[Opinion] EMEA circuit system is completely flawed

Regional Masters 1 pts allocation – 100, 70, 45, 45, 20, 20, 10, 10
EMEA Finals Stage 2 pts allocation – Iceland slot, Iceland slot, 45, 45, 30, 30, 20, 20
EMEA Finals Stage 3 pts allocation – Berlin slot, Berlin slot, Berlin slot, Berlin slot, rest are unknown yet, but I suggest them to be similar to NA’s

Gambit and Oxygen achieved 3rd-4th at previous VCT, being only one win away from attending first ever Valorant LAN. As you can see, they got very little points (45 each), while statistically being top-4 in our region back then. Also, you might notice that distribution barely changed between Stage 1 and Stage 2, as 3rd-4th still get the same 45 points. No significant differences at all.

Now imagine if Riot give 50 or even 60 points to 5th-6th teams in EMEA Stage 3. I assume they could do that, since NA points have already been announced and we might get the same treatment. That would create a ridiculous fucking unfairness. Not only that Gambit/Oxygen had higher placement at the previous event (3rd-4th), but also that they gonna get less points than this Split’s 5th-6th. Inb4 somebody says “events in the past are less relevant than current events, hence why it’s okay to give away more points right now”. THEN WHY THE HELL STAGE 1 AND STAGE 2 DISTRIBUTIONS ARE ALMOST THE SAME? WHY DO THEY INTEND TO MAKE IT SO UNSTABLE?

Imagine this example: Fnatic become 5th-6th team in current VCT Split. They acquire 60 pts, it adds up to their 350, and boom = they are most probably going to qualify for Champs via circuit despite not even being current top-4 in EMEA (just an example), unless some miracle occurs and 2 of their biggest scoreboard rivals (Acend, Gambit, Liquid) overtake them by proceeding to Berlin, which is very unlikely to happen (Acend could do that, Gambit / Liquid not so sure).

Riot already made a huge mistake by even doing Iceland with less slots (10 instead of 16), meaning that it is much easier for our teams to advance from Stage 3 right now, than it was 3-4 months ago. It causes lots of problems for all contenders out there except Fnatic and Liquid ofc, who are in the lead by the insane gap. Again, Gambit, Oxygen and maybe even FPX got robbed hard because of reduced slots, who knows, they could be the ones to do wonders at Iceland if only there were 16 teams at LAN.

I can’t express my thoughts well because my English isn’t that good. But nobody except me understands how shitty Riot are making all these decisions. If I were in charge, I would go with 10 team format at Berlin too (although the pandemic is almost over and we can have all 16 teams). Not only this, but also keep EMEA Finals with 8 teams (not 12), like it started this year. Why? To ensure that the competition will be fair so Fnatic / Liquid can’t abuse this system by being the only 2 Iceland participants from EMEA, although it should have been 4 of our teams initially at Masters 2.

ALL MASTERS SHOULD HAVE SAME NUMBER OF TEAMS COMPETING. ALL CHALLENGERS FINALS SHOULD HAVE SAME NUMBER OF TEAMS COMPETING. ALL POINTS SHOULD VARY BY A SET COEFFICIENT FOR SET PLACEMENTS. Otherwise it’s a fucking injustice. I explained why.

Welp nobody gives a fuck, people only want to watch games and don't realize what's happening behind the scenes

Good read, I agree. The point distribution is quite clearly biased and unfair. The problem is - it's almost too late to fix it. They've pretty much irreversibly fucked it up. Also, good English, not bad at all.

stage 3 will be more competitive since more teams qualify so increasing the number of points sort of makes sense

Daniveus [#4]

stage 3 will be more competitive since more teams qualify so increasing the number of points sort of makes sense

I don't know how many points they should increase for it to be reasonable tho

And I get your second take as well, It really isn't fair to add a sudden increase in slots, since catching up with fnatic and liquid becomes more difficult just because they were on a streak that one time

Im pretty confident Gambit can make it to Berlin.

Being said that, I agree that from 45 to a minimun of 150 makes no fucking sense on Stage 2. GMB and OX should have got 60-80.

