Order is set to host the Order Oceanic Valorant Open as the very first Oceanic Valorant Ignition Series event from July 17 to July 26, the Australian organisation confirmed on Friday.
On June 16, Riot Games announced their intentions to host more than 20 partnership events with esports organisations around the world, in an effort to set the foundations of Valorant’s competitive environment.
At the time, events in Europe and Japan were unveiled. Soon after, North America’s pro-am tournament, hosted by T1 Entertainment & Sports, was added to the slate.
Melbourne organisation Order has now joined the party too with the official announcement of the Order Oceanic Valorant Ignition Series Showdown, the first of two “massive” regional Valorant events Order has planned over the next few months.
The Order Oceanic Valorant Open, presented in partnership with Logitech G, boasts a hefty $10,000 AUD prize purse. On top of that, the newly-announced OCE-tournament will have a “laser focus” on developing the region’s local competitive grassroots ecosystem, Order said in their official June 26 release.
The Order-hosted event will begin on Friday, July 3 with open qualifiers, which are set to run until July 13. The tournament will be run in a three-round Swiss format during the qualifier stage, which is designed to host up to 1,024 entrant teams.
From there, the top 16 qualifier teams will be seeded into a double elimination group stage, which will be hosted from July 17-19.
The Oceanic Valorant Open will then split into single-elimination playoffs from July 22. The finals series will be played in a best-of-three format across three days. The grand finale of the historic Valorant event is currently penned in for Sunday, July 26.
This is “a very exciting moment” for Order, and Oceanic esports as a whole, the Melbourne org’s head of operations Naithan “inveigh” Briffa told Snowball Esports ahead of the official announcement on Friday evening.
“To be able to host the first Valorant Ignition Series event in Oceania is a great privilege to be awarded, and I am very hopeful that this will generate an enormous appetite for competitive Valorant at the grassroots level in Australia and New Zealand,” he said.
“To that end, we proposed a tournament that is rather unique in scale, design and approach when compared to what has been announced previously in the Valorant Ignition Series, and I can’t wait for it all to get underway.”
Looks like @aliStair_CS is talented in any game he plays 😳
— ORDER (@ORDER_army) June 25, 2020
LIVE: https://t.co/x3KqbR2mlu pic.twitter.com/sCFhm5KsK0
Order and fellow Logitech G family members Mindfreak played a Valorant showmatch, pitting their CS:GO and Overwatch squads against each other
Order’s focus on developing grassroots talents doesn’t just apply to the players aiming to become the region’s first wave of Valorant stars during the Oceanic Open either.
The tournament will be streamed on Order’s Twitch channel, the org confirmed, with “a diverse mix of the best casting talent in Oceania.” Order is inviting community casters to apply to also cast games on their own channels throughout the event.
Order general manager Jake “Spawn” Tiberi, who has made a name for himself as a top-tier caster in League of Legends esports at Riot-hosted events like the World Championship, said the org is already on the lookout for community casting talent.
“We are hoping the Oceanic Valorant Open will allow everyone to get involved, whether you are playing or casting,” Tiberi told Snowball. “We are inviting anyone to apply to cast the Swiss stage and will be looking for talent to cover groups to finals in the process.”
Riot Games is expected to support Ignition Series events with amplification through multiple publishing channels, including a dedicated landing with updated schedules and guidance for all regional tournament organizers to “provide the best event possible.”
Sign-ups for the Order Oceanic Valorant Open are open now. Register your interest in playing or casting in the Valorant Ignition Series at order.army/IGNITION.
