The Smoke Clears: Valorant North America Challengers Last Chance Qualifiers, Day One Recap

Some expected, some new challengers

Initial reports for the Valorant North American Challengers Last Chance Qualifiers had the competition at only 16 teams, however, the first day of the tournament has revealed a rerun of the Open Qualifiers essentially, with a 256 team attendance to boast. Day One, was by far the most brutal, shaving off teams from 256 down to the top 32. Each team faced off in three series in single elimination that would determine their challenger fates for the year. The final list of teams to qualify are as follows:

• The Nation (1)
• Kitten Shelter (1)
• Soniqs (2)
• Area of Effect (2)
• Happy2bHere (3)
• Aspyre (3)
• 99 Strength (4)
• WTP (4)
• Rat Attack (5)
• Riribunobsumi (5)
• Squirtle Squad (6)
• Team Reckaroo (6)
• NSIC (7)
• YFP Gaming (7)
• Team Major Academy (8)
• VIRTUOSO (8)
• The Silk Road (9)
• SHIFT (9)
• i love valorant (10)
• City Boys (10)
• Nearest Airport (11)
• Cosmic Divide (11)
• UNTAMABLE BEASTS (12)
• Division 0 (12)
• OREsports (13)
• Skwirel Warriers (13)
• BASILISK (14)
• jiliboo (14)
• The Ganaccis (15)
• Team 4D (15)
• Moon Raccoons (16)
• Goofy Goobers (16)

Each team has also been listed with their Day 2 matchup partner, with the paired number as above.

Notable Eliminated Teams

Perhaps the largest name off the bat to have been eliminated, is the newly formed, all-female Version1 roster. The roster that has been hyped as stacked with talent has now found themselves eliminated for the second time in a week. This time, rival squad riribunobsumi managed to steer clear of them and qualified for the Round of 32. Meanwhile, Version1 found themselves against Team 4D, who beat them soundly 2-0. This ends Version1’s Challengers bid for the year. We will mostly likely see the squad compete instead in the annual Game Changes circuit or smaller third-party Valorant tournaments.

The runners-up to the Game Changers Champions, Shopify Rebellion GC, also found themselves eliminated in the Round of 128 by GenZ 2-1. Team Fish Taco, who nearly eliminated Disguised early in the first Open Qualifiers tournament, were themselves defeated by riribunobsumi. Complexity GX3, headlined by former Cloud9 White Jasmine “Jazzykins” Manankil, were also eliminated in the Round of 128. Girl Kissers, despite names like Daniel “roca” Gustaferri went out in the Round of 64. Misfits Black went out in the Round of 128, with their new GC squad without Ava “florescent” Eugene.

Proceeding Format

Top 32 onwards, the Last Chance Qualifier format will shift into a Bo3, double elimination format, with a lower bracket. Teams will be paired off and play for the final two qualification slots.

Notable Teams that made Top 32 and Favorites

The Nation is likely the biggest team on everyone’s lips, with fan-favorite OG Counter-Strike players like “Stewie2k” and “brax”. NSIC and riribunobsumi also come to mind in terms of strong contenders for that side of the bracket. The former made a deep run and was two series away from qualification. The latter comes stacked with some serious Game Changes talents.

On the other side of the bracket, there is The Silk Road and OREsports, who were one and two series away respectively from qualification. They have some deep talents and were able to dish some heavy hitters.

Watch Day Two of the Last Chance Qualifiers on Twitch, tune in on the Knights Arena channel and catch the action live (check vlr.gg if any streams are available for match).

Image credit: Knights Arena