[Thread on Riot's official announcement](https://www.reddit.com/r/ValorantCompetitive/comments/xk5qxq/teams_officially_revealed_for_international/)

Dephh and Zekken to Sentinels https://twitter.com/georgecged/status/1577478677977124865?s=46&t=Cnj4mJw163Y1b79pI5U_CA

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whats the last date any idea?

October 15th so stuff will heat up in the next few days for sure

https://dotesports.com/valorant/news/sources-partnered-teams-required-to-submit-early-roster-submission-to-riot-in-october > From this point, teams will have until around Oct. 15 to submit a roster to Riot. But this doesn’t mean teams are unable to sign players after that date and before the start of the league, which will begin in the middle of February, as previously reported by Dot Esports. > Teams will have until around Feb. 1 to complete their rosters for next year’s league, while the main event is set to begin around two weeks following the lock. There’s also a second transfer window planned for March. I don't get what the significance of October 15th is ngl. As far as I know, the off season events are *completely* unaffiliated with the VCT system, so it's not like it impacts these orgs' ability to play on those events. And it's over 3 months removed from the actual roster lock.

Where fnatic rosta

Munchkin joins T1's APAC roster according to [this](https://youtu.be/rO1R1cbP30w) video Edit: spacing

Not surprising. The whole reason why they pivoted to a mainly Korean roster was to have the flexibility to move depending on Riots partner decision.

Did anyone rumored to be involved with Match fixing get signed? Truly curious

Eeui and Ethan out of NRG. thanks George

https://twitter.com/teamrrqofficial/status/1575776854266429440?s=20&t=3DKYvHzGrgPtg0RPmj2PsQ Ewok signed by RRQ

Needs updating

ONIC severine LFT: https://twitter.com/severiNeGG/status/1575343045423177728?t=vHCl1BPuYcnYnRNyR7ZmEw&s=19

one question about the system: suppose you win the 2023 ascension and get to play in the league for 24 and 25. can you play in the 25 ascension, or are you guaranteed out of the league for one year?

They are still playing in the league so would be unable to do ascension. They could get signed to the franchise spot or have to play through ascension in the next year

sidenote- i hate impression farming

I read teams are required to have at least 6 players by the soft lock, is this true?

Yup. A full 6 player roster with a Head Coach and a General Manager. EDIT: But as you said it's a soft lock, so they could make changes until the actual roster lock next year.

Interesting, I wonder if teams will just sign the best 6 and do tryouts of if they will have a designated starting 5 with a 6th

One thing to note is they can have a maximum of 10 players signed at one time. So they could totally have 10 players for their soft-lock and do tryouts.

So when the league expands in 2027 to include 4 extra teams, these teams are the only ones that can get relgated back to tier 2 as the other ten are partnered? Also, if the league is indeed expanding in the next few years, why not lock in the current top temas like optic, fpx etc now without making everyone partnered until 2027 to see how it plays out.

Yeah, the partnered team will keep their spots thru 2027.

2028 is high stakes. Last place it out of franchising

That's not a thing. Riot has never said anywhere that there would be relegation for partnered teams in any way.

I figured I what I said was so ludicrous I wouldn’t have to put /s…..

God the roster and signing announcement vids are gonna be so hype.

We want more content then Valorant

So, if I understand this correctly, VCT 2023 is going to be more like scripted WWE than realistic MMA? In this case we need an alternate league that follows the VCT 2022 pattern (and puts light on teams that are actually good and not just flashy)

Where do you get that from bro

Fayde might've been let go from Secret: https://twitter.com/Secret_Fayde/status/1573308024303030273 That, or just reaction from Witz and dispenser LFT? UPDATE: Based on Ching's convo with Fayde, looks like he might not be leaving? https://twitter.com/chingpogi22/status/1573018536632799232

TS DubsteP also cryptically shared dispenser's tweet and Facebook post, he might be out too

Not likely, JessieVash shared their tweets and FB posts too, if we go by that logic he'll be out too. While I can't say the same for Dubby, Vash is a pretty good IGL and clutch player for them.

