With the conclusion of the Japan Season Finals, the Pacific region's four Challenger teams set to partake in the Stage 2 Play-Ins are now set.

Here's a look at all four teams set to butt heads with VCT Pacific teams next month, in order of their qualification:

Sharper Esports Sharper Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #2 Kadoom Kantapong Kingthong Apinya Apinya Laotaew Laz Kittikawin Jirawatkakan PTC Kititkawin Rattanasukol NIZ

After spending much of the year not just as one of Thailand's best teams but as one of the best in all of Southeast Asia, Sharper Esports went on an undefeated run through the SEA Split 2 playoffs to qualify for the Play-Ins.

The team is lined with players who have played on some of Thai Valorant's most iconic teams, with four of the five players having once played for FULL SENSE FULL SENSE Asia-Pacific Rank #5 Killua Tanate Teerasawad primmie Papaphat Sriprapha JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam seph1roth Chinnakrit Phoojaroen Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut or Made in Thailand Made in Thailand Inactive Kadoom Kantapong Kingthong Killua Tanate Teerasawad cgrs Patiphan Porsi Laz Kittikawin Jirawatkakan seph1roth Chinnakrit Phoojaroen in the past. Despite the experience, no SP players have stepped foot on the VCT stage yet, making this an opportunity for them to prove themselves.

Once in the Play-Ins, SP could go up against current FS player seph1roth , who made the switch to be the Thai VCT squad's sixth man back in April, but has since risen to a starting role.

The team showed a reliance on more double-Initiator comps throughout Split 2, with Laz (not that one) the team's go-to Sentinel, NIZ and Apinya the recon and flash Initiators, PTC the main Controller, and Kadoom the main Duelist. While there is some flexibility here and there, it will be interesting to see if the team can compete in a meta where double-Duelist has become so commonplace.

Xipto Esports Xipto Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #22 canady Napatr Worajak doffy Worlalop Thangsiri aLerT Wattanachok Yingnakorn Surf Thanachart Rungapajaratkul endoist Natthanon Ammaree

Formerly known as 555 555 Inactive canady Napatr Worajak doffy Worlalop Thangsiri aLerT Wattanachok Yingnakorn Surf Thanachart Rungapajaratkul endoist Natthanon Ammaree , Xipto signed the 555 core a few weeks ago, giving it a new banner to compete under after playing out the entire year as an org-less team.

Led by endoist , Xipto has proven itself to be one of the scarier teams in all of Pacific Challengers. A breakout campaign saw the team run through the Open Qualifiers for the VCT SEA Split 1 Thai Qualifiers, defeating Sharper in the grand final. After finishing third in SEA Split 1, 555 lost to just Sharper, finishing second in the country before once again falling behind Sharper in the SEA Split 2 grand final.

555 clinched qualification at the four-team Pacific Last Chance Qualifier, falling to Vietnam's Fancy United Esports Fancy United Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #3 f1cio Hoàng Ngọc Sơn bucute YESicaN Đinh Đình Đạt Nia twilight in the Upper Final but recovering in the Grand Final rematch by winning in three maps. While the 19-year-old endoist has been a breakout star, the team is lined with experience. Former XERXIA Esports XERXIA Esports Inactive and TALON TALON Inactive Killua Tanate Teerasawad thyy Anupong Preamsak Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha player Surf on Sentinel, former XERXIA, FS, and Team NKT Team NKT Asia-Pacific Rank #11 ki1wsy PoomOneLove Rujipoom Changkrut D4rf Wayu Phantakerngamorn harddora player aLerT on Controller, TALON Academy TALON Academy Inactive Surf Thanachart Rungapajaratkul snappy Nakarin Sritakorn canady Napatr Worajak xZe Tanawat Kannark product canady on Initiator, and rookies doffy and endoist making a formidable double-Duelist pairing, the team is one to look out for.

ONSIDE GAMING ONSIDE GAMING Korea Rank #6 Xiesta Jung Si-hwan (정시환) loan Ray Oh Eun-hyuk (오은혁) Awayk Song Yoon-ho (송윤호) Cloudy Koo Min-jae (구민재) Wolverine Cho Hyun-tae (조현태)

If Xipto has endoist, ONSIDE has Xiesta . Long hailed as one of the brightest up-and-coming stars of Korean Valorant, the Duelist player signed with Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #2 Ash Ha Hyun-cheol (하현철) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Efina Kim Nak-yeon (김낙연) Raxcal Kim Min-seok (김민석) shortly after his 16th birthday and was subsequently loaned out to ONSIDE midway through the team's Korea Stage 1 campaign.

