Should VCT change its qualification rules after Masters London champion Leviatán missed out on Champions Shanghai?

Last weekend’s VCT Americas matches sparked heated discussions within the global VALORANT esports community. With LOUD’s successful dark horse run in the Stage 2 Lower Playoffs Bracket all the way to a second-place finish, Masters London winner Leviatán was pushed out of VALORANT Champions qualification.

The Argentinian esports organization has now become the first team to win a Masters event and still miss out on Champions in the same year. This has led some VCT fans and professionals to advocate for revised qualification rules, especially around the distribution of VCT points.

Others, however, have argued that Leviatán alone is to blame for their disappointing end to the season. So, where lies the truth? Is VCT’s qualification path to Champions flawed?

With the Masters London trophy under its belt, Leviatán was considered a guaranteed Champions participant by many heading into VCT Americas Stage 2. 

Thanks to its second place in Stage 1 (7 points) and its Masters title (8 points), the team had already collected 15 VCT Points in total. That was more than NRG (11 points) and G2 Esports (14 points) had at the time, although both organizations had a much stronger start to the VCT 2026 season compared to Leviatán.

For Leviatán to miss out on Champions Shanghai in September, dark horses with few points had to reach the top-2 while other historically strong rosters went on deep Stage 2 runs.

And this is exactly what happened.

NRG and G2 Esports made it far into the Stage 2 Playoffs, earning an additional 10 and 7 points, respectively, for 21 points in total. Underdog 100 Thieves dominated in the Upper Playoffs Bracket and secured a top-2 finish early on.

Meanwhile, Leviatán lost its third Playoffs series to G2 Esports, leaving the team with only four extra points from its Stage 2 performance (19 in total) and unable to qualify for Champions via a top-2 placement.

The final piece of Leviatán’s nightmare puzzle was the young and hungry roster of LOUD. In front of its home crowd in São Paulo, the Brazilian squad defeated giants G2 Esports and NRG to guarantee at least second place in Stage 2.

With that, 100 Thieves and LOUD were in. NRG and G2 Esports took the region’s third and fourth seeds for Shanghai, and Leviatán was left behind with just 2 VCT Points less.

What feels so off about Leviatán failing to qualify for Champions 2026 is that this is actually a top team with the potential to go on a run in Shanghai. At the same time, Leviatán’s region, VCT Americas, turned out incredibly competitive towards the latter third of the season. Leviatán is a top roster globally — in Americas, it is just one of many top teams.

“The only thing that you take away from this is just that Americas is absolutely stacked, to be honest. For this to happen, this region is really, really good. Like, they have to be the best region for this to happen,” emphasized former Team Liquid coach Connor “Sliggy” Blomfield on the VALORANT talk show Plat Chat.

This is somewhat unlucky for Leviatán. If the team had competed in a different region, perhaps it would have had better chances in Stage 2. The same sentiment applies to the roster’s season kickoff. Due to age restrictions, Leviatán had to start VCT Americas Kickoff without one of its star rookies and Masters London MVP Bruno “Neon” Rodríguez. As a result, the squad was eliminated early without earning a single VCT Point.

The other side of this story is that Leviatán banned its best maps, Haven and Split, and diverted from its trusted Neon-Phoenix duelist combo at the start of the Stage 2 Playoffs. Teams that have already locked in qualification do this to practice different team compositions and maps in low-stakes official matches.

But Leviatán was not qualified yet and paid the price.

“They were prepping for Champs, but not in Champs. They are to blame,” concluded Sliggy on Plat Chat. “You have to blame yourself. […] Because you’re not fully in yet. You can’t be thinking like that. Like, this stuff happens. You always want it to be in your control. To ban Split, a map you’re like 11-0 at, best in the world by far against 100 Thieves, is madness.” 

To some extent, I agree with those arguing that Leviatán’s story is an outlier case and therefore not indicative of a broader VCT format problem. On the other hand, the VCT landscape has changed significantly in recent years.

For instance, meta shifts and map pool changes have become much more frequent in the 2025 and 2026 VCT seasons compared to the inaugural years of VALORANT esports. 

This makes the annual competitive calendar feel more crowded, especially for teams that attend global events. They spend more time competing on stage, shrinking an already small window to make strategic adjustments in response to game updates.

As a result, historic achievements such as Fnatic’s back-to-back international trophies in 2023 are viewed through a different lens nowadays. 

“LEV winning Masters 2 months ago and still missing Champs really highlights a flaw in this circuit format,” wrote VALORANT coach Hoc Wah “Fayde” Chong on social media. “With how frequent the meta changes in Val, this punishes the team that performs well early in the season due to the hectic schedules & lack of preparation for a new split.”

It has undoubtedly become more challenging for VCT teams to stay consistent throughout one season. This trend will likely only intensify in next year’s flat and open VCT structure. And yet, the VCT Points system still rewards late-season highs and consistency the most.

“What this comes down to ultimately is that riot views winning a regional stage to be better than an international,” deduced one X (formerly Twitter) user.

As pointed out by Dragon Ranger Gaming’s Splash, it is possible for teams to stack more points through regional successes than through international wins in the current system. To illustrate, G2 Esports earned nine points in Stage 1 — 6 for winning the event, plus 1 additional point for every Group Stage match won.

Meanwhile, Leviatán received only 8 points for its Masters London trophy, with no additional rewards for its flawless Swiss Stage performance.

I personally believe this is somewhat unjust, as winning a global VCT trophy is a significantly bigger challenge than dominating regionally.

Ultimately, I think two things can be true at the same time. Yes, given the current qualification system, Leviatán shouldn’t have banned their two best maps during crucial Playoffs matches. It was the team’s decision, and the team is to blame for the consequences.

That doesn’t make the system itself flawless, however. For perspective, if we used the qualification ruleset for the 2026 League of Legends World Championship, then Leviatán, as the Masters London champion, would have qualified for Champions Shanghai by advancing to the Stage 2 Playoffs. 

“Wtf is this system? Surely we give a team who wins international guaranteed slot next year,” asserted Martin “Magnum” Peňkov, professional player for Enterprise Esports. 

In my opinion, borrowing from League of Legends’ rules would be a good middle ground instead of giving out Champions slots to all Masters-winning teams. This would mean that Champions qualification is tied to two conditions: winning a global VCT trophy and performing well in the regional stage thereafter. 

Others in the VALORANT esports scene, including DRG Splash, have suggested increasing the number of VCT Points awarded for winning a Masters title to at least 10. This would put more emphasis on global performances than on regional runs. 

Either way, adjustments to the qualification system are warranted, in my opinion. Meta changes are more frequent than ever, and next year’s competitive structure will only further increase volatility within the ecosystem. Looking at VCT 2027, massive support payments will be on the line for non-partnered teams should they qualify for major events, such as Champions.

The format and qualification pathways need to do these developments justice.