Riot Games has announced a major new feature for the upcoming 2025 VALORANT Game Changers Championship, introducing Pick’Ems powered by AWS for the first time in tournament history. Starting November 13 at 9 AM PT, the prediction challenge gives fans a chance to test their esports knowledge before the championship starts in Seoul on November 20.​
The Pick’Ems system lets fans predict the outcome of every match in this double-elimination tournament, while competing with friends for bragging rights and climbing the daily leaderboards. Picks lock 20 minutes before the very first match of the tournament, at approximately 12:20 AM PT on November 20, adding a sense of urgency to those last-minute strategies.​
Rewards Structure
Riot has designed a tiered rewards system to incentivize participation. Just making one pick earns players the “Aura Farming” title, while finishing in the top 50% of participants unlocks the Pocket Killjoy buddy charm. More competitive players who manage to reach the top 20% also get the upgraded Golden Pocket Killjoy buddy. The ultimate achievement of predicting every match correctly allows participants to have the exclusive “100%” title.​
The championship itself boasts 10 elite teams competing from six major regions: North America, EMEA, Brazil, LATAM, Pacific, and China. Two-time defending champions Shopify Rebellion Gold lead a stacked field featuring G2 Gozen, Karmine Corp GC, Team Liquid Brazil, and Korean representatives Ninetails, who will compete in front of their home crowd.​
Predictions can be made on the VALORANT Esports website or through the in-game Esports Hub. For Riot, this is one more way of investing in fan engagement, turning passive viewership into active participation with real, in-game rewards pegged to the accuracy of their predictions.
