The Guard Won’t Be Included in the 2024 'Valorant' Champions Tour — Here’s What Happened

The Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) is the most prestigious tournament associated with Riot Games’ competitive shooter. Teams around the world are always eager to see if they qualify for the event, with some of the biggest names in the industry duking it out for a spot on the list.

Unfortunately, it sounds like one Valorant team, The Guard, will miss out on VCT Americas 2024 despite qualifying for the event.

So, what exactly happened? Why is The Guard not in the 2024 Valorant Champions Tour? Here’s everything you need to know about the unique situation.

While The Guard qualified to compete in the 2024 Valorant Champions Tour, the team didn’t submit the proper paperwork on time. That means despite being among the best Valorant clubs in the world, The Guard won’t be featured in the 2024 VCT Americas League.

“After several months and rounds of communication with The Guard, the organization has failed to meet the deadline to agree to the Team Participation Agreement for VCT Americas,” reads a statement from Valorant Esports NA. “As a result, The Guard will not be participating in the 2024 VCT Americas League. No team will be promoted to VCT Americas and the league will field 20 teams for the upcoming season.”

This is a massive blow to the organization and its players, as the team wasn’t invited to compete during the 2023 tournament. That forced them to fight through the Challengers League in an attempt to claim a spot in the 2024 season — which they accomplished, only to be left out due to communication issues with the organizers for 2024 VCT.

Leo Faria, head of Valorant, was quick to show his disappointment with the situation.

“We’re very disappointed on behalf of the players who competed the whole season and won’t be able to qualify as a team due to circumstances beyond their control. As painful as it is to make this decision, we have a responsibility to protect the integrity of the sport and will always do what’s best for the long term," the statement read.

In an attempt to get help with the situation, JoshRT, coach of The Guard, reached out to two unexpected stars — Ben Affleck and Elon Musk. The coach notes both celebrities are fans of Valorant, and he was hopeful one of them would be able to pull a few strings and get the players into the tournament (possibly even as a whole new team called X Gaming).

It seems there’s nothing to be done for The Guard, and the crew will be left on the sidelines watching 2024 VCT.

As expected, the team wasn’t happy to hear the news. One member, Jonah “JonahP” Pulice posted on social media that they were “devastated” and all the team’s hard work was “stripped away” due to circumstances outside their control.

It’s highly unlikely the decision will be reversed in the coming months, but since we’re still a ways off from the start of 2024 VCT, we’ll hold out hope that something changes and these elite players find a way into the tournament.