Pass the Torch: VCT EMEA Ascension Tournament Preview

The best league in the world is getting a new addition. The VCT EMEA Ascension tournament is beginning tomorrow (30th June) and is set to run until the 16th of July. The main event is set to include 10 teams, competing for 1 Ascension spot. The team to qualify to the VCT EMEA from this will receive a 2-year contract to remain in the league, competing until 2025 with the other partner organizations in VCT EMEA.

Narrowing the Scope

The EMEA region consists of a total of 9 Challenger Leagues with 86 Challenger teams competing across all these leagues, making it one of the most competitive regions as a whole to compete in for Ascension.

The Play-Ins stage included the 2nd seed from each of these 9 leagues. From there, the top performer from Play-Ins joins the other 9 1st seeds to compete in the Group Stage. 4 of the 10 teams will advance from there to the Play-Offs. The winner of the Play-Offs wins Ascension and a promotion to Tier 1 Valorant in VCT EMEA.

VCT EMEA Ascension Format

Ascension in EMEA consists of a total of 3 stages: Play-Ins, Group Stage, and the Play-Offs. Play-Ins has now concluded, having run from 22nd of June until the 27th of June. The winner of the stage, FOKUS progressed to join the other 9 teams in the Group Stage.

Group Stage has been separated into two groups, with 5 teams apiece. The top 2 teams from each group earn advances to the final stage of the competition. The bottom 3, get eliminated. Group Stage will be run in a single round-robin format of Bo3s.

In the Play-Offs, the four teams will swap onto a double-elimination bracket of Bo3s. The Lower Bracket Finals and Grand Finals will be played as Bo5s. All teams will start in the Upper Bracket. Read here for complete breakdown from Riot Games.

Who’s Attending?

As it stands currently in the Group Stage, 10 teams are awaiting the second stage to kick-off. As previously mentioned, Apeks was the sole survivor of the Play-Ins. The groups and teams are as follows:

Group A

• Acend (1st seed East: Surge)
• Dsyre (1st seed Italy: Rimascimento)
• CGN Esports (1st seed DACH: Evolution)
• Digital Athletics (1st seed Digital Athletics)
• SAW (1st seed Portugal: Tempest)

Group B

• Team Falcons (1st seed MENA: Resilience)
• Apeks (1st seed Northern: Polaris)
• Case Esports (1st seed Spain: Rising)
• Gentle Mates (1st seed France: Revolution)
• FOKUS (2nd seed North: Polaris)

Who’s who and the Potential Favorites

First off, Group A looks far easier of a group to contend through. Compared to the massively stacked Group B, favorites Acend do not have a massive amount of competition. As long as they manage to be competitive, they should make it to Play-Offs. Group B has the promising Apeks squad as well as FOKUS, a team that made some waves months back in Red Bull Home Ground.

Case Esports had a dominant showing in their region as well, promising a very competitive Week 1 game against Apeks to kick things off. In Group A, we have CGN Esports, who showed a lot of promising potential in their home region and Digital Athletics, who made a miracle lower bracket run after losing their opening match. They lost only one map during their lower bracket run and 3-0d in the Grand Finals. Finally, we have SAW, another team who was fairly dominant in their league. Their opening match against Digital Athletics should set the tempo for either team.

Credit: VCT EMEA // Riot Games