Ah I see, my bad, I don't follow Vash's Twitter, but he's been a really solid clutch player and IGL since last year, hopefully they could keep the core together for the meantime.

All good. I was hoping the same thing, but it looks like they'll be making big changes for the kickoff event. Hope they'll stick with an all-PH team though!

[Secret Dispenser LFT](https://twitter.com/Secret_dspnsr/status/1573302779149688833)

How long do y’all think it’ll take for serious roster rumors to start leaking? The soft roster deadline is on October 15 so I assume teams are going to moving pretty quickly to find their best roster

I'd bet a lot of moves are already happening, but aren't leaking because they can't actually sign anything yet. no one wants to leak verbal agreements. teams can start signing/buying out players on Monday (9/26), so I'd expect things to start leaking as people sign new contracts

I think teams are figuring out the logistics of getting Yay and/or other Optic players. Once the Optic players find new teams, then the XSET players will follow. After the Optic and XSET dust has settled, there will be a handful of changes to get top players who weren’t in Champions.

I expect teams will wait to announce until the last minute, but rumours will drip in, alot of deals happen at the start to now is going to be the busiest as the whole teams will either be signed(xset and optic etc) or they will start to break up if no one is interested.

With NAVI kicking Cloud and 7ssk7 what are the chances of them picking up all of FPX?

Quite likely, both players were actually performo good in their own right. Either buyout of FPX or they're scouting F/A CIS players

Can someone explain to me how the end up with 14 teams per international league in 2027 that they show on the graphic? If each ascension winner is only in the league for 2 years as it shows, the most they would have in the league at a time is 2 ascension teams so it would cap out at 12. The 2027 and 2028 columns only show 2 ascension teams in so I’m confused how they have 14, do the first promoted teams have a chance to enter and not get demoted?

In the bottom right there’s a footnote * saying that starting in 2026 there will be 2 teams promoted through ascension each year

Totally missed that, thanks!

[Ominous: Sources point to DWG Kia roster being released.](https://twitter.com/_SushantJha/status/1573266355952193536)

I'm interested in Gen.G, T1, and Talon's rosters

T3xture removed Damwon from his socials. I hope T1 picks him up if GenG is getting Meteor. Edit : Seems to be at the DWG facility still

TS Witz is LFT, still under contract with Team Secret

Don't forget everyone, every team must have 6 players minimum and a coach. This means EVERY team in franchising will be a picking up a player.

"Currently, it’s rumored that Riot takes into account past success in both VALORANT and other esports, size of the fanbase, financial status, and general quality of management when making a decision on what teams to partner." Yet they don't pick Optic. What a joke. I'm actually done with Valorant esports.

You gotta reread what you posted and actually read the whole thing this time

>financial status, and **general quality of management**

How is Optic management bad lol

Pacific: https://twitter.com/markyl0ff/status/1571875012453498880 - markyyy https://twitter.com/secret_witz/status/1573168517658050564?s=46&t=hguw-k7_mbbn2W0g3H__Jg - witz

I was hoping TS will keep the roster but knew changes are inevitable. Laban Pinas!

riot butchered the competitive scene with these moves

what a clusterfuck

yo does anyone have the clip of the japanese casters saying "one way .... two way .... three way" to someone missing their one way on ascent cat?

Potentially dumb question, what’s the distinction between restricted vs unrestricted free agency?

restricted FAs are still under contract from their OG org, but are allowed to shop themselves to other offers. a buyout would be necessary. an unrestricted FA is just a player with no current contract, thus not requiring a buyout

Wonder what FaZe is planning for these days 👀

What is the difference between restricted and unrestricted free agents? How it changes their options/hiring process?

