Project Blender 2026

RIOT GAMES Inc., the owner of the game VALORANT (“VALORANT”) has engaged GOZULTING (“GOZULTING” or the “Tournament Operator”) to operate a VALORANT tournament called Project Blender (“the Tournament”).

GOZULTING is a French company registered in France, headquartered 18, rue Soleillet – 75020 Paris.

The Tournament is a structured and progressive tournament for players who are residents or citizens of the EMEA, as this notion is defined below. The Tournament to promote competitive excellence and player development in a community-driven environment.

The present rulebook (“the Rulebook”) outlines the competitive rules that apply to all phases of the Tournament. These include, but are not limited to:

• Eligibility and registration of Teams and Players.
• Teams inscription and modification rules.
• Match formats and structure.
• In-game conduct and dispute resolution.
• Technical operations and Tournament administration.

All Players must read and accept these rules before participating. Ignorance of the rules shall not be a valid defence in cases of infraction. Acceptance is implicit upon registration and match participation.

For the purposes of this rulebook, capitalised terms, either singular or plural, shall have the following definitions.

“BO1” – Means “Best of One” and refers to a Match played in a single Game.

“BO3” – Means “Best of Three” and refers to a Match where the winner is the first Team to win two Games. Therefore, a BO3 can consist of two or three Games. 

“BO5” – Means “Best of Three” and refers to a Match where the winner is the first Team to win three Games. Therefore, a B53 can consist of three, four or five Games. 

“Coach” – Refers to the person designated by a Team as their trainer and coach. Coaches may spectate Games and talk to their Players at certain points during a Game.

“EMEA” – Means “Europe, the Middle East and Africa” and refers to the following countries: Andorra; United Arab Emirates; Afghanistan; Albania; Armenia; Angola; Antarctica; Austria; Åland Islands; Azerbaijan; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Belgium; Burkina Faso; Bulgaria; Bahrain; Burundi; Benin; Saint Barthélemy; Bouvet Island; Botswana; Belarus; Congo (Democratic Republic); Central African Republic; Congo; Switzerland; Ivory Coast; Cook Islands; Cameroon; Cabo Verde; Curaçao; Cyprus; Czechia; Germany; Djibouti; Denmark; Algeria; Estonia; Egypt; Western Sahara; Eritrea; Spain; Ethiopia; Finland; Faroe Islands; France; Gabon; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Georgia; French Guiana; Guernsey; Ghana; Gibralta; Greenland; Gambia; Guinea; Guadeloupe; Equatorial Guinea; Greece; Guinea-Bissau; Heard Island and McDonald Islands; Croatia; Hungary; Ireland; Israel; Isle of Man; Iraq; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iceland; Itlay; Jersey; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Comoros; Kuwait; Kazakhstan; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Liberia; Lesotho; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Latvia; Libya; Morocco; Monaco; Moldova, Republic of; Montenegro; Collectivity of Saint Martin; Madagascar; Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of; Mali; Martinique; Mauritania; Malta; Mauritius; Malawi; Mozambique; Namibia; New Caledonia; Niger; Nigeria; Netherlands; Norway; Oman; French Polynesia; Poland; Saint 2 Pierre and Miquelon; Palestine, State of; Portugal; Qatar; Reunion; Romania; Russia; Serbia; Rwanda; Saudi Arabia; Seychelles; Sudan; Sweden; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Slovenia; Svalbard and Jan Mayen; Slovakia; Sierra Leone; San Marino; Senegal; Somalia; South Sudan; Sao Tome and Principe; Sint Maarten; Syrian Arab Republic; Swaziland; Chad; French Southern Territories; Togo; Tajikistan; Turkmenistan; Tunisia; Turkey; Tanzania, United Republic of; Ukraine; Uganda; Uzbekistan; Holy See; Wallis and Futuna; Yemen; Mayotte; South Africa; Zambia; Zimbabwe. 

“Game” – Refers to a game of VALORANT. A Game is won by the first Team to reach 13 (thirteen) points, with each round won earning one point, unless both Teams scored 12 (twelve points). If so, the Game goes into overtime and Teams keep playing until one Team is 2 (two) points ahead.

