Despite the extensive formats, the East Asian Challenger Leagues have kicked off smoothly. The subregion has been split into three: Japan, Korea, and Taiwan/Hong Kong, which had already begun league play throughout January.

Japan

Of the three, Japan had the most thorough qualifying process. The regional league held eight qualifiers, each funneling a team into the VCL. Every qualified roster has previously been in the limelight of Japanese Valorant throughout the 2021 and 2022 VCT. In fact, five of the eight qualified rosters fought for a Reykjavik slot in March 2022.

The other rosters — Sengoku Gaming Sengoku Gaming Japan Rank #6 Gwangboong Kim Gwang-won (김광원) Kippei NOBITA Misaya yuran Yushin Hato , SCARZ SCARZ Japan Rank #7 zepher Jyousuke Matsuda Medusa An Min-cheol (안민철) Anthem Yoshitaka Enomoto LOB Lim Byung-gun (임병건) Yoshiii John Yoshiharu Kawakami , and FENNEL FENNEL Japan Rank #8 GON Kento Hara Aace Souta Itou Hals neth Yusuke Matsuda MrTenzouEz — have also been commonplace names in Japanese Valorant. Notably absent are FAV gaming FAV gaming Inactive , REIGNITE REIGNITE Japan Rank #19 , and BLUE BEES.ESP BLUE BEES.ESP Japan Rank #13 keisu Lafura Zan e9Lair kenmohororo Kaito Yoshida . The three squads lost to Crazy Raccoon Crazy Raccoon Inactive , REJECT REJECT Japan Rank #5 muto Sayaplayer Ha Jeong-woo (하정우) BRIAN , and CREST GAMING Zst CREST GAMING Zst Japan Rank #10 bazz KEN Jan Shin Dong-yeop (신동엽) sakurai , respectively, and were unable to make it into the league in later qualifiers.

In essence, not much has changed for Japan. While some names are absent from the country's largest competition, the qualified names have already proven themselves on the national stage. They've also made the Japanese VCL a strong contender for the Pacific Ascension tournament later this season, concentrating all the region's talent in the league.

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Korea

Korea's VCL was the most restricted one, opening up just two slots for qualified teams. The other six organizations were invited, in a list that included familiar names such as Dplus Esports Dplus Esports Korea Rank #7 Felix Park Hyeon-ho (박현호) Rico Han Jun-seo (한준서) CabezA No Gun-hyung (노건형) Bangnan Jung Min-u (정민우) RedLight Kim Eun-soo (김은수) kAyle Jung Soo-yong (정수용) (previously DAMWON Gaming DAMWON Gaming Inactive Lakia Kim Jong-min (김종민) allow Park Sang-wook (박상욱) exy Park Geun-cheol (박근철) Estrella Park Gun (박건) Esperanza Jeong Jin-cheol (정진철) ), CNJ Esports CNJ Esports Korea Rank #10 Ziya , Maru Gaming Maru Gaming Korea Rank #19 ANNYEON An Seo-jin (안서진) Dipa Yoon Ha-jun (윤하준) Xenus Lee Kyung-ho (이경호) mir Hwang Mir (황미르) , and World Game Star World Game Star Korea Rank #25 Wenty Yang Geon-mo (양건모) YUNSEUNG . There was little surprise in the open qualifiers besides Incheon On Sla2ers Incheon On Sla2ers Korea Rank #29 VaNish XirZz ' defeat to Over Quality Over Quality Inactive Wolverine Cho Hyun-tae (조현태) stew Park Young-chan (박영찬) empty Lee Won-bin (이원빈) yoman Chae Young-moon (채영문) Banger An Hyung-gi (안형기) in the third group.

