This article is part of our VALORANT series.
VCT Champions is on the horizon and there's only one slot up for grabs in North America with eight teams competing in the Last Chance Qualifier. Here's a look at some players to target and fade as North America's outsiders look to sneak in at the last chance.
Players to Target
vanity
vanity isn't a player you'd expect to find in this category, but hear me out. Despite playing smokes, vanity has a 1.36 so far in the LCQ and is the top performer in the entire event. While he might not be the superstar of this Cloud9 roster on paper he sure is playing like it on the server. There are still a plethora of question marks around this new look team, especially after a poor second split that saw them miss out on VCT Masters Copenhagen. Despite all of that Cloud9 are in fine form and vanity is looking like the MVP of the event so far.
Asuna
This is the Asuna so many have been desperate to see for so long. At his best Asuna is one of the top players in North America with the capability to make his duelists look unmatched in the region. At his worse he gets no support and is left floundering in an impossible role trying to break into sites on his own. The Last Chance Qualifier has certainly been Asuna at his best, as he has a 1.25 rating with 249.3 ACS so far. 100 Thieves is in the lower bracket, but this team has plenty of talent to complete a lower bracket run and still earn their spot at VCT Champions.
trent
One of the most polarizing players for fantasy managers, trent is back to his best, but the question remains how long will it last. In Split 1 trent was the best player in North America, on a roll and simply outplaying the competition despite his odd role on Sova and Fade making him a strange fantasy superstar. In Split 2 trent fell off the map and The Guard failed to qualify for VCT Masters. The talent and potential is there, but the role isn't conducive to it and the inconsistency make trent a scary option. He's just so immensely gifted and the potential he offers for rosters is too hard to ignore from a fantasy perspective.
Players to Fade
curry
The inverse of vanity, curry was brought in to hopefully provide some sort of firepower upgrade and instead has struggled mightily down to a 0.77 rating with just 148 ACS, putting him as the worst performer in the tournament. Cloud9 still sit among the tournament favorites, but it's hard to trust curry as a major fantasy asset. curry and Cloud9 will hope to qualify, but it's likely that leaf, vanity and xeppaaa lead the way on the server and as fantasy targets.
flyuh and POISED
It's been a bold strategy for FaZe Clan, playing with both flyuh and POISED considering both are low-firepower options that bring plenty of intangibles. Well FaZe are in the upper bracket finals so clearly something is working, though it isn't the fragging of flyuh or POISED, who both sit among the bottom six players in the tournament with a 0.81 and 0.78 rating respectively. Neither is worth targeting for fantasy purposes though FaZe is an enticing fantasy environment, especially for supamen and Babybay.
Shroud
Shroud is back in competitive play, moving from CS:GO to VALORANT with a multi-year stop as a content creator in the middle. That might be the most exciting story line of the entire event, but it does little to make Sentinels or Shroud a desirable fantasy situation. This is a roster making moves for reasons off the server and there is little reason to suspect Sentinels will make it to Champions, let alone even deep in the Last Chance qualifier. Shroud currently sits with a 0.89 rating playing smokes for Sentinels after playing two of the weaker teams in the event. Shroud could surprise everyone and roll back the clock, but it's not worth trusting him in fantasy rosters.
Stats courtesy of Thespike.gg
