The tournament organizer for the NA Valorant Challengers League, Knights Arena, has announced a new relegation system, which will see fewer spots available for new qualifying teams in 2024.
Fans of the North America Valorant Challenger League will get to see two new teams play in the league in 2024 as Knights Arena has revealed its relegation system. On June 4, according to the announcement, the bottom four teams in the league will play in a Play-In Relegation Tournament with a random seed drawing and a double elimination GSL-style bracket.
The top two teams from the tournament will remain in the league, while the bottom two will be relegated from the competition.
The two slots will be filled by teams that finish at the top of the winner’s and loser’s brackets from an open qualifier tournament ahead of the 2024 season. For the 2023 version of the open qualifiers, six teams played through a bracket of tournament hopefuls to make the league while six teams were invited in.
NA Valorant Challengers League will only bring in two new teams
For the 2023 season of the NA Valorant Challengers League Oxygen Esports, Turtle Troop, Moist Moguls, MAD Lions, Disguised, and OREsports all qualified through the open system.
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Letting that many teams through the door seems to have been a one-time thing as 2024 will only have two new faces join the league through the open system.
We are entering the final stages of #ChallengersNA for the year, with the top eight teams securing their spot in the 2024 Challengers League NA. The remaining four teams will have to compete in the Play-In Relegation Tournament.🔗 https://t.co/DlAqHpY2U1
— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesports_na) May 3, 2023
Teams that were relegated also have the option of running it back through the open qualifier system, so they could conceivably both return to the second-tier Valorant league for another year.
With only three weeks of competition left the fight to finish above the relegation line, and qualify for the Ascension tournament, is getting tighter for teams. If the season were to end today MAD Lions, Disguised, OREsports and Shopify Rebellion would be in the Play-In Relegation Tournament.