No Deadlock at the VCT Last Chance Qualifier

The patch 7.00 has brought many things to Valorant, but the only one with a real impact on the competitive scene is the arrival of Deadlock. However, the Agent cannot be played in VCT Last Chance Qualifier and probably worldwide.

The Masters Tokyo is over, the teams qualified for the Valorant Champions 2023 are almost all known. However, there are still a few places up for grabs via the LCQ tournaments in the various regions, and this is generally an opportunity for the participating teams to go all out. It's not uncommon to see teams changing strategies or players, as well as specialising in new maps or Agents to surprise teams who haven't taken the time to update.

As a general rule, new Valorant Agents should be playable competitively within two weeks of being added to the game. But these are league organisers have the final say and they can completely ignore this rule. That's what Riot Games has decided to do for the American LCQ. The competition will be played on patch 7.00, but Deadlock will be inaccessible. Even if each region manages tournaments differently, it's more than likely that Deadlock will be banned on all servers.

This decision contradicts the previous announcement by the AVPA (American Valorant Players Association) that Deadlock would be playable. Since then, the AVPA has come back to clarify the situation. Deadlock will however be playable during the VCT Game Changers.

It's unclear why Riot Games has decided not to allow players to use Deadlock. Perhaps they want to ensure the character's stability itself, but it's also possible that they want to reserve the character's first appearances for the world championships in the main competitive circuit.