Since the VCT Masters 2 concluded back in May, the professional scene has been rather quiet except for some small tournaments. Riot Games has finally announced Valorant's first big tournament after VCT Masters 2 for the NA region.
All teams are now preparing and getting themselves ready for Masters 3: Berlin. We even have seen countless roster changes in the last month. The Champions Tour will be the testing ground on how these newly formed teams will perform. The North American open qualifiers for Stage 3 are will commence from July 1 2021 to July 4 2021 in the traditional 128 team bracket. When the open qualifier concludes on July 4, teams will then compete in the main event on July 8 2021. The main event will last from July 8 2021 to July 11 2021. The teams qualifying in this tournament can totally skip the next open qualifiers.
The competition in the VCT NA open qualifiers is going to occur over two weeks. July 4 2021 to July 11 2021 will make up the first week of competition. Then, the system will repeat itself for the second week. Valorant Champions Tour Stage 3 week two will begin on July 22 2021 and last until July 25 2021 with another open qualifier. Similar to week one, the teams will have to make it through the qualifier to participate in the main event the following weekend.
The Stage 3’s second and final main event will take place from July 29 2021 to August 1 2021. This tournament will determine which teams qualify for Challengers Playoffs. The three qualifying teams will go to Masters 3: Berlin. This is the tournament all the teams are actually preparing for.
The playoffs will begin on August 11 2021 and last until August 15 2021, when the final three teams will move onto Masters 3. The third Masters event will take place offline as the second international LAN after the VCT Masters 2. The teams that perform well at Masters 3 will have a higher chance of qualifying for VCT Champions at the end of 2021. The basis of qualification is done on a point based system where points are awarded on the basis of each team's final standing in these tournaments.
So far, Sentinels are the only team that has a guaranteed chance of qualifying for Valorant Champions.