According to Riot Games, VALORANT Masters Shanghai will be a milestone tournament, in part because the tournament will adopt the format that the game's biggest competitor uses for its biggest events of the year.

Masters Shanghai is the first VCT event ever to be held in China. It will also be held in the largest venue ever for a VALORANT event at the Mercedes-Benz Arena and will see the introduction of a new map. But the tournament is also historic as it will be the first time that the Swiss system will be used as part of the format.

In a traditional Swiss stadium, teams are matched up against each other in the first round, and in each round, teams with the same record are played against each other. In the second round, the 1-0 teams play against each other, while the 0-1 teams play against each other. This continues until a team reaches the number of wins needed to advance or until the team has suffered enough losses that they are eliminated.

But in Shanghai, there will be an added aspect to the Swiss stage that will surely encourage teams to give it their all right away. The top four favorites who win each of the regional competitions will “have the power to choose their opponents, putting their fate in their own hands,” says Leo Faria, Global Head of VALORANT Esports. While this isn’t directly confirmed, it does suggest that the teams who win the stage one playoffs in their VCT competitions will advance directly to the Shanghai playoffs.