“GOZULTING” or “Tournament Operator” – Refers to GOZULTING SAS, a French company registered within the Paris Register of Trade and Companies (RCS), under the number 830 489 902, headquartered 18, rue Soleillet – 75020 Paris.

“Invited Teams” – Refers to Teams that are invited by GOZULTING and by RIOT GAMES Inc. to take part to the Tournament without having to qualify through the Open Qualifier.

“Match” – Refers to the matches that will be played during the Tournament and that are made of one (BO1) or several (BO3) Games.

“Participants” – Refers indifferently to any Player, Coach or Substitute.

“Players” – Refers to the Starting Players and to the Substitutes.

“Riot Account” – Refers to the personal account that each Participant must have in order to play RIOT games and, therefore, to be able to take part in the Tournament.

“Rulebook” – Refers to the present rulebook, which sets the rules and conditions for participating in the Tournament.

“Starting Players” – Refers to the main roaster of a Team, i.e. the 5 (five) Players initially designated to play the Matches of this Team.

“Substitute” – Refers to a person that is not a Starting Player but might become a Player if one of the Starting Players is unable to play for any reason whatsoever.

“Team” – Refers to the teams of Participants (including Substitutes and Coaches) that are taking part to the Tournament.

“Tournament” – Refers to the “Project Blender VALORANT tournament operated by GOZULTING, held between

“Tournament Officials” – Refers to any person under the authority of GOZULTING mandated to contribute to the organization of the Tournament.

This section describes the eligibility requirements applicable to the Participants.

Participants must:

• Have a valid main Riot Account.
• Be at least 16 (sixteen) years old as of 3 October 2026
• Be a citizen or a resident of an EMEA country as of 3 October 2026.
• Not be employees of GOZULTING, RIOT GAMES or their associated companies.

The Tournament is played exclusively by Teams. Players who meet the eligibility requirements described in this article must also meet the Teams’ requirements described in Article 3 to participate.

Players must be able to connect to the Frankfurt VALORANT servers, with a stable connection and a ping lower than or equal to 80ms.

No minimum skill level is required to participate. The tournament is open to players of all levels who meet the eligibility requirements.

Participants with active bans, severe conduct history, or prior disqualifications from RIOT or GOZULTING events may be deemed ineligible.

GOZULTING reserves the right to reject applications on these grounds.

This section describes the eligibility requirements for the Teams, including specific rules applicable to Coaches and Substitutes.

Each Team must consist of five (5) to ten (10) Players. The list of elligible Players on the team cannot be changed after registration.

If, for any reason, a team is missing one or more players and does not have a pre-designated substitute available to play a match, the team will automatically be considered to have forfeited the match in question.

Each Team may designate one (1) main coach for each match, who is permitted to communicate with players only during agent selection, map veto phases, and officially granted timeouts or between maps.

Coaches are locked in the team and cannot coach a different Team. Coaches may also be Substitute Players for their team. A Coach who plays as a Substitute can no longer have Coach status, for the duration of the substitution.

Coaches cannot register as starting Players or Substitute for any other Team.

GOZULTING and/or RIOT GAMES Inc. may invite one or more teams to participate to the Tournament.

Invited Teams and Invited Players will not necessarily be required to meet the eligibility requirements set forth in sections 2.1 and 2.2 of the Rulebook.

All Participants including Participants that are Invited by GOZULTING and/or by RIOT GAMES Inc. – must register for the Tournament on the dedicated website accessible through the following link: https://www.project-blender.com/en.

The maximum number of Teams that can register for Phase 01 is 256 (two hundred and fifty six). Once this quota has been reached, all subsequent registrations will be automatically rejected, and a waiting list will be set up in case of withdrawals.

Registration is only possible as a team. The first participant in the team to register is responsible for creating the team. Registration will only be definitively validated once the team is complete (at least 5 players, whether declared as starters or substitutes).

