Australian road to First Strike revealed with Rise of Valour

At the end of September, when First Strike was announced, we got to know the eight supported regions, among which was Oceania. The region received two Ignition Series events previously, ORDER Oceanic Open, and Rise of Valour, organized by Fortress Melbourne. After the announcement of First Strike, the latter informed the community about their involvement in the upcoming series of the global events and launched the pre-registration, with more details to be yet to shared.

Today, Fortress Melbourne revealed all information regarding the Oceanic road to First Strike, and similar to what’ve already seen in South Korea, it will consist of an independent series of tournaments, Rise of Valour, prior to the First Strike Regional Finals that will feature a $20,000 USD prize pool.

In order to participate in Rise of Valour, the players will have to play in the open qualifiers. There will be two occasions to do so: the first one is scheduled for next weekend, October 24th-25th, with the second one happening on October 31st and November 1st, 2020. Registration remains open until October 22nd, 2020.

The games on the first day of the open qualifiers will be played in a best-of-1 swiss format. The best 16 teams will advance to the second day of the competition where these squads will play best-of-3 matches in a double-elimination bracket. The best eight teams will immediately advance to First Strike qualifiers, while the losing eight teams will play another best-of-3 series to determine the final four teams joining the winners in the First Strike battle.

From both qualifiers, there will be a total number of 32 squads competing in the Regional Finals. However, according to the information provided by the organizers: “The number of qualifying teams is subject to change based on the number of teams invited at Riot Games' discretion.”

The main phase of Rise of Valour will be played across three weekends, starting on November 14th and ending on November 29th, where 32 teams will compete in a swiss format once again. The matches will be played as best-of-1, and once a squad faces defeat three times, they are out of the competition.

The final 16 teams will be divided into four groups and will advance to the Group Stage of the tournament. All games will be played in a best-of-3 format in a double-elimination bracket. The winners of each group in the upper bracket will earn themselves a spot in the First Strike Regional Finals, with the finalists of the losers bracket joining them later on.

The First Strike Regional Finals are scheduled for December 3rd-6th, 2020, where the best eight teams will battle for the championship title in the region.

Fortress Melbourne and Rise of Valour are the first ones to introduce a swiss system as a part of their First Strike competition. Even before, during the Ignition Series, we didn’t see such a format many times with European WePlay! VALORANT Invitational being the only one to do so. What do you think about such a setup? Do you think more regions should take an example from Australia, or maybe you prefer a more popular bracket system? Let us know!