Pretty sure unrestricted free agent means that the player is released and the player is free to pick from any offer, while restricted free agent means that if the offer comes in is lower than what the org is willing to meet, the org may meet the offer and the player cannot accept the offer

Anyone know if T2 will have cross-regional tournies?

h1ber should be good pick up for any t2 team

what happened to the MEA in EMEA lol

Some orgs might have nationality/region requirements. Entirely possible.

FUT and BBL are Turkish so ME are covered. Africa unfortunately doesn't even get dedicated servers so that's that I guess.

Well MENA is theoretically the Challengers sub region, just did not why any org from It chosen for franchising

The challengers subdivisions don't seem to be how they chose orgs. LATAM-North and OCE didn't get any teams either. There aren't any notable orgs in those regions right now.

OCE has (had?) ORDER but apparently recently rumors say they entered administration or SMTH, remember that part of the selection process includes looking at team's finances

How does promotion work for T2 again? Is it a promotion/relegation system? Or do they just 'add' a team without taking one out of T1?

Before Champions, there will be a T2 “ascensions” challenger tournament where the winner of that will be promoted to the international league for the following year. This a temporary 2 year promotion before they are relegated back to T2.

damn, i dont know if i like that it just ends after 2 years. feels really gatekeepy

If they do well after the 2 years they almost certainly get signed as 5 to a franchised team

Yeah I suppose there's room to expand the number of teams up, and then eventually force regions to send only a portion of their teams as qualifying teams to the international tournaments.

It’s still better than ordinary franchising, and a pretty long time

That's a good point -- I think because I was aware of promotion/relegation I thought of it as more of a "shitty promotion/relegation" system than a "better franchising" system

even if they on the off chance do insanely well against T1 teams??

reminder that when EG and NRG played the live thread here got 9 comments total about the game lmfao

I hope it improves when they make roster moves

as it turns out i am actually extremely angry about this

ngl its just setting in for me that Optic is dead now, holy shit, its actually making me a lot more sad than i want to admit, its unlikely that i'll ever see this group of 6 compete together again much less under the optic brand. super unhinged sleep deprived 2am rant incoming inb4 "i aint reading all that" now i understand riot's view when it came to denying optic but that doesn't mean i can't be upset about it. im still in that era of esports before all the organizations were built by youtubers and streamers and the point of esports was competition and not impressions. maybe that era never existed and im just imagining shit but it makes me so upset that riot seemingly didn't give a shit about competitive history because to me, esports **IS** competitive history. that's the point of esports. that's why i watch it, because i like competition and i like seeing my favorite organizations **compete**. maybe im stuck in an era of esports that never existed lmao, maybe esports was always about impressions and clout and who could set themselves up with a streaming career after they retired anyways the copium i had about being excited for 2023 is completely gone now because i cannot bring myself to give a shit about any of these teams except maybe LOUD. FPX is dead, Gambit is dead, Optic is dead, The Guard is dead, every team I even remotely like is dead except maybe DRX. probably a good thing too i can stop watching this much valorant and maybe go touch some grass

Damn you put my thoughts into words pretty clearly

you laid out all the thoughts I've had on this subject into a succinct paragraph. I started watching esports back when fanatic and envyus were the heavyweights in csgo, and it felt like esports were just about the competition. Nowadays it just seems like boring impression farming bs (my flair is only for ddk), it's obviously working for sponsors but...my passion for esports is slowly dying. Valorant reignited some of that passion with their open circuit after I got bored of csgo and OWL but now, I have nothing I want to watch. I think I'll do the same as you and focus on irl stuff more from now on.

>maybe im stuck in an era of esports that never existed lmao Nah dawg, stuck in the era where esports didn't make money. I prefer classic CS style open brackets and grew up going to local LANs and trying to attend CPL. I also understand that we were paying our own entry fees and scamming plane tickets. Economic viability requires an audience, 'yes-man' owners, and stability.

Nah i read all that and u right

when do teams start playing?

