Although Riot Games has adopted new rules for professional VALORANT teams, which was announced over the weekend, fans and the esports community are demanding that Riot adjust their rules and apply them to all the teams instead of the teams that are from Ascension.
Riot Games established the rule change to VALORANT esports for next year, 2025, on Friday that teams that qualify for the VCT International Leagues via Ascension will stay up in the league provided they achieve some particular levels every season.
Although the promotion window is now reduced to one year from two years, these teams that reach the VCT International Leagues via Ascension can stay if they make the Champions or at least finish in the top 8 in their league.
However, esports enthusiasts and communities believe that this new rule should not be applicable only to Ascension squads but also to partnered teams.
One of those who have spoken out is one of the CO owners of Moist Moguls and YouTube streamer Ludwig, who replied directly to the official VCT announcement on X.
“so randomly selected VCT teams could never win a series or even a map and have no risk of relegation; WHY?” Ludwig posted.
Similarly, Anthony “vanity” Malaspina, who is the in-game leader for Cloud9 and president of the Americas VALORANT Player Association, wants the rule to apply to every competitor, although he also believes that this rule change was a step in the right direction.
If things stay this way, teams from Challengers will be able to elongate their time in VCT, provided that they perform well, making it harder for some of the other teams to break into the competition.
An Ascension team qualifying for Champions will reduce the number of teams that should be promoted through the season’s Ascension tournament from two to one. Also, Challengers teams at Ascension may also have to play a team that’s been competing against top-tier competition all year.