Can I get a TLDR I'm American and we have a shit education system

Daniveus [#6]

And I get your second take as well, It really isn't fair to add a sudden increase in slots, since catching up with fnatic and liquid becomes more difficult just because they were on a streak that one time

Yeah I just have to hope now that Acend / Gambit will make miracle runs

These 2 are the only teams which have enough VCT points to comfortably overtake Fnatic / Liquid in scoreboard (in case latter 2 don't advance to Berlin)

Dont care grow up

There was and still is a legit pandemic going on. It’s pretty well understood this is just a trial year because of the circumstances. Riot would have obviously wanted all masters including even the first masters to be 16 teams at LAN, sadly because of the pandemic it wasn’t possible.

If this is happening next year you have a point, but we were lucky to even get a LAN in Iceland to begin with. Yeah unfortunately we had some compromises. But that’s life in a pandemic, and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have the system we got than nothing at all because Riot couldn’t bring 16 teams to Iceland. And in regards to only doing 10 teams for all Masters, for one, everyone hated the 10 team format, second like I said it’s a trial run so Riot can learn for the future what is needed to run 16 teams of their new game. Riot is learning so they can put on the best product in the years to come.

One thing Riot is good at, is knowing how to run an esports league with their game. Like I don’t want to be an asshole. But Riot knows more about running a successful esports competition than some random guy on the internet, that includes me too. They would have had literal teams of people going over this.

Faqz [#8]

Can I get a TLDR I'm American and we have a shit education system

TLDR:
Riot fucked up by setting 2 international events with different number of slots
Riot fucked up by having different number of teams at Challengers Finals (before 8, now 12)
Riot fucked up by not following some set pattern in giving VCT points at Masters 1 / Challengers Finals
Riot fucked up by not making Masters 2 regional, as 10 teams is a joke, should be strictly 16 or the integrity is broken

Shanty [#11]

There was and still is a legit pandemic going on. It’s pretty well understood this is just a trial year because of the circumstances. Riot would have obviously wanted all masters including even the first masters to be 16 teams at LAN, sadly because of the pandemic it wasn’t possible.

If this is happening next year you have a point, but we were lucky to even get a LAN in Iceland to begin with. Yeah unfortunately we had some compromises. But that’s life in a pandemic, and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have the system we got than nothing at all because Riot couldn’t bring 16 teams to Iceland. And in regards to only doing 10 teams for all Masters, for one, everyone hated the 10 team format, second like I said it’s a trial run so Riot can learn for the future what is needed to run 16 teams of their new game. Riot is learning so they can put on the best product in the years to come.

One thing Riot is good at, is knowing how to run an esports league with their game. Like I don’t want to be an asshole. But Riot knows more about running a successful esports competition than some random guy on the internet, that includes me too. They would have had literal teams of people going over this.

Bro... Like did you even read my post... My whole point is that Iceland shouldn't have happened, it basically destroyed this entire VCT year with all the issues it had. Either you make a LAN with 16 teams, normal format, normal points, normal slots, or don't make at all.

Why couldn't Rito just wait for Berlin till things stabilize instead of rushing it all for hype?

Olofboost [#12]

TLDR:
Riot fucked up by setting 2 international events with different number of slots
Riot fucked up by having different number of teams at Challengers Finals (before 8, now 12)
Riot fucked up by not following some set pattern in giving VCT points at Masters 1 / Challengers Finals
Riot fucked up by not making Masters 2 regional, as 10 teams is a joke, should be strictly 16 or the integrity is broken

Sadge hope it isn't like this next year

I think riot is just trialing different shit on different regions cuz it's first year. They will observe and improvise I believe

Cry. England will put you in your place soon little one.

sheesh_gamer [#16]

Cry. England will put you in your place soon little one.

How is football related to my post dumbass.

Loser kid visiting a thread just to spit out his anger on another user, who hurt you?

Olofboost [#13]

Bro... Like did you even read my post... My whole point is that Iceland shouldn't have happened, it basically destroyed this entire VCT year with all the issues it had. Either you make a LAN with 16 teams, normal format, normal points, normal slots, or don't make at all.

Why couldn't Rito just wait for Berlin till things stabilize instead of rushing it all for hype?

Oh come on, everyone wanted a LAN after almost two years without LAN and we got one. Again it’s a trial year and it’s a business. Riot knows more about this than you. I am sorry your team got the short end of the stick during a pandemic. But the pandemic effected pretty much everything. Deal with it, and hopefully next year we can have a VCT that can run as planned for the entire year.

