Valorant announces return of Pick’Ems for VCT Paris

Kieran Lynch, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 02/09/2025

Valorant has announced that Pick’Ems are returning for the upcoming Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) event in Paris.

VCT Paris begins on Friday, September 12th, and will feature 16 teams from across the world, competing for a $2.25m (£1.6m prize pool.

The return of Pick’Ems was revealed as part of the title’s 11.05 update notes published on Tuesday. This will be the build used for Valorant’s season-ending tournament in Paris, which will run until Sunday, October 5th.

What Are Pick‘Ems?

Pick’Ems is a popular prediction game where players predict the outcome of Valorant Champions matches to earn points and exclusive in-game rewards.

Starting on September 4th, fans can submit Pick’Ems predictions for group stage matches at VCT Paris via the Valorant game client or official website.

Points are rewarded for correct predictions, with bonus points for accurately guessing a team’s exact placement.

Pick’Ems proved to be a massive success at Valorant Masters Toronto in June, with 1.1 million predictions submitted.

In addition, Riot Games has introduced factions as another initiative for players to earn in-game rewards.

This allows players to join factions led by a content creator, with points earned during the group and playoff stages contributing to the faction leader’s score.

Valorant 11.05 patch notes

The Valorant 11.05 patch notes make changes to various elements of the popular title. This includes;

• Increased penalties for those who repeatedly AFK (away from keyboard) or dodge queues
• Harbour visual effects enhanced for improved clarity
• Visual noise while using the reckoning ability reduced to make it easier to see where the opponent is hiding
• Multiple agent-related bug fixes made to optimise gameplay for the tournament

VCT Paris 2025 dates and how to watch

The group stage for VCT Paris runs from Friday, September 12th to Monday, September 22nd.

 All 16 VCT Paris teams will compete in four double-elimination format (GSL) Groups. Every group stage match will be played in a best-of-three. 

Each group’s top two teams will advance to the playoffs which start on Thursday, September 25th and run until the October 5th grand final.

All playoff games are played in a best-of-three, except the Lower Bracket Final and Grand Final, which are best-of-five. 

Fnatic and Paper Rex will be among the favourites to win at VCT Paris with Valorant betting sites.

Paper Rex beat Fnatic to win VCT Toronto back in June, in a gruelling four-game final.

By taking victory, Paper Rex ended its ‘silver curse’ after coming second in the Valorant Champions in 2023 and Valorant Masters Copenhagen in 2022.

Kieran Lynch, Senior Editor

Kieran Lynch is an esports journalist who writes about several games including EA Sports FC 25, Call of Duty, Rainbox Six Siege, and more. He previously worked as a sports journalist for MailOnline.

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