Rio Company Rio Company Inactive SungJin Ko Sung-jin (고성진) Sunday Kim Min-soo (김민수) kanade Um Hyun-sung (엄현성) LuZ Lim Ui-jun (임의준) Jinboong Kim Jin-won (김진원) qualified via the first group, but hit a bump in the closed qualifier after a 2-1 loss to TEAM INDIGO TEAM INDIGO Inactive IceBear Pkm Park Kang-min (박강민) JaXe YUNSEUNG . INDIGO weren't able to replicate their success, dropping their series against TeamAceOverQuality and Rio Company, the two teams that qualified for the Korean VCL. The former was later signed by Gwangju Shadow Gwangju Shadow Inactive Ivy Park Sung-hyeon (박성현) Distinct Francis Kim Mu-bin (김무빈) Dambi Lee Hyuk-kyu (이혁규) .

Much like in Japan, the Korean VCL has allowed talent to consolidate the country's talent under one league. While the flashy names of DRX DRX Korea Rank #4 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) and On Sla2ers aren't participating, most of the Challengers teams are names the scene has grown accostumed to over the past two years of competition.

A list of the VCL Korea teams Image by Riot Games

Taiwan & Hong Kong

Taiwan/Hong Kong's VCL offered up just one invite. Griffin E-Sports Griffin E-Sports Inactive Fung3 SiuFatBB Pong Gaa Hei (庞加曦) Uta LockM Xing Fuling (邢福凌) sora got a fast pass into the VCL thanks to their past performances in the regional VCT, having placed fourth or better in every VCT TW/HK tournament since April 2021. The remaining seven squads had to traverse the open qualifier, which saw two newcomers — AxX AxX Inactive edw1N N11 Ezw1n W4DJJ Paxton , SendTreePay SendTreePay Asia-Pacific Rank #153 LuCyyyyy0304 C8Jason Hchang — join the VCL.

The remaining four teams all have a thorough history in regional VCT events. The TW/HK VCL has given equal opportunity to teams like LP33 LP33 Asia-Pacific Rank #144 yTao maou 0n1y He Yiting (何奕霆) 1111111 Fu Bosheng and Oblivion Force Oblivion Force Asia-Pacific Rank #21 riyabtw CHAK CHIMEI Wong Chun Wai (王俊煒) Kiuuuu Yung Tsz Kiu (容子翘) Uta , who have a bumpy track record in past VCT events when compared to the stronger Anti Eco Eco Club Anti Eco Eco Club Inactive MrCANI Chen Tingxun (陈廷训) FLoydQ Sing He Shengxi (何昇讳) trinity Leung Hing Yip (梁兴业) PPDBJ Qiu Zheng Yong (邱政咏) jkuro Yong Haochong (杨浩聪) and Ghetto Artist Ghetto Artist Inactive kilo Huang Zhong-yi (黃中邑) Hukz TsunTung Ho QueenElise axiongk1ng yTao Bea2 rosters.

TW/HK splits from Japan and Korea, welcoming several fresh faces to its league. Even the teams who are returning from last year's VCT, like Griffin, have brought fresh blood into their ranks, heavily disrupting the order that had been established in 2022.

The VCL Taiwan/Hong Kong teams are:

East Asia

Overall, the East Asian subregion of Valorant has seen a consolidation of its talent at the highest regional level in 2023. Contrary to expectations, though, invited rosters have struggled to kick off the league in strong fashion.

In Korea, Rio Company and Shadow Corporation lead the table with four and three wins each. In Taiwan/Hong Kong, Griffin E-Sports are currently in the middle of the pack with a 0-1 record while AxX and LP33 both share a 2-0 lead.

Finally, in Japan, Crazy Raccoon have returned to the top of the region after a lackluster 2022. They currently sit atop the scoreboard with a 3-0 lead, while former Copenhagen attendees NORTHEPTION started the league with a 1-1 record.

Much like in other regions, the three East Asian VCLs will bundle with the South Asian, Oceanic, and the five Southeast Asian VCLs for a 10-team Pacific Ascension tournament this Summer. The winner will get a two-year admission pass for the VCT Pacific League.