After two long weeks of qualifiers, the team list for Challengers North America has been finalized. Six qualified squads will join another six invited squads, making for the biggest Challengers league in the world.
For VCL NA, the qualifying structure was split into two. Two 128-team open qualifiers were hosted, the first of which drafted four teams into the league. In the following week, a last chance qualifier slotted just two teams into VCL to complete the team list. Both qualifiers were, from the top 32, reseeded and converted from single to double-elimination.

Learn more about the league format before it kicks off and check back later this week for signups:
Both qualifiers hosted many names known to the Valorant community, who have traversed several VCT qualifiers and dominated the tier 2 scene for a long time. One notable exception was
The Nation
The Nation
Inactive
brax
Braxton Pierce
Rossy
Daniel Abedrabbo
Stewie2k
Jake Yip
TiGG
Tanner Spanu
WARDELL
Matthew Yu
, an amalgamation of former high-level players that included
Stewie2k
,
WARDELL
, and
brax
. The roster took down
Dark Ratio
Dark Ratio
North America
Unranked
Ange
Adam Milian
Trick
Justin Sears
ZexRow
Anthony Colandro
Drone
Taylor Johnson
Will
William Cheng
and
The Silk Road
The Silk Road
North America
Unranked
monSi
Ludovic Lefebvre
BlackHeart
Hasan Hammad
fletcher
Fletcher Christian
d1msumboi
Erik Almhjell
, but fell to
BreakThru
BreakThru
North America
Unranked
thief
Brady Dever
aproto
Alex Protopapas
sym
Tyler Porter
flyuh
Xavier Carlson
brawk
Brock Somerhalder
in the qualifying match. BreakThru had already taken down names such as
Cosmic Divide
Cosmic Divide
North America
Unranked
ChurmZ
Corey Koch
Kushay
Tyler Donghyuk Jang
tokyo
Sebastien Lima
and
Team Reckaroo
Team Reckaroo
North America
Unranked
TEAGUE
Teague Morgan
Tim
Timothy Braun
eli
Elias Soto
, cementing their place in the NA VCL over some of the game's early greats.
Disguised, a roster owned by content creator Disguised Toast and led in-game by
steel
, also scored a successful upper bracket run. After gunning
Squirtle Squad
Squirtle Squad
North America
Unranked
Add3r
Jack Hayashi
Okeanos
Anthony Nguyen
WeDid
Matthew Suchan
Harmful
Mohammed Choudhary
Governor
Peter No
down, Disguised effortlessly took down
NSIC
NSIC
North America
Unranked
fiziq
Lucas Blow
Shawn12590
Shawn O'Riley
and Oxygen Esports to qualify for the league from the upper bracket.
The final four rounds of the lower bracket were filled to the brim with known names:
Moon Raccoons
Moon Raccoons
Inactive
icy
Jacob Lange
tech
ZK
Timothy Ly
,
Nearest Airport
Nearest Airport
North America
Unranked
c4Lypso
Abdo Agha
jmoh
Jason Mohandessi
acrian
Precision
Colin O'Neill
, NSIC,
Dark Ratio
Dark Ratio
North America
Unranked
Ange
Adam Milian
Trick
Justin Sears
ZexRow
Anthony Colandro
Drone
Taylor Johnson
Will
William Cheng
, The Silk Road,
Oxygen Esports
Oxygen Esports
North America
Unranked
skuba
Logan Jenkins
mitch
Mitch Semago
pwny
Joshua VanGorder
randyySAVAGE
Devon Bréard
Verno
Andrew Maust
, and The Nation. The final four names made up the final two matches, which saw Oxygen and Dark Ratio conquer their berths in the VCL NA.
Most names returned for the LCQ, which saw a more top-heavy upper bracket. Among the top eight were The Nation, Squirtle Squad,
YFP Gaming
YFP Gaming
North America
Unranked
snirot
Edmon Ghanem
syfi
Samir Karimov
HUYNH
Danny Huynh
, Nearest Airport, and Moon Raccoons. With the number of available slots reduced to just two, Squirtle Squad's newest iteration broke through YFP, The Nation, and
OREsports
OREsports
North America
Unranked
Lear
Dayton Akau
nillyaz
Chase Linder
zeldris
Elijah Hawkins
PureVNS
Vincent Nguyen
Jonaaa6
Jonard Penaflor
to win the upper bracket and move into the league.
