Valorant’s “LAN 2nd Place Curse”: What is it and when did it start?

Valorant’s “LAN 2nd Place Curse”: What is it and when did it start?

Paper Rex was the latest team to be hit with the curse

Every sport’s fandom has many beliefs and superstitions surrounding it, and this trend hasn’t skipped Valorant and the whole esports circuit around it.

What we’re talking about is the “LAN 2nd Place Curse”, its name stemming from the fact that all of its victims have been teams which had secured the runners-up position in an international LAN, following which, they seem to have only early exits and little to no success in there next campaign.

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Valorant fans have theorised the curse starting at VCT 2021 Reykjavik

Valorant's "LAN 2nd Place Curse": What is it and when did it start?
Fnatic was the first victim of this curse after the Reykjavik Masters in 2021

According to fans’ theories, every team which wins the 2nd position at an international LAN get “cursed” and usually ends up exiting their next tournament with little to no success. The first team to be hit with this curse were Fnatic, who after coming 2nd at VCT 2021:Stage 2 Masters in Reykjavik, failed to even qualify for the Berlin Masters for the EMEA(Europe, Middle East, Africa) region in the following months.

The latest victims of this curse were the APAC(Asia Pacific) squad Paper Rex, who after their slim loss to FunPlus Pheonix at Masters Copenhagen have recently gotten eliminated from Champions 2022. The team’s CEO and Manager, Nikhil Hathiramani even sounded his dismay over the supposed curse they had been hit with.

Other teams from the Valorant circuit falling victim to the 2nd place curse include OpTic(erstwhile Envy Gaming) bombing in Champions 2021 after placing 2nd in the prior Stage 3 Masters – Berlin, Champions 2021 runners-up Gambit missing out from VCT 2022: Stage 1 Masters Reykjavik, and the same event’s 2nd placeholders LOUD ending up leaving Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen in the group stage.

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With the group stage of Champions 2022 over and the playoffs set to start, some fans will be watching to see whether this curse continues taking its toll on more victims, or if it was all just a series of coincidences.

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