Riot has taken VALORANT esports to the next level in 2021, introducing a year-long international circuit in the Champions Tour. And with Masters Two: Reykjavík just around the corner, Riot answered some burning questions.
Today’s Ask VALORANT blog addressed the competitive ecosystem, discussing how regional slot distribution for Masters Two was determined and the philosophy behind the Championship Points structure.
With League of Legends hosting the Mid-Season Invitational in late May, it made sense to also host an international VALORANT tournament on LAN featuring 10 teams. Since there are seven regions represented at Masters Two, it was determined that three of them would get an additional slot.
“As we were trying to make these decisions, we looked at each region’s playerbase, viewership, esports infrastructure, and team participation within regional VCT tournaments; criteria that EMEA, North America, and Brazil all scored especially high on,” global head of competitive operations Alex Francois said.
To “optimize for regional diversity,” Riot decided those three regions would get an extra slot at the international event. But Francois said there may be changes to slot allocations in the future.
Teams who grind their way into Masters events are awarded circuit points that they’ll use to qualify for the championship in December. But point distribution varies by event. Masters One awarded first-place squads with 100 points, for example, while Masters Two will shell out 400 to the top team.
When determining how to structure this system, Riot had a main goal in mind: to make it the most competitive tournament possible.
“First, we wanted to ensure that we were rewarding teams who have shown consistent results throughout the year,” Francois said. “However, we also wanted to ensure that we were valuing the recency of results – finishes closer in time to Champions are likely a better indicator of success than finishes months earlier.”
Francois added that Riot also considered international competition, which makes winning increasingly difficult in the point structure.
Masters Two kicks off in Iceland on May 24 after League’s MSI tournament ends.
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