Valorant: Riot Issue Clarity on Icebox And Skye Use for First Strike Event

Valorant’s esport scene is growing, and the hype is building towards the Riot’s first-ever Valorant tournament, First Strike.

The event is going to be massive for the game as it is one of the first open events that offers every team in every region their shot at qualifying for the event.

With the hype mounting, players are wondering what exactly the rules are for new maps and Agents in the esport scene, and there is an answer.

What Will Be Used At First Strike?

The community has been asking Riot how exactly maps and Agents get to enter competitive tournaments. On Twitter, the official Valorant account posted: “As we’ve communicated to teams and players; new agents will be available two weeks in ranked queue, and new maps four weeks in ranked queue.”

... barring any major issues, our new agent, Skye will be eligible for use in the First Strike Qualifiers starting November 9th, and Icebox will enter the official tournament rotation on November 24th.

— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT)

October 21, 2020

The timeframe places Skye as competitively viable for November 9, which means she is eligible for use in the First Strike qualifiers.

Icebox is a little different. The map is technically still not officially released yet, as the map is due to leave its beta phase on October 27 with patch 1.12. This places Icebox as a competitive esport map on November 24.

Icebox will be available in the First Strike event, but not accessible for most of the event until the Finals take place on December 3 – 6.

This is standard practice for Riot Games. Their other big esports title, League of Legends follows a similar rule set for their newly released Champions.

Typically, new Champions are to sit on the shelf for three weeks during regular season fixtures. But if champions release a few patches before major events, then they too sit out of the competition.

These are not the only major rules that esport players follow for First Strike. Riot Games recently published their ruleset for the competitive scene.

The document details all the need to knows for the esports scene to have its integrity. These new rules for Agents and Maps are part of the process of ensuring a better competitive environment.