With the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) just about set to present its first international Masters event to feature a live audience, now is perhaps as good of a time as any to ponder the scheduling possibilities of the fledgling esport moving forward.
In any competitive environment, playing in front of a live audience is, of course, just as impactful on the game as it is on the entertainment value.
As such, with the VCT having already incorporated Reykjavík, Berlin, Copenhagen and Istanbul into the mix over two years pre-franchising — in a scene where there’s truly been plenty of competitive parity across a handful of regions — it’s certainly exciting to think about where Valorant’s finest will congregate next.
DBLTAP spoke with several of the game’s best players from FaZe Clan, 100 Thieves and Ghost Gaming during the VCT Stage 2: Challengers NA Playoffs to get their thoughts on a simple question: Where would your dream VCT LAN event take place? Here’s what we found.
When the [True Idols] rise, the False Gods are revealed for what they are. Where will you stand?
watch #VALORANTMasters Copenhagen: July 10-24.
For matches and schedules visit https://t.co/x0RrVbtdI9 pic.twitter.com/VXTkYrzypm— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) July 5, 2022
Kicking things off, FaZe’s fragging duo of Andrej “babybay” Francisty and Quan “dicey” Tran did not waste much time before coming up with their answers.
“My dream Masters or Champions event would have to take place in Dubai,” babybay told DBLTAP. “That would be freaking ridiculous. That would be so cool.”
“Probably somewhere in Asia,” dicey said. “Probably Korea or Japan. Those would be pretty nice. There’s a lot of things to do. Just a nice place.”
Noted anime buff 100T Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk similarly pinpointed his interest in visiting Japan, but also revealed he would absolutely welcome the opportunity to make the trip to the site of this year’s Valorant Champions event in September.
“I’ve always wanted to be in Istanbul,” Asuna said. “That’s a pretty cool place to be because like the history behind this stuff and I’m pretty [much a] history nerd. That seems like one of the cities that I’ve wanted to visit in my life and going there as an event would be pretty f—— sick because you’re there with the boys and it’s not like just a thing. Then, obviously, Tokyo is pretty cliche but you know any, really, Asian city would be kind of dope no matter what it is. But that was like the first name that would pop out to my head.”
So Japan is hosting a live All Stars event for VALORANT featuring ZETA DIVISION, other top players and some of the biggest personalities in the scene
This is the crowd
Bring us Tokyo Masters pic.twitter.com/5QfHQriyiu
— The Esports Writer (@FionnOnFire) May 7, 2022
Meanwhile, Ghost Alex “aproto” Protopapas also dug a bit into his personal background to find the inspiration for his ideal event.
“It would have to be either Greece or Korea,” aproto said. “My family is Greek and I’ve never been there, so I think it’d be really cool to visit. And, I don’t know. Korea looks really beautiful so I think I’d love to visit.”
Picture of me during greek school where I attended for only 3 months 😎 pic.twitter.com/iukBICFjSw
— GHOST aproto (@OfficialAproto) June 25, 2022
Lastly, 100T Derrek Ha seemingly was the lone pro of the bunch who signaled his desire to see some VCT action unfold right at home on American soil.
“In LA,” Derrek said. “Just because that’s where I grew up and yeah, it’d be insane playing for a crowd and knowing all of my family could come.”
For more on Valorant, feel free to check out our 2022 VCT coverage: