"It's a fair advantage to give the Upper Bracket winners": Valorant community talks about the grand finals' new map veto system

Valorant tournaments are some of the most watched esports tournaments in the world. Many popular teams around the globe have participated in these events to secure the top spot.

Most of these tournaments are conducted in a group stage format followed by a double elimination format. In the recent VCT EMEA LCQ, something interesting was spotted.

In most regions, the Upper Bracket final winners got to ban two maps. However, in the EMEA region, the Upper Bracket final winner got the chance to ban one map, while the Lower Bracket final winner got the chance to ban one map in Valorant.

While Team Liquid went on to secure a win in the VCT EMEA LCQ and a spot at the Valorant Champions 2022, the community weighed in on the map veto system.

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Valorant community discusses the competitive advantage that Upper Bracket final winners receive in tournaments

This entire discussion arose when Team Liquid got the chance to ban a map in the VCT EMEA LCQ Grand Finals. Community members considered this a disadvantage for M3C because they could only ban one map.

While that might not seem like a lot, there's a small advantage hidden there. Valorant has a total of eight maps for now. However, Pearl wasn't a part of this year's tournaments since it's a fairly new map. Without Pearl, teams would only be playing on seven maps. In the other VCT LCQs Upper Bracket final, winners received a two-map ban advantage.

This is an advantage because the winners can ban two maps and practice the remaining five maps, giving them more time to perfect their strategies on just five maps, whereas the Lower Bracket final winners would have to prepare for all seven maps.

Some members of the community believe that a tournament where the Upper Bracket winners have an advantage does make some sense. According to them, an advantage would be fair since the team has won all their matches.

It's believed that Team Liquid received a free map thanks to the one map ban system that was followed at the VCT EMEA LCQ.

Members also believe that the tournament should be uniform throughout all regions. It's rather unfair to follow one set of rules in one region and a completely different set of rules in another region. It's still unclear why such a rule was employed at the VCT EMEA LCQ.

However, some other members of the Valorant community felt that the veto system was good just the way it was. Team Liquid had to go through two best-of-three rounds on the day before the finals. The community believed that it was a good enough advantage for M3C ahead of the Grand Finals of the VCT EMEA LCQ.

Overall, the common sentiment of the Valorant community is that the winner of the Lower Bracket finals should receive a substantial disadvantage. Fans have also been vocal about removing the lower bracket altogether to avoid discussing the fairness of map bans.