Everything About The New VCT Americas Ascension

We’re halfway through the Challengers League season in the Americas, and things are only heating up.

VCT Ascension Americas is coming up fast, and this year’s version is shaking things up in some big ways.

All The Details

First off, Ascension is making its return to Brazil in 2025! The main event is going down this October in São Paulo, and while we’re still waiting on the exact dates and ticket info, Riot has dropped some key details about the new format for this year’s tournament.

New Format

This year, the Ascension event is switching things up thanks to some recent changes to how promotion and relegation work in the VCT system. Basically, invited teams like G2 and 2G for VCT Americas, can now stay in the International League if they do well enough during the season.

Depending on how they perform, they’ll either:

• Keep their spot in VCT Americas,

• Have to fight for it in Ascension, or

• Get dropped back down to Challengers.

This opens up a few different scenarios, like only one (or even none) of the invited teams showing up at Ascension.

So to keep things flexible, Riot has bumped the main event up to 8 teams (instead of the usual 6) and added a Play-In phase to help fill out the lineup if needed.

Play-In Breakdown

Here’s how that Play-In works:

• The third-place teams from Challengers Brazil, LATAM, and NA will play each other in a round-robin.

• The Play-In only happens if fewer than two invited teams join Ascension.

Here’s the deal:

• 1 invited team in Ascension? Top Play-In team qualifies.

• No invited teams? Top two Play-In teams qualify.

• 2 invited teams? Play-In gets skipped.

Swiss Phase + Playoffs

Now for the main show. All 8 teams will go head-to-head in a Swiss Phase, a first for this event. Go 2–0? You’re in Playoffs. Go 0–2? You’re out. Every match here is best-of-three.

The Swiss Phase includes:

• Top 2 teams from Challengers BR, LATAM, and NA (so 6 teams),

• Plus 2 more, based on the invited team/Play-In results.

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The first round of matches will be random but no same-region matchups. Winners play each other for a spot in the Playoffs, and losers battle it out to stay alive.

Then comes the Double-Elimination Playoffs. Lose twice, and you’re done. Again, best-of-three across the board, except for the Lower Final and Grand Final, which are best-of-five.

And depending on how many invited teams get relegated from VCT Americas, the number of Ascension spots available could change:

• One team relegated? Grand Final winner goes to VCT Americas.

• Two teams relegated? Both finalists move up.

Prize Pool

Oh, and there’s a $100K prize pool on the line too—split between the teams depending on how they place.