Team Heretics and KOI out of VCT EMEA Challengers 1 open qualifier

The Europe, Middle East and Africa VALORANT Champions Tour open qualifiers have reach the Round of 16 stage and multiple notable esports organizations have been knocked out. The EMEA VCT open qualifiers were again split into three regions: Turkey, Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, which will qualify the final four squads for the Challengers 1 league.

We take Ascent 13-10 thanks to our Russian Clutch Minister @Bgg_666! 🇷🇺#wavecheck 🌊 pic.twitter.com/KNnJQuMnp8

— WAVE CS (@WaveAUTCS) January 18, 2022

The EMEA Challengers 1 closed qualifiers are coming up fast

Notable drops from the competition are entirely on the European side this time around as Team Heretics, Giants Gaming, OG, KOI and Rix.GG Thunder have all been eliminated from the competition. These organizations will have another chance to qualify into the EMEA Challengers 1 league later this year through the VALORANT Regional Leagues, but they must qualify into those leagues as well.

Giants and Team Heretics lost out in 2-0 fashion to Wave Esports and EXCEL respectively while OG, KOI and Rix.GG were defeated by two unsigned squads. Notable teams that will continue on in the qualification process include G2 Esports, YONK need more DM and Team Queso.

In Turkey and CIS, many of the signed squads are waiting in the closed qualifier section, but there are teams that fans should keep an eye on. Futbolist, Zero Zone and Fenerbahçe Esports were the three squads that made, or were invited, to the Turkish closed qualifier, but did not place high enough to qualify for the second one. All three are still alive in the event and are seeded in separate brackets, so a repeat of last weekend’s tournament, minus the already qualified SuperMassive Blaze, is still on the table.

The same cannot be said for CIS as two closed qualifier participants, One Breath Gaming and Aim.Attack, were eliminated Tuesday. The only closed qualifier participant still in the open qualifier is B8 Esports.

Fans can catch the final two rounds of open qualifier action Wednesday starting at 10 a.m. EST for Turkey and CIS with Europe starting two hours later at 12 p.m. EST.