We’re halfway through the Challengers League season in the Americas, and the hype is only growing: VCT Ascension Americas is right around the corner! Let’s find out more about the tournament that grants direct access to VCT Americas.
We’re excited to announce that Ascension Americas will return to Brazil in 2025. The highlight of this year’s Road to Pro journey takes place in October in São Paulo, and we’ll share dates and ticket details soon. Today, we’re bringing you more details on the new Ascension format for the Americas.
PLAY-IN PHASE
In 2024, we announced updates to our promotion and relegation system, allowing invited teams to extend their stay in the International League if they perform well. At the end of Stage 2 of the International Leagues, invited teams—G2 and 2G in the case of VCT Americas—will be evaluated and slotted into a category based on their performance.
Following those criteria, an invited team can extend its spot in VCT Americas, compete in Ascension to defend it, or be relegated to Challengers.
Thanks to these new guidelines, we now face scenarios where two, one, or no invited teams enter Ascension, so we’ve adjusted the event format. The first significant change is expanding the main event to eight teams instead of six, as was the structure in previous years. We're introducing a Play-In to ensure we fill all eight slots and cover every invited-team scenario.
Three teams—the third seeds from Challengers in Brazil (BR), Latin America (LATAM), and North America (NA)—will face off in a single round-robin. Important: The Play-In only occurs if one or no invited team competes in Ascension. Note that:
If one invited team competes in Ascension, the top Play-In team advances.
If no invited team competes in Ascension, the top two Play-In teams advance.
If two invited teams compete in Ascension, the Play-In is skipped.
SWISS PHASE AND PLAYOFFS
The updates for 2025 go beyond the Play-In. For the first time in the tournament, eight teams will face off in a Swiss Phase. Teams that go 2–0 advance to Playoffs while teams that go 0–2 are eliminated. Four teams will qualify in total. All Swiss matches are best-of-three.
The Swiss Phase field features the six traditional Challengers teams—the top two from Brazil, Latin America, and North America—with the remaining two slots filled by invited teams and/or Play-In qualifiers, as explained above.
Round 1 is determined by a random draw (no same-region matchups). Prior results set subsequent rounds. Winners (1–0) face off for a spot in Playoffs, while losers (0–1) fight to avoid elimination in direct head-to-head matchups.
The four survivors enter a Double-Elimination Bracket in Playoffs—two losses, and you’re out. All matches in this stage are best-of-three, except the Lower Bracket Final and the Grand Final, which are best-of-five.
Note that the number of VCT Americas spots may vary starting in 2025. If only one team is relegated, the Grand Final winner will join VCT Americas next year. If both invited teams are relegated, both finalists secure League spots for 2026.
PRIZE POOL
In addition to securing promotion to VCT Americas 2026, Ascension Americas will award a $100,000 prize pool, divided among participating teams based on their final tournament standings at the end of the tournament.
