After over 170 days with no tier-one VALORANT action, VCT is back this week with the 2024 Kickoff tournaments, and it’s already brought major drama across the fandom.
Though VALORANT fans and players alike have been ecstatic that the VCT is finally back, some teams have had the excitement drained from their fan bases after just three days of event play. With the new VCT schedule, teams like 100 Thieves ended up playing two competitive games—as little as four maps—just to go back on a nearly two-month break.
The new VALORANT Kickoff tournament format for 2024 removes regional round-robin play at the beginning of the season, instead starting all 11 teams in each region off in a double-elimination bracket. Unfortunately, this means teams who aren’t prepared right out of the gate or get unlucky with their bracket matchups will play just two games in the first split of the season, before not returning to the stage until after Masters Madrid in March.
After consecutive losses to Leviatán and Sentinels, 100T is out until April. The team’s official social media account tweeted after their loss to fellow American team Sentinels on Monday, clearly upset with the loss. “Had a dream last night that we got put in the group of death and lost our first two VCT matches of the year ultimately meaning we wouldn’t be playing again until April,” the 100T account’s tweet read. Other prominent VCT voices, like NRG’s head coach Chet Singh, also expressed his frustration with the schedule.
Elsewhere on social media, fans and players questioned the practicality of the Kickoff format. On one side, some fans waited for their favorite team to return only to see them play just two matches. On the other are orgs and players frustrated that the rosters and strategies they’ve worked hard to cultivate will sit on the shelf for further months.
One of the biggest complaints about the first franchised VALORANT season in 2023 was also the schedule but for a slightly different reason. Teams were experiencing intense levels of burnout, especially squads that attended multiple international events over the year, like high-flying teams Fnatic and DRX. VALORANT esports head Leo Faria addressed those concerns heading into 2024 but said a proper solution wouldn’t come until 2025.
A large part of the burnout concern that also ties into the new complaints of teams like 100T and Bleed Esports—who were also knocked out after just two games in the VCT Pacific league—is just how long the VCT offseason is. With Champions wrapping up in August and Kickoff not beginning until late February, tier-one teams had no official events for close to six months.
It seems like the VALORANT world agrees a schedule adjustment must be made, but for now, 100T and their fans will simply have to wait. The VCT Americas Kickoff tournament resumes on Friday, Feb. 24 at 4pm CT, when NRG faces Cloud9.
