VCT Americas Last Chance Qualifiers 2023: Bracket, schedule, format, teams

With the end of the VALORANT Champions Tour drawing to a close, and Champions Los Angeles being less than a month away, the fans await the commencement of VCT 2023 - Americas League - Last Chance Qualifier . Out of the 10 teams participating in the Americas league, only three earned a spot at Masters Tokyo. The remaining seven teams entered a brief hiatus in competition during which they had time to recoup and finalize their rosters and strategies before the Last Chance Qualifiers set to begin on July 15.

Participating teams

Here are all the teams that will be participating at LCQ, and a brief insight into each team’s regular season performance.

Cloud9

Cloud9 entered the competition shortly after making changes to the roster enjoyed unexpected success in the Group Stages losing only to LOUD, which was arguably the best team in the region. Apart from managing an 8-1 record against such a stacked opposition, they only dropped a total of three maps over 9 matches, a noteworthy feat. Despite this success, their run in the Playoffs was slightly less fortunate as they fell short to Evil Geniuses in Upper Bracket round 2, and couldn’t make amends in the Lower Bracket either having to resign to the 4th place overall.

Leviatán Esports

LATAM representation at the League was led by Leviatán. Their Group Stage performance was plausible relative to other teams even though their record read 4-5. However, their luck ran out in the Playoff stages as subsequent losses marked their elimination from Masters contention. Their overall placement at the event ended up being 6th courtesy of the round differential during Group stages.

Sentinels

Coming into the league, the changes made by Sentinels made them the fan favorites especially with pANcada and Sacy making the change from LOUD. However, coach changes and other issues provided hindrance in their performance. The lack of consistency early in the event led them away from a Playoff spot despite finishing with a similar record as Leviatan, Furia and EG. The LCQ provides the team with the best opportunity to turn the tables around and prove the roster’s potential and its capacity for destruction.

100 Thieves

100 Thieves were yet another team that came into the event with a lot of promise and performed decently in their initial outings winning 3 of their 5 games. However, the latter half of the season bore an unfortunate predicament as NRG, LOUD and mibr diminished their hopes of a Playoff spot leaving them to finish at 8th.

FURIA

FURIA, while being unable to match their Brazilian counterparts in terms of success weren’t entirely overwhelmed by the strength of the opposition as they managed to finish at the dead center of Group Stage table, qualifying for the playoffs and even winning the first round against Leviatan. Unfortunately for them, their next Upper Bracket matchup was set up against LOUD and then the Lower Bracket one against NRG. Being cornered by these teams left them no place to escape and they had to see their way out as the 6th place in Americas.

KRU Esports

Amongst all of the teams, none had a more unfortunate outcome than KRÜ Esports. A team that was once the face of LATAM region at all international events was struggling to navigate Americas league falling short of closing ou a game one after the other such that their record of 0-9. Although hopes for the team are at an all-time low, they can prove to be underdogs at the event and take the community by surprise much like they did in VCT Champions 2021.

mibr

The final team and yet another Brazilian representative is mibr, a team that had no significant VCT experience as an organization prior to 2023 and one that didn’t perform spectacularly at LOCK IN either. Coming into the tournament, they were faced with the task of taking down LOUD, which didn’t come to fruition during their subsequent matchups against NRG and KRU produced wins. Their performance since experienced a drastic downfall with five consecutive losses. Similar to KRU, mibr too have a lot to prove at LCQ and it will be interesting to see how their event turns out.

VCT Americas Last Chance Qualifiers Bracket setup:

Due to the odd team count set to partake in the event, the bracket too had to adjust to an unconventional format as suggested by the graphic above. Teams that placed 6th or lower at the event will initially face off in a single elimination bracket format to decide the two finalists beside Cloud9 and Leviatan that will participate in a double elimination bracket to decide the team worthy of being America's 4th representative at Champions Los Angeles.

VCT Americas Last Chance Qualifiers Schedule

Day 1: Saturday, July 15:

• Play-in Round 1: MIBR vs KRÜ Esports (M1) | 1 p.m. PT | 5 p.m BRT

Day 2: Sunday, July 16:

• Play-in Round 2: FURIA vs Winner of M1 (M2) | 1 p.m. PT | 5 p.m BRT
• Play-in Round 2: Sentinels vs 100 Thieves (M3) | ~3 p.m. PT | 7 p.m BRT

Day 3: Monday, July 17:

• Upper Round 1: Play-in Round 2: Cloud9 vs Winner of M3 (M4) | 1 p.m. PT | 5 p.m BRT
• Upper Round 1: Play-in Round 2: Leviatán vs Winner of M2 (M5) | ~3 p.m. PT | 5 p.m BRT

Day 4: Tuesday, July 18:

• Upper Round 2: Play-in Round 2: Winner of M4 vs Winner of M5 (M6) | 1 p.m. PT | 5 p.m BRT
• Lower Round 1: Play-in Round 2: Loser of M4 vs Loser of M5 (M7) | ~3 p.m. PT | 5 p.m BRT

Day 5: Saturday, July 22:

• Lower Finals: Loser of M6 vs Loser of M7 (M8) | 1 p.m. PT | 5 p.m BRT

Day 6: Sunday, July 23:

• Grand Finals: Winner of M6 vs Winner of M8 | 1 p.m. PT | 5 p.m BRT

Brace yourself for a display of skill, strategy, and intense battles as the matches will be broadcast on Twitch in English, Spanish and Portuguese as customary to Riot's tradition. If you want to learn more about the event and maybe place your votes on the teams that you think will pick up the wins, don’t forget to check out our event page and also the VCT 2023 Hub for more information about the season.

Featured image courtesy of Riot Games