VALORANT recently announced a change in the team allocations for the APAC Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQ) in light of China’s vacancy of their respective slots and ZETA DIVISION’s withdrawal from the said tournament.
In an announcement released on VALORANT’s website, the APAC LCQ change was attributed to “logistical issues that have the potential to impact the overall competitive integrity of the tournament.”
This meant that the slots previously allocated for Chinese teams were redistributed to other regions — one slot for Japan and Korea respectively.
The newly updated APAC LCQ team allocations are as follows:
- Southeast Asia – 3
- Korea – 3
- Japan – 3
- South Asia – 1
However, the South Asian (SA) Valorant scene wasn’t thrilled with the new team allocations as some argued that they weren’t given the same attention as the other regions got.
Vishal “haiVaan” Sharma, an Indian VALORANT player who last played for GodLike Esports, stated: “What does an Esports Player dream of? To be the No.1 in his/her country? – NO. It is to represent his/her Country Internationally and put his country’s flag on the map of Esports. This is what players GRIND for, but this decision doesn’t seem to be worth the grind.”
VALORANT justified their decision on a Twitter thread stating that it was done simply because both the Korean and Japanese regions did well in global events and viewership.
Meanwhile, ZETA DIVISION also announced their withdrawal from the APAC LCQ.
According to their statement, ZETA DIVISION revealed that they have decided to strengthen and reorganize the team instead of partaking in the tournament.
This came as a surprise to many since the Japanese Valorant org just competed in the recently concluded Berlin Masters.
The APAC LCQ will kick off this October and will run October 11-17, 2021. The online-only tournament will see 10 teams from the 4 remaining regions compete for a spot in Champions.
