VCT Relegation Explained – How Spots Are Lost in 2025

The Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) is Riot Games’ global competitive structure for Valorant: franchised international leagues, regional Challengers circuits, Ascension promotion events and the end-of-year VALORANT Champions tournament. Riot moved the VCT toward partner leagues in 2023, but that doesn’t mean promotion and relegation disappeared. The system was revised to balance organizational stability and competitive merit. This guide explains exactly how VCT relegation works today, how Riot changed the rules for promoted (Ascension) teams, and the current status of Ascension teams across Americas, EMEA, Pacific and China.

The VCT structure at a Glance

• International Leagues: Partnered permanent leagues for each region (Americas, EMEA, Pacific, China).
• Challengers: Regional semi-pro leagues feeding into Ascension.
• Ascension: The promotion tournament where Challengers winners fight for a slot in the international league.
• Champions: The global finale that crowns the world champion and often determines automatic retention status for ascension teams depending on whether they qualify/how far they go.

Riot’s 2025 season introduced concrete, performance-based rules for how Ascension teams keep or lose their place in the international leagues.

How VCT Relegation Works

Unlike traditional relegation systems where bottom teams are automatically dropped, VCT uses a hybrid partnership model with promotion through Ascension:

Long-Term Partner Teams

Riot granted 30 organizations long-term partnership slots in 2023, then a season later, another 10 for VCT China. These teams aren’t removed each year for poor performance. Instead, they’re evaluated over multiple seasons for competitive and organizational stability.

Riot reserves the right to reassess or remove a partner team if they fail to meet performance, financial, or professionalism standards.

Ascension and Promotion

At the end of each season, the best teams from Challengers compete in Ascension tournaments across all four regions. Winners of Ascension earn promotion to their respective international leagues.

Promoted teams used to be granted a two-year spot in the main league, but as of this year, they only have one year, unless they qualify for Champions and extend it. If a team gets enough points and qualifies for Stage 2 playoffs, they get to play in Ascension, and if they qualify for Champions, they get to stay in VCT another year.

VCT Promotion & Relegation Rules (2025 Onward)

Starting in 2025, Ascension teams must meet specific performance criteria to retain their spot in the international leagues:

• Champions Qualification (Top 4): Automatically stay in Tier 1 for another year. If two Ascension teams qualify, then only the best-performing side at Champs automatically stays and the other must compete in Ascension.
• Stage 2 Playoff or Top 8 Championship Points: Must compete in Ascension again to defend their spot.
• Failing Both: Automatically relegated to Challengers.

VCT Relegation – Relegated and at-risk Ascension teams

Here is a region-by-region snapshot of notable Ascension teams and their 2024–25 outcomes.

Americas

• 2Game (2G) (2024 Ascension): Struggled in the international league and were relegated under the one-season rule after failing to reach the retention thresholds. 2G missed Stage 2 playoffs and did not get the points needed to stay.

EMEA

• Apeks (Ascension 2024): Earned promotion but finished 0–11 across Kickoff/Stage play in 2025 and were relegated back to Challengers when they failed to reach playoffs or points safety. Apeks became the high-profile example of the new rule in practice.
• Gentle Mates (Ascension 2023): Another promoted team that did not meet retention thresholds under the new rules and has been cycled back to Challengers.

Pacific

• BLEED Esports (Ascension 2023): Removed from VCT Pacific not purely for on-server results but for compliance/TPA issues. Riot removed BLEED and promoted BOOM Esports to replace them for 2025. This is an example of Riot revoking a slot for contractual/operational failure rather than purely competitive reasons.
• BOOM Esports (replacement/promoted): Elevated into VCT Pacific instead of Bleed for 2025 and will be trying to requalify through Ascension this year due to them not making Champions and failing to retain their slot while avoiding relegation into Challengers due to points/Stage 2 performances.
• Nongshim Red Force (previously Sin Prisa from Ascension 2024): Promoted into VCT Pacific this 2025 and will be trying to requalify through Ascension this year due to them not making Champions and failing to retain their slot while avoiding relegation into Challengers due to points/Stage 2 performances, similar to BOOM.

China

• Dragon Ranger Gaming (DRG, 2023 Ascension) and XLG Esports (XLG, 2024 Ascension):  Both were promoted through VCT China Ascension and performed strongly in 2025, with XLG and DRG securing Champions Paris slots via points and/or Stage finishes. The better performing of these two teams will qualify for VCT China another year in 2026, while the other will have a chance at Ascension to requalify.

Why Riot Uses Current System

Riot intentionally avoids traditional relegation to give organizations stability — important for sponsorships, long-term roster building, and financial sustainability. At the same time, Ascension ensures there’s always a pathway for new talent and rising orgs.

This balance:

• Protects long-term investors (partner teams).
• Keeps competition fresh with annual promotions.

Relegation in VCT is less about automatic demotion and more about Riot’s structured mix of stability and opportunity. By protecting partnered orgs while introducing fresh talent through Ascension, the system attempts to keep Valorant’s competitive ecosystem dynamic, fair, and sustainable for the long term.