Ten Reasons to Be Excited for the VALORANT 2025 Off-Season: Major Tournaments Announced!

Ten Reasons to Be Excited for the VALORANT 2025 Off-Season: Major Tournaments Announced!

Foo Zen-Wen

29 Sep, 2025, 15:54

|

Last updated: 29 Sep, 2025, 15:57

While VALORANT Champions Paris continues to reach new heights of excitement deep in the Playoffs Stage, the aftermath of such a massive tournament can oftentimes be difficult to bear. However, fans will not find themselves short on entertainment as they await the 2026 season to start.

Plenty to Expect in the VCT Off-Season

7 major off-season events have now been confirmed between the months of November and December. This is on top of 3 more official VCT events: the Game Changers Regional Qualifiers, Challengers Ascension tournaments, and the VALORANT Game Changers Championship.

Valorant Post-Champions Schedule 2025
Champions may be the culmination of the VCT season, but it is not the end of VALORANT esports. Credit: Riot Games

Five VCT Partner Series Tournaments Announced

Earlier this year, Riot Games announced the VCT Partner Series, a title reserved for the biggest tournaments during the VCT off-season. Today, they’ve fleshed out the details of those tournaments, and we have a much clearer idea of what to expect coming into the off-season.

VCT Partner Series 2025
The last three months of the 2025 will have a lot in store for fans to enjoy. Credit: Riot Games

  • TEN 2025 VALORANT Global Invitational (Nov 8th-9th)
  • Red Bull Home Ground World Final (Nov 14th-16th)
  • Ludwig x Tarik Invitational (Nov 22nd-23rd)
  • SOOP VALORANT League Pacific (Dec 2nd-7th)
  • Project Blender + Blender Spotlight (Oct 11th-Dec 14th)

TEN 2025 VALORANT Global Invitational

Featuring 4 teams and held in Asan, Korea, this two-day event will play host to 2 representatives from VCT Pacific, one from either VCT Americas or VCT EMEA, and one from VCT CN.

Red Bull Home Ground World Final

Home Ground returns in 2025 for the fifth edition, this time in New York City. One of the cornerstone events for the VALORANT off-season in years past, this year’s edition should prove no different in providing an electrifying few days of competition.

Ludwig x Tarik Invitational

A fan-favorite returns for its fourth iteration, Ludwig and Tarik will play host once again to a bevy of top teams as they compete in one of the most entertaining events of the off-season.

SOOP VALORANT League Pacific

Considered the premier event of the APAC region in the off-season, SOOP returns with another tournament this year, gathering some of the best representative teams from SEA, China, and globally to compete in what is often the first real test for newly forged rosters coming into the new season.

Project Blender + Blender Spotlight

The inaugural launch of Riot’s newest VALORANT tournament sees an innovative format that encourages entry from every skill tier through an open qualifier of over 1000 teams. Separated into 4 phases, Project Blender will stretch from the opening weeks of October to the middle of December. A special tournament, Blender Spotlight, will also offer opportunities for mixed gender teams to compete in, with the winner qualifying for Phase 3 of the event.

Spotlight Series Returns for 2025 Off-Season

Two Spotlight Series can be expected this off-season, one for Pacific and one for Americas. The Pacific Series, taking over from the formerly established GES Asia tournament (Gwangju Esports Series Asia), will take place between Oct 30th to Nov 2nd in Korea and will feature 4 mixed roster teams (players taken from across Game Changers and established pro teams).

The Americas series, meanwhile, will take place much later, between Dec 12th and the 14th. With a similar concept as the Pacific Series, there’ll be plenty to keep fans entertained as we await the 2026 season start.

Follow Strafe Esports for the latest VALORANT news and our X account for the latest content and coverage. Also, stay tuned to Strafe's YouTube channel for exclusive interviews, press conferences, and more.

Featured Image Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games


Read More:

G2 Esports Eliminated from VALORANT Champions Paris Playoffs After Close Series Against DRX

Fnatic Kaajak on Their Dramatic Comeback Win Over DRX: “We Started Believing After the Pistol”

Latest news

Esports Nations Cup 2026 VALORANT Rosters: All Rumored and Confirmed National Teams

Esports Nations Cup 2026 VALORANT Rosters: All Rumored and Confirmed National Teams

The Esports Nations Cup 2026 could be the most competitive international VALORANT event of the year. Set for November 8–15 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the tournament will bring together 32 national teams vying for glory on the global stage. With the national rankings cut-off not arriving until June 21, 2026, rosters are still taking shape, but plenty of names have already started surfacing across regions. Here's everything we know about confirmed and rumored lineups heading into the tournament.
3h
Kaustavmani Choudhury

All Teams Qualified for VALORANT Esports Nations Cup 2026

The Esports Nations Cup is a two-tiered competition comprised of regional qualifiers followed by the main body of the tournament: a 32-team event held in November to crown the winning national team. However, the regional qualifiers to decide the teams attending are rounding down as we speak, and the final attendees are being determined as we speak. Let’s look at all the teams attending the 2026 VALORANT Esports Nations Cup.
4h
Foo Zen-Wen

New Study Finds 400 Million Gen Z Consumers Regularly Engage With Esports

The numbers are in, and they're hard to argue with. A new whitepaper from ESL FACEIT Group (EFG), Hero Esports, and Niko Partners titled The Esports Generation: Who They Are & Why They Spend dropped today, and it paints a picture of an audience that is bigger, more engaged, and more commercially valuable than many brands still realize
25 Jun
Thales Costa

G2 Esports and One Piece Collaborate to Create New Limited-Edition Drop

Esports giant G2 is making another move into the anime fashion space, this time partnering with one of the most beloved franchises in the world. In collaboration with One Piece, G2 has announced a new limited-edition streetwear drop available as of today (June 25).
25 Jun
Martin Arévalo-Östberg

Challenger Teams Enter the Fray in VCT EMEA Stage 2

As the glow from VCT Masters London begins to fade and the triumph of Leviatán incredible run firmly seats itself in history, we look towards the second half of 2026.  The conclusion of the second VALORANT Masters event of the year marks the start of the sharp incline, a final dash for the finish line — Champions Shanghai. Only 16 teams will earn the privilege of basking under the brightest spotlight the VCT has to offer, and there’s very little time left. Let’s have a look at what to expect come VCT EMEA Stage 2.
25 Jun
Foo Zen-Wen

Riot Games' Vanguard Anti-Cheat Now Launches On-Demand: How to Enable It

VALORANT and League of Legends players can now use the Vanguard anti-cheat on demand. Here's how, along with the pre-check requirements.
24 Jun
Adarsh J. Kumar

"At least give us one opportunity" - Coach Fury on the State of South African Valorant

Six years on from the game’s launch, VALORANT continues to grow and inspire new generations of players with its dizzying heights — selling a dream that one day, just maybe, they could stand at the pinnacle of the game’s competitive scene and do the same for another. But for a country like South Africa (ZA), the VALORANT dream is a pipe dream.
24 Jun
Foo Zen-Wen

Comments (0)

Log in to comment on this match