The lower bracket's final games saw names like
VIRTUOSO
VIRTUOSO
Inactive
King
Aiden King
Eley
Zach Stauffer
DBK
Dylan Bazic-Kulangiev
Blahst
Nathan Brand
snxper
Louis Lama
and Moon Raccoons get knocked out. In the meantime,
Soniqs
Soniqs
Inactive
were busy recovering from a 2-0 loss to The Nation in the round of 16. They chained six lower bracket wins, eliminating the likes of Cosmic Divide, The Nation and Nearest Airport before getting to the lower final. In the final match, played today against OREsports, Soniqs' run was brought to an end by OREsports in a 2-1 series.

These six squads will join several big names of North American Valorant, such as
TSM
TSM
North America
Unranked
gMd
Anthony Guimond
seven
Johann Hernandez
hazed
James Cobb
NaturE
Nicholas Garrison
corey
Corey Nigra
,
Shopify Rebellion
Shopify Rebellion
North America
Unranked
v1c
Victor Truong
bdog
Brandon Sanders
dazzLe
Will Loafman
mada
Adam Pampuch
moose
Kaleb Jayne
,
G2 Esports
G2 Esports
North America
Unranked
ShahZaM
Shahzeb Khan
dapr
Michael Gulino
wippie
Maxim Shepelev
OXY
Francis Hoang
penny
Erik Penny
, and
The Guard
The Guard
North America
Unranked
JonahP
Jonah Pulice
trent
Trent Cairns
neT
Michael Bernet
valyn
Jacob Batio
tex
Ian Botsch
, in Challengers North America. The first split will run from February to mid-March, when the best eight teams will take a break to play the Mid-Season Invitational in late March.
Competition will return between April and June, when the second split and the playoffs will be hosted. Whichever teams accumulate the most points throughout the year will then qualify to Ascension to get a chance at making the VCT Americas, although the exact number of teams is yet unconfirmed.
The full team list for Challengers NA is:
-
M80
M80 North America Unranked zander Alexander Dituri eeiu Daniel Vucenovic NiSMO Marc-Andre Tayar johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid koalanoob Gianfranco Potestio
-
FaZe Clan
FaZe Clan North America Unranked POISED Kevin Ngo BABYBAY Andrej Francisty
-
TSM
TSM North America Unranked gMd Anthony Guimond seven Johann Hernandez hazed James Cobb NaturE Nicholas Garrison corey Corey Nigra
-
Shopify Rebellion
Shopify Rebellion North America Unranked v1c Victor Truong bdog Brandon Sanders dazzLe Will Loafman mada Adam Pampuch moose Kaleb Jayne
-
G2 Esports
G2 Esports North America Unranked ShahZaM Shahzeb Khan dapr Michael Gulino wippie Maxim Shepelev OXY Francis Hoang penny Erik Penny
-
The Guard
The Guard North America Unranked JonahP Jonah Pulice trent Trent Cairns neT Michael Bernet valyn Jacob Batio tex Ian Botsch
-
BreakThru
BreakThru North America Unranked thief Brady Dever aproto Alex Protopapas sym Tyler Porter flyuh Xavier Carlson brawk Brock Somerhalder
-
Disguised
Disguised North America Unranked Exalt Drake Branly steel Joshua Nissan Genghsta Amgalan Nemekhbayar XXiF Damion Cook clear Joseph Allen
-
Oxygen Esports
Oxygen Esports North America Unranked skuba Logan Jenkins mitch Mitch Semago pwny Joshua VanGorder randyySAVAGE Devon Bréard Verno Andrew Maust
-
Dark Ratio
Dark Ratio North America Unranked Ange Adam Milian Trick Justin Sears ZexRow Anthony Colandro Drone Taylor Johnson Will William Cheng
-
Squirtle Squad
Squirtle Squad North America Unranked Add3r Jack Hayashi Okeanos Anthony Nguyen WeDid Matthew Suchan Harmful Mohammed Choudhary Governor Peter No
-
OREsports
OREsports North America Unranked Lear Dayton Akau nillyaz Chase Linder zeldris Elijah Hawkins PureVNS Vincent Nguyen Jonaaa6 Jonard Penaflor