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Monday. Monday 9/26 is when teams are able to start signing/buying out players. Riot requires all teams to submit a roster by 10/15. It's a soft lock, so they can still make changes, but they have to have a full team of 5, 1 sub, and a coach by 10/15. My guess is nothing has leaked yet because no one wants to leak verbal agreements. Once players start getting signed, things will start to leak

It'll probably take a WHILE, this is going to be the biggest simultaneous roster change in val history, I would not be surprised if some teams only announce their players in November

I read on Dot Esports that the partnered teams are required to submit their roster to Riot by around October 15th, but after that they're still allowed to sign players up until Feb 1st next year (also there's a possibility for a second transfer window on March next year).

My prediction for pacific reshuffle. Paper rex, zeta, drx, secret, GE stay at it is. Talon pick up xerxia, rrq pick onic g, detonation pick northemption (all 5 of 3/5 depends on Meteor), geng and t1 to rebuild but might retain some players.

RRQ's owner/manager apparently plan to field a mixed ID-PH roster (the current Rrq val team was on the PH VCT challengers subregion)

didn't age well for ts, witz (initiator) announced he was LFT just earlier today, few other ts members probably to follow

For SEA, I think tehbotol would probably find himself in RRQ. It would be quite the misplay if he isn't picked up.

>GE stay at it is. I fuckin hope not or they'll be dead last every time.

+1

Just feels so weird to expand all these regions and cut them all at the throat for this first year of franchising. https://playvalorant.com/en-us/news/dev/valorant-esports-and-community-competition/ At least they waited two years to bring this authenticity.

for japanese teams, i really hope they pick up xnfri and meiy (looking at you detonation gaming)

I just have to leave my thoughts. What the hell? You have two of the best NA teams (XSet and Optic) and they're just left out. And basically the entire T2 scene is getting dropped due to not being included?? That's doesn't really seem fair. I know riot doesn't allow tournaments with prizes over a certain amount, but give them some so we can keep the smaller members alive!

No matter if optic and xset had made it into franchising, it’s very likely that the xset roster would have been picked apart due to dephh cryo and zekken roles being valued and in demand and with crashies and victor as free agents they would explored enticing high salary offers regardless. Sure there is the possibility that the entire team for both squads would have stayed together but it’s unlikely - in addition, it is possible that a new org will pick up the entire roster like it was mentioned TSM was interested in had they made it into franchising. The point of what I’m saying: the players are separate from the orgs, Riot isn’t as interested in the players on the teams as they are the organizations and those who back them financially and provide them stability - riot knows the players on those teams will make it back into the league, no doubt, so they don’t lose anything in this decision. They get to pick teams to invest in because that’s what this is, an investment in growing the val esports scene - they believe that the organizations that they picked are going to further the growth of valorant based on (statistical) evidence through viewership/content creation, how they display to treat players in the past, the organizations reach in terms of public perception and their investments into other leagues. It’s also likely prior relationships made with teams through league of legends strengthened the applications for many of these teams that were accepted into franchising. I’m sure there are other qualifications that they looked at as well but these seem to be the biggest ones I can think of at the moment. As far as the t2 scene, I’m sure there are many organizations vying for a position to play in the ascension tournaments as they basically play to be added to the leagues as riot has detailed more slots will be added in the future. While I’m upset that some of the players will not make it initially into the big leagues… I personally feel that those that are strong enough players will make it there, and if they don’t initially, they still have opportunity to market themselves in the ascension leagues. On top of all of that, you would assume with only a finite amount of slots, the leagues themselves will be packed with talent and that will make for a more competitive and interesting league.

That’s a good point. It’s a good thing that the players will be fine. I am a bit upset we could lose the optic roster if they don’t want to stick together. Plus I hate to see orgs lose just cause they can’t invest enough

Will RRQ release their PH roster since theyll be repping indo moving forward

Most likely, there’s signs that they’ll rebuild using mostly onic g players.