To complete their inscriptions, Participants must have a stable internet connection, allowing them to play VALORANT on the Frankfurt servers with a ping equal or inferior to 80ms (eighty milliseconds).

The tournament spans four key phases, as described within Article 4 below:

• Phase 01 – Open Qualifier: 3 October to 4 October 2026.
• Phase 02 – Robin Stage: 21 October 2026 to 24 October 2026.
• Phase 03 – Final Playoffs: 18 December 2026 to 20 December 2026.

All Teams are expected to respect the scheduled times for check-in, lobby presence, and match start as communicated by Tournament Officials.

All official times are communicated in Central European Time (CET/CEST). Any changes will be announced via the official tournament Discord or broadcast platforms.

Phase 01 is an Open Qualifier where up to 256 (two hundred and fifty six) Teams will play against each other to try to qualify for Phase 02.

Matches are BO1, single elimination.

Teams will be seeded to a tournament bracket.
Seeding will be carried out using the average rank of the team's top 5 players.

The top 2 (two) teams will qualify for Phase 02.

Teams will receive the necessary information from the Tournament Organiser on the official tournament Discord to create the lobby and will be responsible for preparing and running the match themselves.

Tournament Officials will be available to Teams via the official tournament Discord in case of any issues.

The second Phase of the Tournament will be played from 21 October 2026 to 24 October 2026. Matches will be played offline taking place at the Paris Games Week.

Phase 02 will feature a mix of invited teams and qualified ones from Phase 01

Teams will be divided into group. Groups will be determined by the group captains. Group captains are both teams qualified from the Phase 01. The groups determination will proceed as following :

• Team captain 1 (Phase 1 winner) will choose 1 of the invited teams to be in the Team captain 2 (Phase 1 second team)'s group; (5 invited teams remaining)
• Team captain 2 will choose 2 of the invited teams to be in the Team captain 1's group; (3 invited teams remaining)
• Team captain 1 will choose 2 of the invited teams to be in the Team captain 2's group; (1invited teams remaining)

• Last team goes into the Team captain 1's group

  -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

• Team captain 1 (Phase 1 winner) will choose 1 of the invited teams to be in his group; (5 invited teams remaining)
• Team captain 2 (Phase 1 second team) will choose 2 of the invited teams to be in his group; (3 invited teams remaining)
• Team captain 1 will choose 2 of the invited teams to be in his group; (1invited teams remaining)
• Last team goes into the Team captain 2's group

Each group will play a full round-robin of BO3 matches. As this Phase is played in a round-robin format, each Team will play against the other Teams of its group. Therefore, each teal will have to play against every other team in their group.

The first two teams from each group will automatically qualify for the Phase 02 playoffs (i.e. a total number of 4 (four) Teams progressing to Playoffs).

BO3 matches will be played using the Blender Draft format created as part of Project Blender.

In the event of a tie in match wins between Teams in the Round Robin group stage, Teams will be separate as follows:

• Head-to-head record. If tied teams played each other earlier in the Tournament, the one that won the confrontation will progress forward.
• Difference of Games won. The Team that won the most Games will progress forward. For reference, a BO3 Match is made of 2 or 3 Games.
• Difference of Rounds won. The Team that won the most rounds will progress forward

If a tie can be reduced using one of the above tie-breaking criteria, teams with the higher/lower score will be granted the higher/lower place(s) available. New tie-breakers will be declared between any remaining tied teams, with evaluation starting at the first applicable tie-breaker criteria (e.g. Head-to-head record).

If these criteria do not allow separating the Teams, a tiebreaker match will be organised between the Teams. This tiebreaker match will be played as a BO1 or a BO3, at the discretion of GOZULTING.

Playoffs – Four (4) teams will enter a single-elimination bracket to determine final placements and winners. Matches are BO3 for semi finals and BO5 for the Final.

The bracket will be established as follows:

• Seed 1 from Group A will face Seed 2 from Group B
• Seed 1 from Group B will face Seed 2 from group A

Both teams competiting in the Final will proceed to Phase 03. Final is played to determine the seeding for Phase 03.