Once Xiesta, in a Neon main role, was onboarded, ONSIDE looked like the strongest team in Korea by a wide margin. ONSIDE stormed through the Split 1 playoffs without dropping a single map, and continued its strong form in Split 2, going 7-0 and dropping just two maps. While ONSIDE lost to ARETE ARETE Asia-Pacific Rank #123 XIV ANNYEON An Seo-jin (안서진) JaebiN Lee Jae-bin (이재빈) Rico Han Jun-seo (한준서) RedLight Kim Eun-soo (김은수) in the Upper Final, it found revenge in the grand final, fighting against the double map ban to win 3-0.

ONSIDE is coached by former Ninetails Ninetails Korea Rank #27 Quest kaoru EveR Kim Ji-min (김지민) ReZet FullMoon Jeong Ye-jin (정예진) head coach Hype , who got Korea its first-ever GCC representative last year. Rookie player Ray has been manning the Controller duties, with former Gen.G Global Academy Gen.G Global Academy Korea Rank #11 KiTae Park Ki-tae (박기태) Fric Jeon Jae-hyeok (전재혁) Sovereign Kim Do-hyun (김도현) RgoN Yong Seung-hyeon (용승현) , SLT Seongnam SLT Seongnam Korea Rank #4 , and original Nongshim RedForce Nongshim RedForce Korea Rank #1 WoohyuN Moon Woo-hyun (문우현) Xross Jeonghwan (정환) Rb Goo Sang-min (구상민) Francis Kim Mu-bin (김무빈) Dambi Lee Hyuk-kyu (이혁규) Ivy Park Sung-hyeon (박성현) player Cloudy the primary Initiator. The Sentinel, secondary Initiator, and secondary Duelist duties have been split between former NORTHEPTION NORTHEPTION Japan Rank #5 player Wolverine and DRX Academy DRX Academy Korea Rank #7 Kyra Park Jae-young (박재영) Krexx NGen Lee Jae-hong (이재홍) apeX Lee Chan-min (이찬민) XoNs Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) product Awayk .

QT DIG∞ QT DIG∞ Japan Rank #3 Kippei Misaya yuran Yushin Hato Pkm Park Kang-min (박강민) margaret Kim Ji-woo (김지우)

In place of a playoffs to end Japan Split 2, Japan held the Japan Finals to decide its Play-In representative. In a year where the competition in Japan has been open, it was QT DIG that came out on top, downing REJECT REJECT Japan Rank #1 Yoshiii John Yoshiharu Kawakami Dep Yuma Hashimoto Persia Yang Zi-on (양지온) BRIAN Jremy Jeremy Cabrera in five maps in the Grand Final.

QT ended Split 1 in 3rd-4th and made a switch, dropping Impact for Pkm . After going 5-2 in the Main Stage, QT earned a bye into the main bracket of the finals, and came out on top of the four-team, single-elimination bracket. Against REJECT, one of the teams they lost to in Split 2, QT capped off a back-and-forth five-map series, which ended in an attack-heavy Ascent that it won 13-11.

The aforementioned Pkm, formerly of T1 Academy T1 Academy Korea Rank #8 Satoru Park Jeong-woo (박정우) Gnadel Han Gnadel (한그나델) DarK Park Jung-hyeon (박중현) Impact Park Sung-hyun (박성현) wezzy Oh Min-seo (오민서) , Nongshim, and Team IAM Team IAM Inactive GodDead Kim Sung-sin (김성신) Moothie Yoo Seung-Woo (유승우) Sunday Kim Min-soo (김민수) Bunny Chae Joon-hyuk (채준혁) Doenmo Ahn Seung-won (안승원) , forms a Korean duo on the roster with former core Sin Prisa Gaming Sin Prisa Gaming Inactive Persia Yang Zi-on (양지온) margaret Kim Ji-woo (김지우) Dambi Lee Hyuk-kyu (이혁규) Francis Kim Mu-bin (김무빈) Ivy Park Sung-hyeon (박성현) member margaret , handling the Duelist and Sentinel duties, respectively. Former ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #11 Absol Kazuki Fujinoki SyouTa Shota Aoki SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe eKo Yeom Wang-ryong (염왕룡) Xdll Yuto Mizomori man yuran has grown into the secondary Duelist role, primarily as Phoenix, while former Sengoku Gaming Sengoku Gaming Inactive Gwangboong Kim Gwang-won (김광원) Kippei NOBITA Rintaro Matsumoto Misaya yuran Yushin Hato duo Misaya and Kippei are on the Initiator and Controller roles.

Up next

With the Stage 2 group stage still going on until August 9, the Challengers teams will not know their opponents until later on.

The Play-In will be a 12-team, double-elimination bracket, with the four Challenger teams matched up against the four lowest-seeded teams from the group stage, while the four best teams outside of the top two in each group earn a first-round bye.