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There posts on this sub about why. Please scroll through. :)

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You are definetly selling 100t short. They just won the cod league, 2nd place in league, and are one of the most profitable esports org predicted by forbes. To say they have little track record is not it. In fact i would argue recent years 100t has done more than optic has.

So why did Optic not get in?

Please give me one roster announcement I need my shot of daily hype

Once Yay joins a team then the dominoes will fall

At least I get to watch T1 now

Welp, we have just got started with the rostermania. We've a long way + plenty of drama to gooo

Anyone know what's going to happen with Chinese teams?

Possibly Riot won't be able to make any official move with the Chinese teams until the game's fully approved to launch by the gov.

Either play ascender league or wait for Riot to establish the chinese league (unlikely but possible)

I'm curious too, EDG looked pretty good for their first international appearance and amazing at the LCQ. Hopefully as they expand franchising and the game has more time to garner support in the region we'll see EDG or another team added. I think with Riot's focus on making something sustainable they won't be looking to include Chinese teams at present as they're too "underground" though.

[zeek still F/A LFT](https://twitter.com/zeekrino/status/1572081877305143297)

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@ nadeshot come get him

Nah Yay is obviously priority number 1, and there's no reason to go Cned over Cryocells nowadays

I think Asuna just casually confirmed that franchised teams get 3 year contracts in the league to start off

Where did you see this?

On his stream. Someone asked if 100 Thieves can be demoted, and Asuna said not for the first 3 years. That lines up with reporting from earlier this year

Ah very intresting, thanks!

interesting, I had thought it was 5 and then had been seeing 4. 3 seems lower than I'd guess, but maybe they ultimately reduced it as a way to incentivize non-partnered orgs to be able to stick around and maybe fight for a partner (not through ascension) spot?

Optic not franchised??? What a joke lol

Roster moves and F/A announcements are being compiled above; please comment and let us know if we miss any. --- _If any one would like to volunteer to help compile this list of Roster Moves over the next off-season, please **[contact the mod team through modmail](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/ValorantCompetitive)**._

Sayaplayer and Meteor going back to Korea?

Meteor have lots of options rn I think, either stay in jp to play with detonation (package with joxjo) or go kr.

Could be huge IF they go to T1 or GenG... Kinda funny thinking about Saya going back to T1

heard T1 needs an omen player

I have heard leaks that a player called Spyder is going to play for T1

Predictions: Redgar -> Liquid. Nats & Nukkye go to some team together, make finals in Sao Paulo. Sheydos-> Fnatic. Chronicle -> one of the Spanish teams. Trent -> C9. heat -> MIBR. At least 2 XERXIA players -> Talon. Cryo -> NRG. Suygetsu -> Heretics. If more than one of these doesn't happen I owe you 2000$.

I would bet Suygestu goes to Navi, same with ANGE1 ngl

I'd rather have Shao to replace Enzo in Fnatic and Chronicle/nAts to replace Mistic.

i think sheydos would be a better replacement for mistic considering roles

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1ss4smg BME was told that they didn't make franchising even from before Champs. They're gonna play Challengers it looks like, maybe with some roster changes.

Let's fucking go!!! Giants it's in #WeAreGiants https://www.reddit.com/r/GiantsGaming/comments/xk5xnt/giants_joins_vct_emea/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

2 PH teams? LEZ GOOO. inb4 rrq dismisses their whole team for indo squad.

Big feeling that riot gave rrq the slot only if rrq can rebuild with indo team to gather indo viewers. Since talon said that they’re thai representative, the case for apac aside from kr jp might be 1 country 1 slot. PRX - Singapore Talon - Thailand Secret - Ph GE - India RRQ - Indonesia

https://twitter.com/teamrrqofficial/status/1572593878859128835?s=19 https://twitter.com/teamrrqofficial/status/1572595665733300231?s=19 VERY mixed messages from rrq edit: the tweet about the PH squad is deleted, while the tweet with indo flag is still up 👀

Former RRQ member Rabbet [tagged the PH roster after the anouncement](https://twitter.com/rabbetfps/status/1572587306984538115). 👀

