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Natus Vincere Favorites Heading into VCT: EMEA LCQ

EMEA prepares for it’s last chance qualifier. Natus Vincere is entering as sizable favorites, do the dark horses even have a chance?

The 2023 competitive Valorant season has been nothing short of European dominance and, more specifically, a reign of Fnatic dominance. The European squad won both the LOCK//IN tournament and the Master’s tournament, the two Valorant Champions Series premiere international tournaments that have been played so far this year. Domestically they were dominant, ending the regular season with a perfect 9-0 record.

The Fnatic dominance in a way, overshadowed some other competitive teams that all look to shine as they compete for the last EMEA spot at the VALORANT Worlds tournament in Los Angeles later this year. With some of the top teams in EMEA still vying for a chance to compete for a world championship, the Last Chance Qualifier is sure to be a good one. 

Natus Vincere Looking for Redemption 

Natus Vincere has got to feel somewhat deflated about even having to participate in the Valorant Champions Tour: EMEA Last Chance Qualifier to begin with. They ended the regular season of the VCT: EMEA league 7-2, giving them the 2nd seed in the playoffs. That’s where everything went wrong for them as they’d fall victim to Team Liquid, who was on their way to making a miracle run to beat Fnatic in the Grand Finals. They enter the LCQ as a heavy-betting favorite to take the whole thing. 

Giants Gaming 2nd Best Team at LCQ

Giants Gaming enters the Last Chance Qualifier with the second-best odds to take the whole thing, with their line currently sitting at +225. They have the benefit of being seeded into the Upper Bracket Semi-Finals as they are the team other than Natus Vincere to participate in the EMEA Playoffs. They’ll look to use that first-round bye to their full advantage after failing to win a single map in their two-match losses in the playoffs. 

The Underdogs

The odds of winning drastically decrease when you get to the bottom four teams. BBL Esports has the best odds of them at +900 with fan favorites Karmine Corp coming in with a whopping +5000 line. It makes sense as BBL Esports, Team Heretics, KOI, and Karmine Corp all had horrendous seasons with BBL Esports only finding three wins and the rest of the teams sitting at two.

BBL Esports takes on Karmine Corp while Team Heretics will take on KOI in the first round of the Last Chance Qualifier. Oddsmakers don’t have too much faith in Karmine Corp ahead of their match but see KOI vs. Team Heretics as a close one. Truly either team could win in either match, but it’ll be up to the winners to utilize the newfound momentum to find a win in the next round, in which they’ll come in as sizable underdogs. You won’t want to miss it when these teams jump on the servers on Wednesday in one last to save their 2023 campaigns to become Valorant World Champions. 

Odds Going Into VCT: EMEA Last Chance Qualifier

TO WIN OUTRIGHT

  1. Natus Vincere (-175)
  2. Giants Gaming (+225)
  3. BBL Esports (+900)
  4. Team Heretics (+2000)
  5. KOI (+2500)
  6. Karmine Corp (+5000)

TO MAKE IT TO FINALS

  1. Natus Vincere (-900)
  2. Giants Gaming (-250)
  3. BBL Esports (+250)
  4. Team Heretics (+800)
  5. KOI (+1000)
  6. Karmine Corp (+2000)

VCT: EMEA Last Chance Qualifier Round 1 Schedule

All times listed are in Eastern Time.

Wednesday, July 19th

Team Heretics (-130) vs. KOI (+100) – 11 AM

BBL ESports (-350) vs. Karmine Corp (+250) – 2 PM