Riot Games is teaming up with tournament organizers Nerd Street Gamers and Engine Media to kickstart the qualifiers for the North American leg of First Strike, the first Riot-produced VALORANT tournament.
The top eight North American teams will compete for a share of a $100,00 prize pool and, of course, the title of First Strike champion.
The first open tournament, produced by Nerd Street Games, will feature 128 teams before whittling down the field to the top 16. From there, the top four teams will head straight to the main event.
The next four teams on the list will advance into the second open qualifier for another shot at a spot in First Strike.
The second tournament, produced by Engine Media (UMG), will determine which 12 teams move onto the second qualifier, joining the four teams from the first qualifier. From there, four more teams will make it to First Strike, making a total of eight teams.
Here’s everything you need to know about these tournaments.
Format
- Nerd Street Gamers open qualifier
- 16 teams advance to the first qualifying tournament
- Nerd Street Gamers tournament
- Top four teams advance to First Strike
- The next four teams advance to the UMG tournament
- UMG open qualifier
- 12 teams from UMG advance to the second qualifying tournament
- UMG tournament
- Pool includes four teams from the Nerd Street Gamers tournament
- Top four teams adavance to First Strike
- First Strike
- Eight teams compete for a share of a $100,000 prize pool
Schedule
- NSG open qualifier: Oct. 26 to 30
- NSG tournament: Nov. 4 to 8
- UMG open qualifier: Nov. 11 to 15
- UMG tournament: Nov. 18 to 22
- First Strike: Dec. 3 to 6
Where to watch
The best place to watch First Strike, from the qualifiers to the main event, is VALORANT’s North American Twitch channel. Alternatively, you can spectate the tournament on Nerd Street Gamers and UMG Gaming’s channel.
