VCT Pacific Kickoff | Everything you need to know

New year, a new VCT season awaits. Every year, Valorant esports continues to grow at a massive scale and the Pacific teams have proven to be top contenders. Last year’s VCT Pacific featured a lot of amazing plays and emerging talent in the scene. For 2024, Riot is looking to kick it up a notch and it all starts with the VCT Pacific Kickoff.

The first major tournament of the year will be happening in Masters Madrid, an 8-day competition where we’ll see who can already establish dominance after all the roster changes in the off-season.

However, before all that, the teams must prove themselves in a series of qualifier matches. Year 2 of VCT Pacific is bringing in a number of changes. Some of which are aimed to make sure that the most consistent team ends up on top. There’s little to no room for mistakes this time around. Nearly every match is do or die and can determine as to whether or not we’ll be seeing any of them in Valorant Champions later in the year.

What is the new VCT Pacific Kickoff format?

The Kickoff event will happen in three phases, encompassing a series of 19 matches over the course of 8 days. The initial group stage adopts a GSL format, with 11 teams randomly seeded into three groups. As the reigning Pacific Champions from the previous year, PRX secures an automatic seeding into Group C, positioning them strategically for the upcoming competition.

Subsequently, Play-ins will adopt a streamlined single round-robin format. The top four teams of this stage will advance to the Playoffs, playing in a single-elimination bracket. The stakes are high as the top two teams securing victory in the Playoffs will secure coveted spots at Masters Madrid, marking the initiation of the first global VCT event for the year.

Here’s an explainer video for the format changes:

VCT Pacific Kickoff Schedule

The Kickoff tournament will happen on February 17 – 25 on the following times.

Group stage (17 – 21 February):

• Matches on 17, 19 and 21 February will start from 15:00 KST / 14:00 GMT+8
• Matches on 18 and 20 February will start from 17:00 KST /16:00 GMT+8

Play-ins matches will be on February 22 from 15:00 KST / 14:00 GMT+8. Playoffs matches will be on February 24-25 from 17:00 KST / 16:00 GMT+8.

There is a possibility that these schedules can change. If you want to stay up to date, make sure to visit their official website.

The VCT Pacific Kickoff will be at the S FACTORY, Seoul, South Korea. The venue will feature a number of on-site activities such as an Icebox pop-up, in case you want to experience the map in real life. Official VCT and Riot Games merchandise will be sold alongside themed drinks and snacks.

Tickets will start selling on February 1 12:00 KST / 11:00 GMT+8.

Non-Korean Residents can purchase a ticket by visiting this website and type in “VCTPacific” and/or “VALORANT” in the search bar. Those who are already in Korea can purchase tickets from this website.