17 and 22. The first split will begin on Feb. 1 and conclude on March 17.
All teams excluding M80 failed to secure a partnership with Riot Games and developers in order to compete in the North American international league. That is a kick-off tournament expected to start in February.
A direct invite to the Challengers league resulted in a snubbed-out a number of teams. Dark Ratio, for example, was linked to MAD Lions, but didn’t arrive to be incentivized. The Streamer Disguised Toast Challengers team should slug through the Open qualifier, too.
After the season ends, two teams will qualify for the Ascension tournament in the Challengers playoffs, which will be slated for August 31 until June 10. The two teams hoping to qualify for the Ascension Tournament are facing the top teams in the adjacent area of the Challengers region to win the Americas international team in 2024.