I was thinking about this, and I noted it may be smart for Riot to include a "wildcard series" or something of that sort so that T2 talent can still foster.
What do I mean by this:
Let's assume that VCT still runs in two stages, where Masters becomes a MSI type tournament like what is in LoL which would happen inbetween Stage 1 and Stage 2, and then Champions in September. Then that means we would have two stages.
Stage 1 would just be 12 invited teams to the league, which would look something along the lines of:
(and keep in mind as you're reading these predictions, that Riot will likely not just choose teams based off of team success and skill, but also based off of their money and if they've partnered with other Riot esport ecosystems like the leagues in LoL)
Americas:
NA: C9, SEN, 100T, OpTic, TSM, LG, T1 (?)
BR: LOUD, FURIA, NIP
LATAM: KRU, FUSION (LATAM North, I would argue has more money than 6K)
Asia:
APAC: PRX, BLEED,
KR: DRX, DWG, On Sla2ers
JP: ZETA, RIG or DNG (Reignite and DetonatioN Gaming, has more money than Crazy Raccoon)
Europe:
EU: ACEND, FNATIC, GUILD, G2, TL, VITALITY, MAD LIONS, OGLU
TR: SMB, BBL
CIS: M3C, NAVi
Then in Stage 2, 4 teams would be invited to these superleagues, and there would be different ways to do this.
In the Americas league, perhaps 8 teams from NA play for 2 spots, and 8 teams from BR/LATAM play for 2 spots
In the European league, the 8 teams in EU VRL's would compete, and then 8 teams from the CIS and TR VRL would compete for 2 slots each.
In the Asian League, 8 APAC teams would compete for 2 spots, and 8 KR/JP teams would play for 2 spots.
This allows for teams to still be committed, or else I figure they'd just drop their rosters. It also still gives upset potential which would certainly help the scene with viewership, as well as tackle with issues like Astralis in LEC, where they just are always dead and never do well, and let Riot access more adequately which teams to keep in the long term, and to pressure certain teams to step it up.
TLDR: 12 team leagues are solid, if VCT 2023 runs like 2022 with 2 stages, Stage 2 should open each league to 4 spots which would come from "Wildcard" tournaments through regional leagues, in a similar structure to Challengers -> Masters currently.