Valorant Champions Tour fans are criticizing Riot Games’ tournament format after NRG Esports’ season was cut short in July. After being eliminated from playoff contention on July 7 with a 1-2 loss to Cloud9, former World Champion Ethan “Ethan” Arnold revealed that NRG would not be playing an official Valorant match until 2025, cutting their season short. “‘Cya next year.
’ You’re telling me you don’t play again until 2025...
?” fellow CSGO player NAF. “Correct, our year has ended July 7th!” Ethan. NRG failed to qualify for both international events in 2024, which left them with only 13 matches played for the entire season.
For comparison, Ethan played 29 matches throughout 2023 while playing for Evil Geniuses. VCT fans took to Reddit to share their frustrations with the current format and the lack of off-season events that franchised teams can participate in. “Riot schedules are absolutely abysmal.
They should just have events for the whole year, or at least with like 2 or max 3 months of off time. It is not good for your mental that if you lose, you wait like 5-6 months to play again..
. I think this is mismanaged heavily,” a Reddit commenter. The Red Bull Home Ground tournament is the sole off-season event that annually invites teams from both EMEA and the Americas to compete.
Other tournaments have been hosted by content creators and organizations, like the and , which took place before the 2024 season officially started. But even these off-season .
