VALORANT’s new team-based tournament mode is live.
Riot Games have finally added a working Premier Open Beta Tournament in the Episode 6 Act 3 update. The VALORANT Devs are looking to test the current version of Premier before they fully launch later this year, and what better way to do that than to host a mini-tournament?
We have outlined everything you need to know about the Premier Open Beta in this quick guide.
What is VALORANT Premier Open Beta?
Premier Open Beta is a test launch of VALORANT’s newest game mode, Premier. In this tournament-based game mode, players can form teams, compete in weekly matches, and compete with other teams to be crowned the best VALORANT team in their respective Divisions.
Players can form teams with friends and other players regardless of their Competitive Ranks. The Premier matchmaking algorithm will automatically determine the best Division for teams based on the average skill of an entire team.
Teams will play each other in a weekly best-of-one match to earn Premier Score. Premier Score will determine the team’s eligibility to join the Playoff Tournament at the end of the Open Beta.
For now, the Premier Open Beta tournament calendar is shortened and will only serve as a test mule for the full-release version of Premier. As such, team stats and accolades will not be kept, and players will only be able to experience a shorter yet still competitive tournament setting.
Requirements to Join the VALORANT Premier Open Beta
You need to meet a few requirements before creating your very own Premier team and participating in Weekly Matches.
Requirements
Before anything else, you and your teammates must have verified accounts to join Premier. You can verify your accounts by linking your accounts’ phone numbers to your respective accounts through the Premier event page.
- Access the Premier Hub in-game by clicking the Premiere button next to ‘Custom.’
- Click on ‘Verify’
- Enter your area code and phone number. You should receive a text message containing your confirmation code.
- Enter the confirmation code in the verification screen.
- Done.
A second requirement is an account that has, at one point, completed placement matches at any point in the account’s lifetime. You cannot use a new account that has not completed placement matches, as this is a common workaround that Smurfs might try and use to get an advantage.
Restrictions
Players can only join one Team per account but can team up with other players regardless of ranking. However, after players have established their team, they can only invite other players with a ranking that will not affect their Division placement.
You can enroll and unenroll your team at any time as long as it is before the Enrollment cutoff time. Teams that miss the Enrollment period cannot participate in the Open Beta Test Tournament.
How to Join the VALORANT Premier Open Beta Test Tournament
A Premier Open Beta Test Tournament will be held on May 3 for all Zones in VALORANT. The devs will use this Test Tournament to ensure Premier services are stable enough to host the Playoff Tournament.
After all team members have verified their accounts, you can create your team by clicking the ‘Create Team’ button on the Premier page.
Type in the Team Name and Team Tag to give your team its unique identity.
After you’ve settled on a Team Name and Team Tag, choose your Team Logo in the next window:
Your VALORANT Premier Team is now created.
The next step is to invite players to your team. You can do this by pressing the ‘Invite Teammate’ button on the right-hand side of the Team options menu.
Once you have a complete team, you can enroll your team and join Premier Weekly Matches.
Premier Tournament Mechanics
Premier Tournaments in the Open Beta will differ slightly from the full version. Check out the Premier Tournament and Match Mechanics below to better understand how you can qualify for the Playoff Tournament and how matches work in Weekly and Tournament Matches.
Tournament Mechanics
Premier Weekly Matches is where teams can earn and accumulate points to qualify for the Playoffs. Teams can play up to two matches per week in Premier. Match schedules for each Zone are shown in the Premier hub.
For now, weekly matches are played in a best-of-one series, where Winning teams earn 100 Points for every weekly match win, and Losing teams get 25 Points in a loss. To qualify for the Playoffs, teams will need to accumulate 375 Points.
Teams that lose in the main bracket will be moved to the Consolation bracket, where teams can compete for 3rd place.
Match Mechanics
Premier matches are similar to Matchmaking rules, where teams play the Attacking and Defending sides at round start and switch at Halftime. The biggest difference in Premier matches is the Overtime mechanics and a Map Pick-and-Ban System.
Premier Overtime rules introduce a new overtime mechanic called Overtime Priority – a privilege given to the first team to win 12 rounds in the match. The Team with Overtime Priority can choose their Starting Side for Overtime rounds through a voting system.
To win Overtime, teams must win two consecutive rounds, where teams swap sides each round. If teams have already played two sets of Overtime Rounds (4 rounds played), Overtime will go into Sudden Death, where the team with Overtime Priority plays the side they chose at the start of Overtime.
In Tournament matches (Playoff), teams will take turns banning maps in the Pick-and-Ban phase. Players of each team can vote on maps to ban, and the party leader locks in the team’s choice. This process will alternate between teams until a map is chosen, and the team that did not choose the map will be given the choice to Attack or Defend.
VALORANT Premier Start/Stop Time
The Premier Open Beta runs from April 25 to May 23. Players can enroll their teams from April 25-28 and start competing in Weekly Matches from April 29 to May 20. The top teams will then duke it out in the Playoff Tournament starting May 21.
Remember that you need to enroll your team to participate in Weekly Matches. If you miss the Enrollment Period, your team will no longer be able to join the remainder of the tournament duration.
In addition, Premier Matches have specific Queue Windows that you need to enter to play matches. Miss the Queue Window, and you cannot join a Premier match.
Learn more about the Premier Global Open Beta in the official FAQ notes here.
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