Out of the ten APAC Last Chance Qualifier teams, who will accompany Vision Strikers, Crazy Raccoon, and Team Secret at Champions?
VALORANT Champions is the final event in the 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour circuit, assembling teams from around the globe competing one last time in the most stacked event of the year. It’s the culmination of 27 Challengers and 3 Masters events across regions that were held over this year. Sixteen teams will compete against the best of the best from six different regions – the champions will be crowned as VALORANT’s strongest squad of the year.
There are still four open positions, one of which is designated for the Asia-Pacific region. The VCT APAC Last Chance Qualifier provides ten teams below one final opportunity to qualify for Champions:
🇸🇬 Paper Rex | 🇮🇩 BOOM Esports |
🇹🇭 FULL SENSE | 🇯🇵 REJECT |
🇯🇵 Northeption | 🇯🇵 FENNEL |
🇰🇷 NUTURN Gaming | 🇰🇷 DAMWON Gaming |
🇮🇳 Global Esports | 🇰🇷 F4Q |
Changes made in the lead-up to the VCT APAC Last Chance Qualifier:
- Paper Rex acquire Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie from Team SMG, while Zhang Teng “shiba” Toh moves to substitute
- BOOM Esports sign Rafi “frostmind” Diandra from XcN Gaming to replace Sheldon “NcSlasher” Andersen
- NUTURN Gaming bring in Yoon “Hyeoni” Hyun-seok to replace the vacancy left by Choi “10X” Jin-woo
- Global Esports unveil Josh “shinobi” Abastado as the team’s coach
During the break:
- Paper Rex were able to steal a map off of Turkey’s SuperMassive Blaze during their stay in Berlin and put up a good fight against both the Turkey squad and Vision Strikers throughout the group stage
- F4Q were able to take a map off each from Sentinels and G2 Esports in Berlin. The stream team finishes 9th-12th place in the final Masters event of the year
- China withdrew from the APAC Last Chance Qualifier due to “logistical issues that have the potential to impact the overall competitive integrity of the tournament”
- ZETA DIVISION withdrew in order to rebuild the squad and concentrate on the 2022 season
- Global Esports had planned a bootcamp in Thailand ahead of the APAC LCQ but were unable to obtain a visa in time; they will instead compete from India.
What we are still waiting for:
- REJECT’s replacement for Yuma “Dep” Hisamoto
* UPDATE: Kazuki “SamuraiDeeper” Nouno joins as a tryout, while Skeeyy stands in for HaReeee. - The prize pool value of the APAC LCQ
ALSO READ: Bleed eSports announce UwU signing
Interesting Facts:
- All initial matchups in the playoffs draw teams that have never played each other in the official matches
- It’s Global Esports and South Asia’s first time playing in the VALORANT Champions Tour
- Global Esports appointed former Cloud9 player Josh “shinobi” Abastado as their coach, with the APAC LCQ being the primary reason for the hire.
- South Korea has the most participants (39%), followed by Japan, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.
- There will be nine distinct language streams accessible to watch (US, Thai, Bahasa Indonesia, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, Japanese, Hindi)
Teams will fight through a double-elimination bracket with a best-of-three (BO3) format at each stage between October 11-16, concluding in a best-of-five (BO5) grand final on October 17. The winning team will get one final spot in the forthcoming VALORANT Champions and the opportunity to represent their region in VCT’s first global finals competition.
You can catch all the VCT Asia-Pacific Last Chance Qualifier action in nine different languages, live on YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook, listed below:
- English: VALORANT Twitch
- Tagalog: PPGL Facebook, PPGL YouTube
- Thai: VALORANT TH Facebook, ESL TH Twitch, ESL TH YouTube, ESL TH Facebook
- Bahasa Indonesia: VALORANT ID Facebook, VALORANT Esports ID YouTube (operated by One Up)
- Mandarin: Talon Esports Twitch
- Vietnamese: VALORANT VN Facebook, VALORANT VN YouTube, VALORANT Esports Vietnam Facebook (operated by VNG)
- Korean: VALORANT KR YouTube, VALORANT KR Twitch
- Japanese: VALORANT JP YouTube, VALORANT JP Twitch
- South Asia: NODWIN Gaming YouTube, NODWIN Gaming South Asia YouTube, NODWIN Gaming Twitch, NODWIN Gaming Facebook
For more insights on the Asian VALORANT scene and upcoming content like this, be sure to like and follow VALO2ASIA on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
Cover photo courtesy of Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games