Following the announcements for EMEA and Pacific, Riot have announced the schedule and groups for the 2024 VCT Americas Kickoff tournament. Beginning on February 16, Kickoff will determine which teams will participate in Masters Madrid and offer points for Champions qualification.
Groups
The 11 team event will begin with a GSL format involving three groups, two groups of four teams and one with only three. Having won Champions 2023, Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Unranked Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le icy Jacob Lange yay Jaccob Whiteaker are automatically placed in the latter group, receiving a first round bye. The remaining teams were split into pools and drawn into their respective group. All matches will be best-of-three.
The groups are as follows:
Group A:
- NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Unranked FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold
- FURIA FURIA Brazil Unranked heat Olavo Marcelo raafa Rafael Lima mwzera Leonardo Serrati havoc Ilan Eloy Khalil Khalil Schmidt
- Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Unranked Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong mitch Mitch Semago neT Michael Bernet OXY Francis Hoang
- MIBR MIBR Brazil Unranked artzin Arthur Araujo xenom Eduardo Soeiro cortezia Gabriel Cortez nzr Agustin Ibarra aspas Erick Santos
Group B:
- LOUD LOUD Brazil Unranked dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira
- Sentinels Sentinels North America Unranked N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid
- LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Unranked Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena C0M Corbin Lee nataNk Nathan Bocqueho
- 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Unranked zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk
Group C:
- KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Unranked keznit Angelo Mori Mazino Roberto Rivas adverso Benjamín Poblete mta Nicolás González Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro
- G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Unranked jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf
- Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Unranked Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le icy Jacob Lange yay Jaccob Whiteaker
The 11 teams were seeded into three groups. Evil Geniuses receive a bye. (Image: Riot Games)
Play-In
Each group's second place team will play in a single round-robin, with the winner earning a spot in Playoffs. All matches will be best-of-three.
Playoffs
The three best teams of each group and the winner of the Play-In stage will compete in a single elimination bracket. The Play-In team will be placed opposite of the team in their original group. Both finalists will qualify to Masters Madrid, with the winner receiving three Championship Points for Champions qualification and preferential seeding at Madrid. The semifinals will be best-of-three, while the grand final is a best-of-five match.
Schedule
The full Kickoff schedule is as follows:
The inaugural VCT event will take place over the course of three weeks. (Image: Riot Games)
Friday, February 16 (Groups)
- 2:00 PM PT | 11:00 PM CET | 7:00 AM KST - Group A Match 1: NRG vs FURIA
- 5:00 PM PT | 2:00 AM CET | 10:00 AM KST - Group A Match 2: C9 vs MIBR
Saturday, February 17
- 2:00 PM PT | 11:00 PM CET | 7:00 AM KST - Group B Match 1: LOUD vs Sentinels
- 5:00 PM PT | 2:00 AM CET | 10:00 AM KST - Group B Match 2: Leviatán vs 100 Thieves
Sunday, February 18
- 2:00 PM PT | 11:00 PM CET | 7:00 AM KST - Group C Match 1: KRÜ Esports vs G2 Esports
Monday, February 19
- 2:00 PM PT | 11:00 PM CET | 7:00 AM KST - Group A Elimination: TBD vs. TBD
- 5:00 PM PT | 2:00 AM CET | 10:00 AM KST - Group B Elimination: TBD vs. TBD
Friday, February 23
- 2:00 PM PT | 11:00 PM CET | 7:00 AM KST - Group A Winner's: TBD vs. TBD
- 5:00 PM PT | 2:00 AM CET | 10:00 AM KST - Group B Winner's: TBD vs. TBD
Saturday, February 24
- 2:00 PM PT | 11:00 PM CET | 7:00 AM KST - Group C Match 2: Evil Geniuses vs. Winner of C1
Sunday, February 25
- 12:00 PM PT | 9:00 PM CET | 5:00 AM KST - Group A Decider: TBD vs. TBD
- 3:00 PM PT | 12:00 AM CET | 8:00 AM KST - Group B Decider: TBD vs. TBD
- 6:00 PM PT | 3:00 AM CET | 11:00 AM KST - Group C Decider: TBD vs. TBD
Monday, February 26 - Round Robin Play-In
- 12:00 PM PT | 9:00 PM CET | 5:00 AM KST: Group A Runner Up vs. Group B Runner Up
- 3:00 PM PT | 12:00 AM CET | 8:00 AM KST: Group A Runner Up vs. Group C Runner Up
- 6:00 PM PT | 3:00 AM CET | 11:00 AM KST: Group B Runner Up vs. Group C Runner Up
Saturday, March 2 - Semifinals
- 2:00 PM PT | 11:00 PM CET | 7:00 AM KST - Group Winner vs. Play-In Team
- 5:00 PM PT | 2:00 AM CET | 10:00 AM KST - Group Winner vs. Group Winner
Sunday, March 3 - Grand Final
- 2:00 PM PT | 11:00 PM CET | 7:00 AM KST - TBD vs TBD
The top teams from the group stage will play for a spot at Masters. (Image: Riot Games)
Tickets
The event will be held at Riot Games Arena LA. Tickets are available at TIXR.com.
Coverage
VLR.gg will be covering all of the VCT Leagues in our event hub. The official Twitch and YouTube channels are: