The Last Chance Qualifier: VALORANT’s Final Shot at the World Championship
The Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) is the final opportunity for teams to secure a spot in VALORANT’s end-of-year world championship.
Originally scheduled for Oct. 12 to 17, the LAN event featuring eight North American teams had to be postponed due to two players from FaZe Clan testing positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 13. The event will now be held online starting from Oct. 27.
Participating Teams
The participating teams for the LCQ are 100 Thieves, Version1, FaZe Clan, XSET, Luminosity, Cloud9 Blue, Gen.G, and Rise.
TSM, NRG, Andbox, and Immortals, who ranked 11th to 14th in the NA circuit point standings, are not in contention for the LCQ. If an NA team had won the VCT Masters Berlin in September, TSM would have had a chance at the LCQ.
Format and Schedule
The LCQ will follow a double-elimination bracket format, culminating in a best-of-five final. The schedule for the event is as follows:
Day one: Tuesday, Oct. 12 – Round one matches featuring 100 Thieves vs. Gen.G and XSET vs. Luminosity Gaming.
Day two: Wednesday, Oct. 27 – Round one matches featuring FaZe Clan vs. Rise and Version1 vs. Cloud9 Blue.
Day three: Thursday, Oct. 28 – Round two matches featuring Cloud9 Blue vs. Rise, Gen.G vs. Luminosity Gaming, and V1 vs. FaZe Clan.
Day four: Friday, Oct. 29 – Round three matches featuring XSET vs. V1, Cloud9 Blue vs. Gen.G, and the upper bracket finals between 100 Thieves and Rise.
Day five: Saturday, Oct. 30 – Lower bracket semifinals between Cloud9 Blue and XSET, and the lower bracket finals between 100 Thieves and Cloud9 Blue.
Day six: Sunday, Oct. 31 – Grand final match between Rise and Cloud9 Blue.
Oceania
ORDER and Chiefs Esports Club, the top teams from the Oceania Tour Championship, were unable to participate in the LCQ due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Theaters
Riot had plans to broadcast the event in select movie theaters, but it is uncertain if this will still happen.
What happened to FaZe Clan?
The LCQ was paused when it was discovered that Rise would have to play on LAN while FaZe Clan played remotely due to COVID-19 protocols. FaZe Clan players Corey Nigra and Andrej “babybay” Francisty tested positive for the virus but later received negative test results.
Postponement Timeline
Here is a timeline of the postponement events:
Oct. 13 at 3:39pm CT: The LCQ was paused due to conflicting test results and the need to evaluate how to safely resume the event.
Oct. 13 at 8:22pm CT: Thursday’s matches were postponed to find solutions that prioritize safety and maintain competitive integrity.
Oct. 14 at 4:15pm CT: The event was further postponed until a later date, with plans to transition to an online format.
Oct. 27 at 10:28pm CT: A power outage forced the pause of a match between Cloud9 Blue and Rise until the following day.
Follow us on YouTube for more esports news and analysis.
VALORANT, Last Chance Qualifier, LCQ, world championship, teams, North America, FaZe Clan, COVID-19, online event, format, schedule, Oceania, theaters, postponement, Riot Games, safety measures, competitive integrity, YouTube, esports news, analysis.