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The first-ever Valorant world champions will not be from Oceania as both teams from the region competing in the North America (NA) Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) have been ruled out of the event. ORDER and Chiefs Esports Club were set to compete in the upcoming LAN event and it looks like neither team will be able to make it to the event due to travel documentation issues and COVID-19 regulations.
The upcoming NA LCQ will include only eight North American teams. The updated bracket and schedule for the event will be available at a later date as Riot Games works towards making changes to the format. The Valorant Champions Tour NA Last Chance Qualifiers commence from 12th October, which will see one North American team make it to Valorant Champions.
Riot Games’ official statement about the NA/OCE LCQ
Riot Games said in an official statement on Twitter that it has been working to secure travel to and from Los Angeles for the Oceanic teams, following their qualification via the Valorant Oceania Tour. However, due to “COVID-19 regulations, travel documentation issues, and additional complex factors,” the publisher was not able to ensure that Chiefs Esports Club and ORDER can compete in the upcoming event and return home within a reasonable timeframe. Both organizations will be compensated by Riot Games due to the unfortunate outcome and in recognition of the teams’ efforts in the Valorant Champions Tour.
The upcoming event will be moved to an eight-team format and more details will be revealed in the near future. With the two Oceanic teams being removed, the competing teams include:
100 Thieves
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FaZe Clan
XSET
Luminosity Gaming
Rise
Cloud9 Blue
Gen.G Esports
The announcement comes shortly after 100 Thieves players talked about how unfair the format was as Riot Games implemented a single-elimination bracket, which means that the Oceanic teams could potentially get knocked out after just one best-of-three series. Coach Oliver "DickStacy" Tierney of the Australian organization Order joked about the format saying, “What do you mean bro? I reckon both Aussie teams are stoked to fly from beautiful Kangaroo land 16 hours + 21 days in quarantine for a potential single bo3 after 9 months of qualifiers.”
With both Oceanic teams out of the picture, North America is guaranteed to have one more representative at Valorant Champions to bring home the first-ever Valorant Champions Trophy.
