Leo Faria says VCT 2027 won't have a tier 1 and tier 2 league

Riot's Global Head of VALORANT Esports, Leo Faria, says it's time to retire the old terminology. In a post on X, he asked fans to drop "tier 2" altogether. There's one tier now, he said, split only into partner teams and open teams. Leagues are gone too every competition on the calendar is simply a tournament.

Faria emphasized that the community is free to continue using the terms they’re accustomed to as they see fit this isn’t a ban, but rather Riot’s official stance on how the competition structure itself will be organized.

The community calls things whatever they want and that's perfectly fine. That said, my petition Let's abolish "tier 2". We have one tier with "partner teams" and "open teams". Also, no more "leagues". Everything is a tournament. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

The statement doesn't change anything Riot hasn't already said. It just puts new labels on a format the company outlined back in the spring. Here's what's actually changing in 2027:

• Partner teams. Each of the four regions gets 8 partners, 32 total. They still collect base pay, performance bonuses, and a cut of skin revenue. What they don't get anymore is a guaranteed seat at every event — teams that underperform drop into Open Playoffs and fight through qualifiers like everyone else.
• Cups replace leagues. Stage 1 and Stage 2 are gone. In their place: regional Cup tournaments, open only to teams that clear qualifiers. Cups are now the only road to Masters and Champions.
• Open teams get a real path. Any team can start the climb toward Champions through open qualifiers, running in 14 regions this time. Riot is promising at least 4 open slots per event.
• Money for teams outside the partner system. Qualify for a Cup and you get $100,000. Masters is worth $200,000. Champions pays $400,000. Riot's putting an extra $6 million into the prize pool for this open cycle.
• Kickoff opens up too. Qualifiers start this November, right after Champions in Shanghai, and any team can enter.

More online rounds means more worry about competitive integrity, and Faria addressed that directly.

His argument: open qualifiers aren't ranked. The anti-cheat kernel stays active throughout, but as players advance, they'll need to verify their identity with a government ID. You're not hiding behind an account anymore — and once the open stage ends, everything moves to LAN.

I see your concerns around competitive integrity with more online play in the VCT next year. We’ll share more soon about all the measures we’re putting in place to protect it. But there’s one important thing to understand: online does not mean anonymous. If you cheat in ranked, you’ll likely lose your account. Worst-case scenario, you get a hardware ID ban and can’t play VAL on that computer anymore. Now imagine doing that in a VCT Open Qualifier. All the same protections still apply, including our kernel-level anti-cheat. But there’s much more on the line. You’re competing as an individual, not just a random account. As you advance, you’ll need to verify your identity with a government ID.

Get caught cheating here, Faria said, and you're not just losing a game account. You're risking your shot at ever competing in VCT, and he made clear he'll personally see to long bans for anyone who tries it. For a player with real pro ambitions, he said, it's a stupid bet to make. As a reminder, the groups for Valorant Champions 2026 have been announced.