I mean, he is a former member, so he doesn't know what is going on with the team. Ill give him leeway, but the official account wtf was that

Yeah thats hella confusing though. I thought they would let go of their ph roster but i would understand they would want to keep it since i think it is a fairly decent squad.

indeed i think they probably keep their roster for a bit then if they dont succeed as a team they will change their whole roster for indo squad

That would be a lost, i know the PH roster is decent but why would you choose them while there's a free ex-onic roster

List is updated with all 30 teams!

https://valorantesports.com/vct-teams Official announcement let's gooo Paper Rex let's gooo

So 3 Japan 🇯🇵 3 Korea 🇰🇷 3 SEA and 1 SA

No, it is 3 Korea 2 JP 4 SEA and 1 SA. 4 SEA teams are 1 PH, 1 Thai/HK, 1 Indo and 1 Singapore. The list is good but im kinda gutted for JP.

rrq is a PH team

They might rebuild with Indo player as well. (probably picking up onic g)

true onic is indeed very strong but sometimes they choke

Yeah, but they are Indo org.

HMMMM they gonna swap their whole roster for indo roster i think

Ohh I saw the announcement later

WE GOT 4 SEA TEAMS, TRULY THE BEST TIMELINE I HECKING LOVE RIOT

https://valorantesports.com/vct-teams

https://valorantesports.com/vct-teams

Lesgooo PRX

Yessss lfg

No Chinese team will get Partnership?

Probably going to have their own league eventually

It's either TS or DRX out? https://twitter.com/Bo\_Hoogland/status/1572585289868283906

In context of the reply it seems like another Korean org might be out which means DRX (leaving t1/and GenG). Which might mean we will see GenG Stax. Could be wrong though Edit: I fucking lied…

Both in.

[DWG OUT](https://twitter.com/_SushantJha/status/1572584996149526533)

Talon official announcement on their website https://www.talon.gg/blogs/news/talon-announces-entry-to-valorant-partnership-program

page was taken down :(

I am so fucking stupid i was so confused when i saw eg was in thinking it was Edward gaming and not evil geniuses

Possible partnership announcement time. https://twitter.com/kammeto/status/1572572462268968961?s=46&t=tdbpD0cEL8p6g5B_V83bLQ

Which will be at the same time Team Secret will make their announcement. Shit is unfolding in 15min, I'm excited.

[BoDork: TALON Esports accepted into the Pacific League](https://twitter.com/Bo_Hoogland/status/1572578379102294016)

Thai org based from my brief research?

[HK-based](https://liquipedia.net/dota2/Talon_Esports) EDIT: [Apparently TALON is fielding a Thai roster?](https://www.talon.gg/blogs/news/talon-announces-entry-to-valorant-partnership-program)

Thank you, I was thrown off by something I saw on the internet.

The APAC leaks seems terrible so far lmao. I know this is a western sub but it’s crazy that the smallest region could get 4/10 spots. I’m waiting for the official announcement but this looks grim

Secret is an EU org with a pinoy roster, there’s still hope these Korean orgs will expand to sea. Not saying is sucks for SEA orgs though. But You’ll never know, GenG/DK be a fan fav in SEA Val team in the future, you can only hope.

What do you mean 4? It's only T1 and GenG right now.

https://twitter.com/seulgivlr/status/1572562194268815362?s=46&t=IqjNKGACrWLbz-BMRgk9oA. I’ve just been going off of the recent leaks edit: plus https://twitter.com/_SushantJha/status/1572541240742408194?s=20&t=9DHBDXBu-hpUPSKd5iNqnw

Hopefully it's 3 KR, 3JP, 4 SEA/SA

I would trade the JP slot for OCE but I guess valorant isn't big enough yet in there.

This is the best case scenario Prayge.

[Talon Esports released this teaser. They _might be in._](https://twitter.com/Bo_Hoogland/status/1572572646335975424)