Members of the 100 Thieves Valorant team don’t seem too thrilled about the Valorant Last Chance Qualifier being single-elimination, especially as teams have to travel to compete.
After Riot confirmed that the North American Last Chance Qualifier would be a “modified double-elimination bracket,” with play-ins and upper quarterfinal rounds being single-elimination, a lot of players weren’t too thrilled.
Upon seeing the official format, 100 Thieves captain Spencer ‘Hiko’ Martin said he wasn’t a fan of how the tournament would be played at all.
What do you mean bro? I rekon 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..
— Oli Tierney (@DickStacyy) October 1, 2021
“What do you mean bro?” coach Oliver ‘DickStacy’ Tierney of Australian org Order replied. “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..”
The prospect of teams being unceremoniously knocked out after months of prep seems to have rubbed other members of 100T the wrong way as well, with Peter ‘Asuna’ Mazuryk joking the format is “kinda bad,” and Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold adding on that “it gets better and better!”
wow this LCQ format is kinda bad !
— 100T Asuna (@Asunaa) October 1, 2021
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It gets better and better! https://t.co/S0KN7GQj3R
— NRG Ethan (@ethanarnold) October 1, 2021
Going a step further, Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella emphatically said “No LAN should be single elim no matter what,” and it’s not hard to see why plenty of people agreed with him.
Teams have so far put in hundreds if not thousands of hours of work both inside tournaments and out for a shot at Valorant Champions in December. So to have their runs ended by a simple Bo3, not to mention the travel time to reach the Last Chance NA tournament in Los Angeles, does seem a bit anti-climactic.
No LAN should be single elim no matter what https://t.co/dMP2AgOp9P
— M80 nitr0 (@nitr0) October 1, 2021
Despite complaints from both players and fans, it doesn’t seem likely Riot will be switching up the format for the tournament, seeing as how things are set to kick off on October 12.