Vainglory Premier League: 2018 Challenger Series

Vainglory Premier League

A new challenger approaches!

The VPL Preseason is kicking off in just under a month while the Challenger Series for North America and Europe will be spinning up soon after. Running alongside both the preseason and main season of the VPL, Challengers gives aspiring players the opportunity to test their skills against one another for a chance to make it into the VPL in 2019, or perhaps even earlier!

Let’s take a look at how Challengers will run in 2018…


CHALLENGER SERIES 

Challengers will consist of four online tournaments in which teams compete for prize money (TBA) and ultimately enough points to qualify them for the Challenge Battles at the end of the season.


WHAT THE FORMAT LOOKS LIKE (NEW)

Challengers presents a 16-team bracket, single-elimination tournament where players compete in the following format:

  • All series are Best of 3
  • Each tournament lasts for 3 weeks
    • Week 1 | Round of 16
    • Week 2 | Quarterfinals
    • Week 3 | Semifinals & Finals
  • Tournaments 1 & 2 | Game wins are worth 1 point
    • Maximum of 8 points for the Winner
  • Tournaments 3 & 4 | Game wins are worth 2 points
    • Maximum of 16 points for the Winner

TEAM SELECTION CRITERIA 

The selection criteria consists of evaluating the following:

  • A team’s past competitive performance(s)
  • A player’s past competitive performance(s)
  • Average MMR (matchmaking rating) of the 5 players on the starting roster. (The MMR/skill tier of subs does not impact this average, so teams should not hesitate to have backups or emergency subs.)

CHALLENGE BATTLE QUALIFIERS (NEW)

After Tournament 4 concludes, the top 4 teams (based on points accumulated from all Challenger Series tournaments) will enter an online, single-elimination qualifier to determine which 2 teams move on to the Challenge Battles.

Format as Follows:

  • All series are Best of 3
  • Series A – 1st seed plays 4th seed
  • Series B – 2nd seed plays 3rd seed
  • Winning team from each series moves on to Challenge Battles

For information on how the Challenge Battles work, you may read about it in our previous Vainglory Premier League post HERE.


DATES TO REMEMBER 

  • All games will be played on Tuesdays & Thursdays
  • Tournament 1 starts on May 1st
  • Tournament 2 starts on June 5th
  • Tournament 3 starts on July 10th
  • Tournament 4 starts on August 14th
  • Challenge Battle Qualifiers start on September 18th
  • European Challenge Battles begin on October 4th
  • North American Challenge Battles begin on October 11th
  • Specific start times will be announced by VIS / VGL

PROSPECTIVE TALENT (NEW)

A team that qualifies for the finals in any of the four Challenger tournaments allows its players to declare their desire to be placed on an official “Prospective Talent” list. This list will be accessible initially to all VPL teams as a helpful way of scouting players, and eventually publicly on the upcoming Vainglory Esports website.

A few things to note:

  • This is not a requirement, therefore players that qualify may waive their right to be placed on this list.
  • If a player declares to be placed on the Prospective Talent list, this does not restrict them from competing in future Challenger tournaments.

SIGN-UPS

You can sign up for the Challenger Series relevant to your region by clicking one of the links below. Also, make sure to follow VIS League & Vaingloryleague at their twitter handles for more information in the coming season.


VIS LEAGUE

North America Sign-Ups:

https://bit.ly/2pPHRsA


VAINGLORYLEAGUE

European Region Sign-Ups:

https://www.vaingloryleague.com