After months without the VCT, fans can look forward to the tier-one VALORANT competition starting back up in February with each region’s Kickoff tournaments. The VCT Pacific 2024 Kickoff tournament is being held in Seoul, South Korea, and will feature all 11 teams.
With an adjusted format for 2024, the Kickoff tournaments in each region will decide which teams will compete at the first international VCT event of the year, Masters Madrid. From there, each team will resume regional play, similarly to the 2023 VALORANT schedule, which will eventually lead into Masters Shanghai in May.
These adjustments in the format mean early-season matches in the Kickoff tournament are incredibly important. Aside from having fewer matches before Masters, teams will also have to face the luck of their draw in the Kickoff tournament brackets. The best team in each region receives a bye, playing one less match than everyone else. In VCT Pacific, 2023 runners-up Paper Rex receive this bye to the second round of the group stage.
VCT Pacific Kickoff bracket and format
The VCT Pacific Kickoff tournament will run from Feb. 17 to Feb. 25. In that time, the tournament will progress over three stages before finally deciding the two teams from the Pacific that will compete at Masters Madrid.
The first stage of the tournament is the group stage, where every team except Paper Rex will play an opening match for the first round. Paper Rex received a bye through the first round and will play the winner of the first match in Group C.
- Group A: T1, Bleed Esports, Zeta Division, Global Esports
- Group B: DRX, Detonation FocusMe, Team Secret, Talon Esports
- Group C: Gen.G, RRQ, Paper Rex (bye)
The winning team from each group will automatically move to the Kickoff tournament playoffs. One final team will join them after the play-in stage of the tournament on Feb. 22. The Kickoff tournament grand final will be held on Feb. 25.
VCT Pacific Kickoff tournament schedule and matches
Semifinals
Saturday, February 24
- 2am CT: Paper Rex 2-0 T1
- 4am CT: Gen.G 2-0 DRX
Grand Final
Sunday, February 25
- 2am CT: Paper Rex 3-1 Gen.G
Group Stage
Saturday, February 17
- 12am CT: T1 2–0 Bleed Esports
- T1 win 18-16 on Breeze.
- T1 win 13-6 on Lotus.
- 8am CT: Gen.G 2-1 RRQ (rescheduled due to technical issues)
- Gen.G win 13-11 on Icebox.
- RRQ win 13-11 on Split.
- Gen.G win 13-8 on Sunset.
Sunday, February 18
- 12am CT: Zeta Division 2-0 Global Esports (rescheduled due to technical issues)
- Zeta win 13-10 on Bind.
- Zeta win 13-7 on Icebox.
- 2am CT: Talon Esports 2-0 Team Secret
- Talon win 13-8 on Breeze.
- Talon win 13-3 on Ascent.
- 4am CT: DRX 2-0 Detonation FocusMe
- DRX win 13-8 on Lotus.
- DRX win 13-8 on Breeze.
Monday, February 19
- 12am CT: Paper Rex 2-1 Gen.G.
- Gen.G win 13-10 on Breeze.
- PRX win 13-10 on Lotus.
- PRX win 13-7 on Sunset.
- PRX progresses to playoffs.
- 3am CT: Global Esports 2-1 Bleed Esports.
- Global Esports win 13-9 on Sunset.
- Bleed Esports win 13-10 on Icebox.
- Global Esports win 13-11 on Split.
- Global Esports progresses to group decider.
- 5am CT: T1 2-1 Zeta Division.
- Zeta win 13-11 on Ascent.
- T1 win 13-4 on Lotus.
- T1 win 13-7 on Sunset.
- T1 progresses to playoffs.
Tuesday, February 20
- 2am CT: Team Secret 2-1 Detonation FocusMe.
- Team Secret win 13-7 on Lotus.
- Team Secret win 13-11 on Breeze.
- Team Secret progresses to group decider.
- 4am CT: DRX 2-0 Talon Esports
- DRX win 13-10 on Split.
- DRX win 13-8 on Ascent.
Wednesday, February 21
- 12am CT: Gen.G 2-1 RRQ
- Gen.G win 13-7 on Lotus.
- RRQ win 13-10 on Breeze.
- Gen.G win 13-11 on Icebox.
- 2am CT: Team Secret 2-0 Talon Esports
- Team Secret win 13-8 on Breeze.
- Team Secret win 13-7 on Ascent.
- 4am CT: ZETA Division 2-0 Global Esports
- ZETA win 13-8 on Bind.
- ZETA win 13-3 on Lotus.
Play-ins
Thursday, February 22 – Starting times not confirmed
- 12am CT: Gen.G 2-1 Team Secret
- Team Secret win 13-5 on Breeze.
- Gen.G win 13-9 on Lotus.
- Gen.G win 15-13 on Icebox.
- 2am CT: Team Secret 2-0 ZETA Division
- Team Secret win 13-1 on Icebox.
- Team Secret win 13-8 on Ascent.
- 4am CT: Gen.G 2-0 ZETA Division
- Gen.G win 13-6 on Icebox.
- Gen.G win 13-4 on Ascent.