Valorant Esports has broken down the details for VCT Ascension Americas 2025 as a new rule gives high-performing Ascension teams a chance to stay in VCT Americas, and everything else has been adjusted to accommodate the updates.
The Challengers League season is halfway through for 2025, which means it’s time to start looking at the 2026 teams. VCT Ascension Americas 2025 is part of this, giving Challengers teams a chance to make their way up to the tier-one league in Valorant esports.
This year, a few updates are being made to VCT Ascension Americas 2025. Now, players that make VCT Americas from Ascension Americas will be able to stay in the tier-one league as long as they make champs. However, if they land in the top eight (ie, make Playoffs for VCT Americas), then they’ll need to fight to defend their position. For teams that miss Playoffs completely, they’ll drop back into the Challengers League for the next year.
Valorant Esports released a graphic to help explain this:
These changes were first made last year, though there were a few logistical problems depending on how many teams were forced to defend their spot. Now, a Play-In will determine what players will join Ascension Americas.
The top two teams from each Challengers region in the Americas (Brazil, Latin America, and North America) will compete with two others from Play-Ins. The Play-Ins aren’t guaranteed to happen, though. If both Ascension teams from VCT Americas are defending their spot, then they’ll automatically go to Ascension Americas 2025.
If there’s one team defending its spot, then one additional team will come from the Play-Ins. If there’s no teams defending their spots, then two teams will come from the Play-Ins. The graphic below from Valorant Esports helps explain this visually:
The Play-Ins, should they happen, will include the third-place teams in each Challengers region in the Americas. The Play-Ins will be in single round-robin style.
The Play-Ins aren’t the only thing changing in VCT Ascension Americas 2025. With eight teams now guaranteed to come to the Swiss Stage, things are being adjusted a bit.
To start with, Round One will be determined by a random draw, though there won’t be any same-region matchups. From there, the bracket continues as winners go against each other, and losers fight each other to determine elimination. This will continue until the top four teams advance to the Playoffs. Valorant Esports posted the bracket (minus the teams) below:
The Playoffs will be a double-elimination bracket in best-of-threes, though the Lower Bracket Final and the Grand Final will be best-of-five.
VCT Ascension Americas 2025 will determine the promotion of teams to VCT Americas 2026. It will also have a $100,000 prize pool, which is split between the teams based on their final tournament standings.
For more news on Valorant Esports, check out the live draw that just happened for VCT Masters Toronto and the return of VCT Ascension Pacific to Bangkok.
