VCT Pacific returns with revamped Kickoff stage

MANILA, Philippines — The Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific opens its 2026 season with a new Kickoff tournament format: a triple elimination bracket.

"For Kickoff, we are introducing, for the first time ever, a triple elimination bracket. This means teams now have three strikes before they're out. We wanted to address one of the biggest points of feedback, which was the long gap between Kickoff and Stage 1. This period was especially long for those teams who weren't able to qualify for Masters, and so we took that into consideration and reduced the downtime with more matches to keep teams sharp and ready for the next stage,” Daving Hong, VCT Pacific product lead, explained during the tournament's press conference.

Previous Kickoff stages had a double elimination bracket, with many fans saying how short the stage was. The triple elimination format sees a longer Kickoff season with more matches for fans to tune in and gives teams ample time to adjust their strategies as the tournament progresses.

Notably, the triple elimination bracket will see the top three teams from the upper, middle and lower rounds booking their slot to Masters Santiago, meaning there will be no overall grand finals for the Kickoff stage.

Another new addition throughout all VCT regions is the Skirmish side selection. Previously, a coin toss decides which team gets to have the advantage on side selection. Now, the advantage in map selection is given via a best-of-five Skirmish mode with a focus on raw aim rather than luck.

Though the Kickoff stage of VCT Pacific will remain in South Korea, Riot Games has announced that the Stage 1 Finals will be happening in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam this May, an additional roadshow to what was previously announced that the Stage 2 Finals will be in Busan, South Korea around August.

"This'll be our first official Tier 1 VCT event in Vietnam, and I'm so excited to bring VCT Pacific to a new region within APAC. Bringing an event to Vietnam has actually been on our minds for quite some time. Our Vietnamese player community and viewers have been growing extremely rapidly over the past few years,” said Jake Sin, head of Valorant Esports for Asia Pacific.

Filipinos in VCT Pacific

At the tail end of 2025, back-to-back transfers were seen in numerous VCT Pacific teams with a few Filipinos also in the mix.

Rookie of the Year Patrick "PatMen" Mendoza, who made history as the first Filipino to win a VCT Pacific title and a Valorant Masters trophy. transferred to Global Esports. Meanwhile, his former team, Paper Rex, signed former Team Secret flex player Adrian Jiggs "invy" Reyes.

Federico "Papi" Evangelista departed Global Esports but was replaced with another local Challengers standout, Xavi "Xavi8k" Juan, while Team Secret retained Filipino Kelly "kellyS" Sedillo and sees the return of Jessie "JessieVash" Cuyco into the active roster while promoting former Team Secret Academy coach Jose Carlo "Rbtx" Jamir to the head coach position.

The Kickoff stage of VCT Pacific begins on Thursday, January 22, with Team Secret against South Korea's Nongshim RedForce at 4 p.m. (Manila time). Global Esports will take on South Korea's Varrel the following day, while Paper Rex awaits the winner of that match-up for their own clash on January 25.