Shanty [#11]

There was and still is a legit pandemic going on. It’s pretty well understood this is just a trial year because of the circumstances. Riot would have obviously wanted all masters including even the first masters to be 16 teams at LAN, sadly because of the pandemic it wasn’t possible.

If this is happening next year you have a point, but we were lucky to even get a LAN in Iceland to begin with. Yeah unfortunately we had some compromises. But that’s life in a pandemic, and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have the system we got than nothing at all because Riot couldn’t bring 16 teams to Iceland. And in regards to only doing 10 teams for all Masters, for one, everyone hated the 10 team format, second like I said it’s a trial run so Riot can learn for the future what is needed to run 16 teams of their new game. Riot is learning so they can put on the best product in the years to come.

One thing Riot is good at, is knowing how to run an esports league with their game. Like I don’t want to be an asshole. But Riot knows more about running a successful esports competition than some random guy on the internet, that includes me too. They would have had literal teams of people going over this.

I get what you're saying, but "the organizer knows better" is not an appropriate response to a specific argument someone is proposing against the tour structure & points system. If there are legitimate counterarguments to what he's saying, you should present them.

Is he wrong in what he's saying when it comes to partiality of outcomes/integrity of the system? That's all that matters. Whatever speculative justification you can make up in behalf of Riot/the organizers doesn't matter, because they are the only ones, that can give that answer.

Shanty [#18]

Oh come on, everyone wanted a LAN after almost two years without LAN and we got one. Again it’s a trial year and it’s a business. Riot knows more about this than you. I am sorry your team got the short end of the stick during a pandemic. But the pandemic effected pretty much everything. Deal with it, and hopefully next year we can have a VCT that can run as planned for the entire year.

Yikes. Imagine preferring hype over fair rules.

Olofboost [#20]

Yikes. Imagine preferring hype over fair rules.

Good job missing the point.

ArgieGR8ArgieB8ArgieM8 [#19]

I get what you're saying, but "the organizer knows better" is not an appropriate response to a specific argument someone is proposing against the tour structure & points system. If there are legitimate counterarguments to what he's saying, you should present them.

Is he wrong in what he's saying when it comes to partiality of outcomes/integrity of the system? That's all that matters. Whatever speculative justification you can make up in behalf of Riot/the organizers doesn't matter, because they are the only ones, that can give that answer.

I gave my reasons if you choice to ignore them and focus on the last part of what I wrote, that’s up to you.

Edit. Like I’m not denying that it’s unfortunate it happened. But I think the reasons it happened while also trying to grow a business during these times makes it hard/impossible where you get a perfect system. As I said, this year is a trial period where we try and make the most of things in a period where it’s next to impossible to make things perfect.

Thankfully next year these problems shouldn’t exist, and having the experience that Riot has now will pay off when not having to deal with the effects of a pandemic and not having to put your stars in quarantine before they can even play. I would be curious if the talent themselves feel like we should have just not have Iceland.

Olofboost [#13]

Bro... Like did you even read my post... My whole point is that Iceland shouldn't have happened, it basically destroyed this entire VCT year with all the issues it had. Either you make a LAN with 16 teams, normal format, normal points, normal slots, or don't make at all.

Why couldn't Rito just wait for Berlin till things stabilize instead of rushing it all for hype?

you're definitely overreacting. You're pressed over a compromise that had to be done during a pandemic. The rules are fair for the circumstances. There are LCQs for teams that can still make it to champions. There are PLENTY of chances to make it to champs if you are good enough, so there are no excuses just because the system isn't "perfectly fair".

ranker11 [#15]

I think riot is just trialing different shit on different regions cuz it's first year. They will observe and improvise I believe

Its still fucked but it will improve knowing that its riot.

1king [#23]

you're definitely overreacting. You're pressed over a compromise that had to be done during a pandemic. The rules are fair for the circumstances. There are LCQs for teams that can still make it to champions. There are PLENTY of chances to make it to champs if you are good enough, so there are no excuses just because the system isn't "perfectly fair".

Ah yes, the last chance in which the possibility of qualifying is 12.5% (8 teams)

Reasonable argument LMAO, maybe don't make shit format in the first place, so only the best of the best EMEA teams get through circuit, and not one-time flukes like Liquid