Since the phase will take place at in Paris, Teams and Participants are invited to take all necessary measures to obtain a visa or other travel permit, allowing them to come to Paris.

The third and final Phase of the Tournament will be played from 18 December 2026 to 20 December 2026. Matches will be played offline taking place at the Palais Brongniart in Paris.

Phase 03 will feature a mix of invited teams and qualified ones from Phase 02.

Final Bracket – Eight (8) teams will enter a single-elimination bracket to determine final placements and winners. Matches are BO3 for quarters and semis, BO5 for the Grand-Final.

The bracket will be established as follows:

• Seed 1 chooses its opponent (or Seed 2’s opponent)
• Seed 2 chooses its opponent (or Seed 1’s opponent)
• 2 last matchs are drawn randomly

Since the phase will take place at in Paris, Teams and Participants are invited to take all necessary measures to obtain a visa or other travel permit, allowing them to come to Paris.

The total prize pool of the Tournament if €100 000 (one hundred thousand euros). It will be awarded between Teams, as specified below.

The prize pool will be split between phase 2 and phase 3, as follows:

Phase 2 (10 000€ [ten thousand euros) : 

• 1st - 2 000€
• 2nd - 1 000€
• 3rd - 700€
• 4th - 700€
• Each map rewards the winning team with 120€ (for the whole phase).
  
  Phase 3 (90 000€ [ninety thousand euros) : 
• 1st - 40 500€
• 2nd - 22 500€
• 3rd - 9 000€
• 4th - 9 000€
• 5th - 2 250€
• 6th - 2 250€
• 7th - 2 250€
• 8th - 2 250€

Prize money will be paid via bank transfer to each Team’s representative within 60 days following the tournament’s conclusion.

All Teams must submit a valid invoice or payment form, and may be subject to tax declarations under their local jurisdiction.

Players (including Coaches and Substitutes) are free to determine how to divide their earnings among themselves.

GOZULTING cannot be held liable in the event of a dispute between Players on this point. Similarly, GOZULTING will not be required to make individual transfers to each member of a given team.

Teams and Players may not display, promote, or associate with sponsors in the following categories:

• Alcohol
• Tobacco, CBD and vaping
• Gambling and betting
• Firearms and weapons
• Pornographic or adult content
• Cryptocurrencies and unregulated financial assets

All Teams’ sponsors must be declared and approved by GOZULTING prior to the beginning of the Tournament.

Jerseys, overlays, and online materials are subject to review and must comply with applicable branding guidelines.

Teams participating in any streamed or offline match must wear either their official jersey or neutral attire (black or dark top). Clothing must be free from offensive symbols or messages.

Sponsor logos must follow Riot’s placement standards and be cleared by the Tournament Operator.

Tournament Operator reserves the right to request alterations to any uniform item if found non-compliant with league standards.

Since Phase 01 is played online, Players will use their own equipment (computers, monitors, keyboard, mouse and mouse pads, headsets, webcams, etc.).

No equipment will be provided by the Tournament Operator for these matches.

For Phases 02 and 03, Players may use their own equipment, only for the following peripherals:

• PC Keyboard.
• Mouse, mouse pad and cord holder.
• Headseat  and earphones. (for matches out of stage)

All other equipment – including but not limited to: PC, monitors, headsets (for matches on stage) – will be provided to Players by the Tournament Operator.

If a Player does not wish to use their own equipment, they may request that the equipment listed above also be made available to them.

All player owned equipment must be submitted to GOZULTING for approval prior to the beginning of Phase 02 or 03. Approved equipment must remain on-site, under Tournament Operator supervision for the whole duration of Phase 02 and 03.

At its discretion, the Tournament Operator may refuse or disallow the use of any individual piece of equipment for reasons relating to Tournament security, safety or operational efficiency or effectiveness. If so, the Tournament Operator will provide a substitution equipment for the Player.

No Player-owned equipment may be brought into the Match Area if it features or displays any name, likeness or logo of a company or brand which is a competitor of Riot Games or VALORANT.

All official communications related to the Tournament will occur on the official tournament Discord.

Any information communicated by the Tournament Operator on the official tournament Discord shall be deemed to have been delivered to all Players and Teams.

It is therefore the responsibility of Players to monitor the official tournament Discord for updates including scheduling, rule clarifications, and match assignments.

Each Team must designate one captain. This individual serves as the point of contact between the Tournament Operator and the Team. The Team captain is responsible for:

• Checking in prior to matches.
• Submitting results.
• Relaying tournament information to the Team.

Direct messages to the Tournament Operator staff are prohibited unless initiated by the Tournament Operator.

Support requests must be posted in the official tournament Discord.

This Section sets out the rules applicable before the beginning of a Match.

Teams must enter the match lobby at least 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time. A grace period of 10 minutes will be granted for any connection issues.

After this, the Tournament Operator may declare the unconnected Team forfeit.

All lobbies will be configured as follows:

• Mode: Tournament Mode
• Overtime: Win by two
• Server: Frankfurt and/or Paris (unless otherwise specified by Tournament Operator or agreed between both Teams);
• Spectators’ slots: Admins only.
• Enable replay mode : True

Tournament will be played on the latest version of VALORANT.

Players must install the latest version of VALORANT – including the latest version of Vanguard, VALORANT’s anti-cheat system – prior to the beginning of their Matches.

Participants may be asked to install complementary anti-cheat clients or submit system logs. Failure to comply within the requested timeframe may result in match forfeiture or removal from the event.

Teams are permitted and encouraged to communicate vocally during Matches.

During Phase 01, Teams may use either TeamSpeak or Discord to communicate. During Phase 02 and 03, the Organization will provide a communication mean which will be obligated to use during the whole phases.

Coaches may only communicate with the Team during agent selection, map veto phases, and officially granted timeouts, as well as between maps. Therefore, they shall remain silent outside of authorised speaking times.

Substitutes are not allowed in the Discord server (and/or TeamSpeak server) used by the Players to communicate during a Match.

Teams must grant access to Tournament Officials – in particular administrators and referees – to the server they use to communicate prior to the Match. Tournament Officials may enter the Team’s communication server at any given time, without justification.

Map list:

• Abyss 
• Ascent 
• Haven 
• Lotus 
• Split 
• Summit 
• Sunset

Each time a Match of the Tournament is a BO1, the map on which the Match will be played will be determined as follows:

• Team A bans 1(one) map.
• Team B bans 1(one) map.
• Team A bans 1(one) map.
• Team B bans 1(one) map.
• Team A bans 1(one) map.
• Team B bans 1(one) map.
• Map 7 is the only map remaining.
• Team A picks side (either Attacker or Defender)
• The Team that will act as Team A or B for the purpose of this article will be determined by the top seed (on top of the bracket)

Map list:

• Abyss 
• Ascent 
• Haven 
• Lotus 
• Split 
• Summit 
• Sunset

Each time a Match of the Tournament is a BO3, the map son which the Match will be played will be determined as follows:

• Team A bans 1(one) map.
• Team B bans 1(one) map.
• Team A chooses map 1.
• Team B chooses the starting side of map 1.
• Team B chooses map 2.
• Team A chooses the starting side of map 2.
• Team A bans 1(one) map.
• Team B bans 1(one) map.
• Map 7 is the only map remaining.
• Team A picks side (either Attacker or Defender)
• The Team that will act as Team A or B for the purpose of this article will be determined by the top seed (on top of the bracket)

This section sets outs the rules applicable during a Match.

Each Team is allowed two (2) tactical timeouts during the first 24 (twenty-four) rounds (“Regulation”) of the map.

Each team will have a one (1) tactical timeout during the overtime.

A tactical timeout is a 60 (sixty) seconds timeout that may be asked during the first twenty (20) seconds of a buy phase Any timeout called after twenty seconds will be deferred to the next round, unless the next round is after the end of the half or the end of Regulation, in which case the Timeout will be spent with no additional time given.

Tactical timeouts are not side-related (i.e. a Team is free to take two tactical timeouts during the same half of the Match). However, Timeouts from Regulation not carry over to overtime.

If a tactical timeout is requested, please use it with the in-game option. Teams and coaches will then be able to communicate.

 Technical timeouts may be initiated by the administrators of the Match in the event of hardware or internet failure. Maximum duration is 10 (ten) minutes, unless otherwise authorised by the administrators of the Match.

If a Player disconnects mid-round, for any reason whatsoever, the Teams must continue to play unless a pause is authorised by the administrators of the Match.

The disconnected Player must reconnect as soon as possible. Extended disconnection may result in Match continuation without the Player.

If a player disconnects within 20 seconds of the start of a round and no one has suffered any damage, the round can be replayed.

A Match may only be restarted if a technical fault affects both teams or occurs before Round 3. Decisions rest with the Tournament Operator.

All bugs and unintended mechanics discovered during the Tournament must be reported to Tournament Officials immediately.

Teams should pause the game and submit a timestamp, match number, and full description of the issue.

Any team found abusing a known exploit or unreported bug will be subject to disqualification or forfeiture, depending on severity.

Team captains must submit the scoreline on the website. Screenshots are highly recommended for managing disputes.

Disputes must be raised within 15 minutes of match completion; it will be discretionary examined by Tournament Officials.

Phase 02 and 03 of the Tournament will be broadcasted live on VALORANT’s official Twitch channel (@valorant_fr) and Youtube channel (@theprojectblender). 

GOZULTING will be fully responsible for broadcasting the Tournament. “Cleans feeds” will also be available for those who wish to stream all or part of the tournament on their own channels. 

Participants are authorised to broadcast on their personal Twitch and/or YouTube channels, if they observe a delay of at least three (3) minutes between the Match and the stream, to prevent any form of cheating. Outside player's pov, broadcasting must be done exclusively through the coaching slot. 

To avoid any confusion, this means that the stream must be at least three (3) minutes behind the actual time of the Match. 

The Tournament Operator reserves the right to disqualify and ban from the Tournament any Participant and/or Team who would use their stream in any way to gain an unfair advantage or to cheat in any way. 

Participants may also re-stream GOZULTING’s official livestream if they are eliminated from the Tournament, and subject to GOZULTING’s prior validation. In order to obtain such Participants must fill in a specific form that will be communicated to them by GOZULTING in due time.

Participants username, Participants profile picture, as well as Teams’ names and logos must not contain or convey racists, antisemitic, homophobic, discriminatory or, more generally, hateful comments or comments contrary to public order.

Participants usernames, as well as Teams’ names and logos, must comply with the dispositions and values contained in RIOT Esport Global Code of Conduct Edition 2026, which is annexed and is an integral part of the Rulebook.

The Tournament Operator reserves the right to disqualify and ban from the Tournament any Participant and/or Team that fails to comply with the rules set forth in this article.

Participants are expected to uphold sportsmanship, fairness, and respectful conduct at all times. Abusive behaviour, hate speech, and threats are prohibited.

Players and teams may not publicly accuse others of cheating or criticise the event in a defamatory manner. Issues must be escalated privately.

Participants must respect RIOT Esport Global Code of Conduct Edition 2026, which is annexed and is an integral part of the Rulebook.

Any Participant found guilty of discrimination, doxxing, sexual or moral harassment, violent threats, or any other misconduct will be immediately disqualified and permanently banned from the Tournament.

Any Participant banned from the Tournament may also be banned from all or part of GOZULTING’s and/or RIOT’s future competition and tournament.

The Tournament Operator reserve the right to interpret, amend, and apply all rules as needed to preserve tournament integrity.

Any issue not explicitly covered will be handled case-by-case at the discretion of GOZULTING and designated referees.

In case of force majeure, GOZULTING may modify rules and tournament structure.

The present Rulebook is written in English and is governed by French law.

Any dispute relating to the interpretation or application of this Rulebook, as well as any dispute relating to the Tournament, shall fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of the competent courts located within the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal of Paris.

In addition to the above rules, participants agree to comply with the RIOT ESPORTS GLOBAL CODE OF CONDUCT.