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Update (October 15th 2024): MistGames, organisers of the Valorant esports league for the UK and Nordics region – Challengers North: Polaris – is calling on others to run side tournaments in 2025.
It said in a statement: “While the path to pro will stay the same, MistGames will be looking at opening up for other third-party tournament organisers to host tournaments which are not connected to the Path to Pro in Northern Europe whether that is locally, nationally, regionally, offline or online.
“Teams participating in Challengers North will also be allowed to play in these tournaments as long as they do not conflict with our schedules in Challengers North and Eclipse.
“Tournament organisers, community event organisers or other companies who are interested in creating tournaments in Northern Europe can reach out to us via [email protected].”
Original article (August 16th 2024):
The Valorant esports league for the UK and Nordics region – Challengers North: Polaris – has resetted as it focuses on organisations over free-agent rosters.
MistGames, organisers of Polaris, published a statement today on the league’s official Twitter page, saying: “Challengers North: Polaris will reset. This means all slots which are currently claimed by teams will not automatically continue into the next season.
“A slot in Challengers North: Polaris and [its promotion/relegation tournament] Eclipse can only be acquired by teams who are signed under a legal entity, the company or organisation will need to submit documentation to MistGames which proves their legitimacy.
“Six slots will be available through a vetting process and two slots will be available through Eclipse, which starts in early November.”
All teams will need to be signed to an organisation that meet the vetting requirements, including the two teams that progress through Eclipse.
In the most recent Challengers North: Polaris season, Split 2 in 2024, there were a mix of org-less rosters and small-to-medium sized orgs taking part.
These included free agent rosters SweetNSour, OnlyFins, Requiem and apinaorkesteri, as well as orgs such as Metizport, Formulation Gaming, NXT and Apeks. The latter are the biggest org in the league, and won the recent season. Their parent company also owns the tournament operator of Polaris, MistGames.
The move away from org-less rosters and towards registered companies mirrors Riot Games’ previous decisions for League of Legends leagues in the UK and Europe.
League of Legends’ old Forge of Champions tournament in the UK did that back in 2018, and it did lead to slightly more reliability and professionalism in the scene at the time.
The news comes a few months after Challengers North: Polaris had a rebrand, and a few weeks after a new grassroots Valorant United Kingdom Circuit (VUKC) was announced.
It also comes a few days after Riot announced Valorant VCT Off-Season events, including Women in Esports’ Lioness Cup for the EMEA region from October 19th to 25th.
Community reacts to resetting of Valorant Challengers North: Polaris league, as MistGames explains changes
Here are a few tweets and comments reacting to the news, as well as comments from Bo ‘BoDork’ Hoogland, Social Media and Esports Strategy Manager for Challengers North: Polaris and its organisers MistGames.
Player daki said: “Very smart move for a region that literally no one wants to invest in and is 63% unsigned teams.”
Another player, nixoon said: “Dissapointing news. Gonna be rough to see several teams in choke hold from no salary organisations.”
Resolve COO Jeff Simpkins added: “This is positive for the overall growth of the league provided decent orgs get involved.”
Bo ‘BoDork’ Hoogland, Social Media and Esports Strategy Manager for Challengers North: Polaris and its organisers MistGames, said: “This change does not come lightly, but we’ve worked this entire year to ensure these changes will be as positive as possible for the growth of Northern Europe.
“All of these changes and more are made with a lot of feedback in mind from different people to ensure we keep ourselves on the right track.
“MistGames wants Northern Europe to flourish in the long-term and we will be here for the long run.
“This process has been in the works for a long time behind the scenes and we’ve actively been taking feedback from organisations and players during the entire process.
“Valorant Northern Europe is getting an overhaul to improve path to pro in the region, these changes along with the Beacon changes and other soon-to-be-announced changes are made to give Northern Europe a fresh new start.”
Orgs interested in entering Challengers North: Polaris can read this application process post, or email [email protected] for more details.
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.