Riot updates VCT’s map pick-and-ban process with Breeze’s debut

High seeds get a new advantage in the pick-ban phase, with different formats for qualifiers and main events.
A map of Breeze, a Bermuda-inspired city from VALORANT.
Image via Riot Games

With Stage Three of the VALORANT Champions Tour just over a week away, Riot’s esports team has altered the pick-and-ban process for maps ahead of the introduction of Breeze. With six maps instead of five, the third map is no longer decided by whatever is left after a pick and ban by each team.

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Here’s how the pick-and-ban process will work for best-of-three series (the most common match format) for the qualifier matches, according to the freshly updated VCT Competition Rules. The better-seeded team will decide if they’re Team A or Team B. If there’s no seeding, this is determined randomly.

  • Team A bans one map, Team B bans one map.
  • Team A picks Map One, Team B picks a side for Map One.
  • Team B picks Map Two, Team A picks a side for Map Two
  • Team A picks Map Three, Team B picks a side for Map Three.

During the qualifiers, the higher-seeded team will have a choice between either two map picks or two choices of side. Whichever choice they don’t make will be afforded to the lower-seeded team, so the lower seed isn’t at too much of a disadvantage.

The Challengers main event will use a different format for map pick and bans. Prior to the main event, each team will rank all the maps in order of preference and the final map of each best-of-three will be determined by highest average choice among the remaining maps between the two teams. So the format will look like this:

  • Team A bans one map, Team B bans one map.
  • Team B picks Map One, Team A picks a side for Map One.
  • Team A picks Map Two, Team A picks a side for Map Two.
  • Map Three is the highest-seeded map, Team B picks a side for Map Three.

While Team A doesn’t get a choice of two map picks or two side choices, the main event format does allow them to pick a starting side for two of the maps.

For best-of-ones, Team A will ban three maps while Team B bans two. The remaining map will be played with Team B picking the side. For a best-of-five, used in the grand finals of Challengers Main events, the format will be:

  • Team A bans one map.
  • Team B picks Map One, Team A picks a side for Map One.
  • Team A picks Map Two, Team B picks a side for Map Two.
  • Team B picks Map Three, Team A picks a side for Map Three.
  • Team A picks Map Four, Team B picks a side for Map Four.
  • Map five is the only remaining map, Team A picks a side.

Breeze will be available from the beginning of VCT Stage Three, but new agent KAY/O won’t be available until Challengers Two for North America.


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Author
Scott Robertson
VALORANT lead staff writer, also covering CS:GO, FPS games, other titles, and the wider esports industry. Watching and writing esports since 2014. Previously wrote for Dexerto, Upcomer, Splyce, and somehow MySpace. Jack of all games, master of none.