With the release of Promod Esports’ new Northern European Valorant community, Icebox, it has launched an open tournament ecosystem for the UK, Ireland and Nordic regions.
Following UK-based esports tournament organiser and agency Promod Esports’ successful operating the Valorant UK&I Skirmish in June 2021, it’s now launched a community hub for Northern European Valorant.
Icebox is a new Northern European Valorant esports community, home to the Northern Classic and the Northern Frenzy tournaments.
The Northern Classic provides teams with two opportunities to qualify through open qualifiers organised via ChallengerMode. The first Northern Classic qualifiers will take place on October 18th and 19th, with another opportunity to qualify for the main event on October 23rd and 24th.
The top four teams from each qualifier event will be seeded into the main event which will run from November 1st to 21st, with a prize pool of £20,000.
The Northern Frenzy cups provide regular amateur competition for teams wanting to get their competitive fix. There will be weekly tournaments running from October 21st to November 11th, with finals taking place on the weekend of November 13th.
Teams in this tournament will earn points based on their placement in each weekly cup, with a monthly prize pool of £500. Teams are able to compete in both the Northern Classic and the Northern Frenzy cups.
“We’re extremely excited about this competition being run by Promod Esports. It’s great to have competitive opportunities for local Valorant players and teams in the UK, Ireland and Nordics.”
Will Buck, Riot Games
Icebox has partnered with long-standing esports industry supporter Intel in order to power the tournament and will also be joined by Logitech G and AOC Gaming as suppliers for both the Northern Classic and Northern Frenzy.
“We’re thrilled to have been chosen by Riot Games to run the Northern Classic and Northern Frenzy competitions and we can’t wait to watch some of the best teams in Europe compete for their share of £20,000,” said Promod Esports’ CEO and founder, Rob Black.
“Promod Esports has always been about providing opportunity to the esports community, and we’re very excited about how Icebox and the upcoming tournaments will provide a platform for teams, players and talent to shine in the Northern European region.”
Riot Games senior brand manager Will Buck added: “We’re extremely excited about this competition being run by Promod Esports. It’s great to have competitive opportunities for local Valorant players and teams in the UK, Ireland and Nordics. We’re hoping to see participants from these tournaments develop and progress with an ambition to make their way to the upper echelon of Valorant in the future.”
Promod recently joined the Esports Integrity Commission to combat corruption during tournaments.
The finals for the Northern Classic will be broadcast on Icebox’s Twitch channel on November 19th, 20th and 21st, where the top four teams from the group stages will compete.
Team sign ups for the Northern Classic are live on ChallengerMode now. For more details about the upcoming Northern Frenzy, you can join the Icebox community hub on Discord.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
