the only incentive to put effort into Valorant for people who are not in franchising (players, coaches, investors, executives...) is the prospect of winning Ascension and sitting at the table with the big dogs.
Now, in YEAR 1, the veil has already fallen: Riot doesn't give a fuck about the so called competitive integrity, about the sports aspect of VCT, about rewarding who does better than their peers. Franchising is a full-on invite league, if you're out of it you are worthless in the eyes of rito and nothing you do has the power to elevate your condition