VALORANT Champions Tour 2023 Preview: LOCK//IN São Paulo

The biggest Valorant tournament in history, VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo, is just a short time away. For two weeks, all thirty partner clubs and two Chinese teams will compete for a combined prize pool of $500,000. In addition, competitors will receive half the proceeds from the sale of the VCT LOCK//IN capsule.

In the meantime, while the teams are just arriving in Brazil, here's a refresher on the championship's format, roster, and conditions fans will face in preparation for the start of VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2023 Format: LOCK//IN São Paulo

As part of the tournament, all teams will be placed in a single elimination bracket, where they will be offered a conditional division into groups. All matches of the championship will be held in the BO3 format, with the exception of the semi-finals and the grand final - they will be held in the BO5 format. Thus, the teams will not have the right to make a mistake.

First of all, Riot Games divided participants from four regions into conditional subgroups in order to best represent the regional diversity in the opening matches.

• Europe vs Asia - 5 matches
• America vs Asia - 5 matches
• America vs Europe - 4 matches
• China vs America - 1 match
• China vs Europe - 1 match

As a result, each team was assigned a random number between 1 and 10 to account for all competitors. (America 1-10, Europe 1-10, Asia 1-10, China 1-2).

To distribute the participants and their starting matches, the organizers divided the bracket into "Alpha" and "Omega", so that teams from the same region would meet at later stages. As a result, the conditional winners of the "Alpha" and "Omega" brackets will meet in the championship final.

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In addition, a random draw assigned each of the 32 teams a number from 1 to 10, which corresponded to their region and the place already taken in the bracket.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo Members

Europe:

• Fnatic (Boaster, Derke, Alfajer, Leo, Chronicle)
• Team Liquid (soulcas, Jamppi, Redgar, nAts, Sayf)
• Karmine Corp (Shin, Newzera, ScreaM, Nivera, xms)
• Team Heretics (keloqz, mixwell, zeek, Boo, AvovA)
• Natus Vincere (ANGE1, Shao, Zyppan, SUYGETSU, cNed)
• Giants Gaming (Fit1nho, hoody, nukkye, rhyme, Cloud)
• FUT Esports (mojj, qRaxs, qw1, MrFaliN, ATA KAPTAN)
• BBL Esports (AsLanM4shadoW, QutionerX, Turko, Brave, SouhcNi)
• KOI (koldamenta, Sheydos, trexx, Wolfen, starxo)
• Team Vitality (ceNder, BONECOLD, MOLSI, Destrian, Twisten)

America:

• Sentinels (TenZ, zekken, Sacy, pANcada, dephh)
• Cloud9 (leaf, Xeppaa, Vanity, Zellsis, yay)
• NRG (s0m, FNS, crashies, Victor, ardiis)
• 100 Thieves (Asuna, Derrek, stellar, bang, Cryocells)
• Evil Geniuses (Boostio, Ethan, jawgemo, C0M, BcJ)
• FURIA Esports (qck, Khalil, mazin, dgzin, mwzera)
• MIBR (jzz, frz, heat, murizzz, RgLM)
• LOUD (aspas, Less, saadhak, cauanzin, tuyz)
• KRÜ Esports (Klaus, NagZ, xand, Daveeys, Melser)
• Leviatán Esports (kiNgg, Tacolilla, Shyy, Nozwerr, Mazino)

Asia:

• ZETA DIVISION (Laz, crow, Dep, SugarZ3ro, TENNN)
• DetonatioN FocusMe (Seoldam, Reita, xnfri, Anthem, Suggest)
• Gen.G Esports (Meteor, k1Ng, TS, eKo, Secret)
• T1 (xeta, Munchkin, ban, Sayaplayer, Carpe)
• DRX (stax, Rb, Foxy9, BuZz, MaKo)
• Team Secret (JessieVash, DubsteP, BORKUM, Jremy, invy)
• Paper Rex (mindfreak, f0rsakeN, Benkai, d4v41, Jinggg)
• Rex Regum Qeon (2ge, Emman, EJAY, Tehbotol, fl1pzjder)
• Talon Esports (Crws, Foxz3, Sushiboys, garnetS, JitboyS)
• Global Esports (SkRossi, AYRIN, t3xture, WRONSKI, Lightningfast)

China:

• FunPlus Phoenix (AAAAY, BerLIN, TZH, WudiYuChEn, Yuicaw)
• EDward Gaming (Haodong, CHICHOO, nobody, ZmjjKK, Smoggy)

The main favorites of the championship

To make the discussion more specific, it is worth dividing the favorites into pre-installed grids "Alpha" and "Omega". Considering starting pairs and possible participants, we will limit ourselves to four favorites from each draw, which are more likely to qualify for the trophy.

Grid "Alpha"

First of all, here it is necessary to single out the North American team NRG, which is the heir to OpTic Gaming. Moreover, the team runs the risk of going over rivals from Europe, but at the same time it will be considered a favorite in every match up to the semi-finals.

In contrast, there is the Brazilian team LOUD, which, despite the changes in the composition, can still be considered one of the leaders of the scene. But if first the Brazilians play against the representatives of Asia, then already in the quarterfinals they risk getting into the stellar Europeans led by ScreaM. Nevertheless, given the past merits of LOUD, the guys are quite capable of hooking on and justifying their high status.

Also, we should not forget about the South Koreans from DRX, who showed themselves excellently last season, and also retained the roster. But if at first the team was lucky with the bracket, then it risks getting into Cloud9 in the 1/4 finals. And yet, comparing the proportion of past achievements, DRX has excellent chances to break into the semi-finals.

Perhaps one of the simplest brackets went to Team Heretics, which will first play with Evil Geniuses, and then play with someone from the MIBR-Talon Esports pair. Given this factor, the European team has excellent chances to open up during the tournament and be among the favorites.

Grid "Omega"

The start of the grid turns out to be very difficult, since already in the quarterfinals, viewers risk seeing a battle between Team Liquid and Natus Vincere. However, FunPlus Phoenix' legacy is strong enough that the Born to Win have a much better chance of making it to the semi-finals and competing for the prizes.

Also, Leviatán Esports cannot be written off, since the Latin Americans got a fairly simple net. In the first case, the team has excellent chances against ZETA DIVISION, while then it will play with someone from the Team Vitality - Global Esports pair. So it turns out that out of the whole four, Leviatán Esports looks preferable to the rest.

Speaking about the favorites of the tournament, it is important to highlight 100 Thieves. The team has picked up form in the off-season and is ready to take a step towards great success. Moreover, the grid plays into the hands of the North American team, which will not have any difficulty getting past their opponents.

Closes the list of championship favorites European team Fnatic. Despite the difficult bracket, the team looks much more preferable than Sentinels, T1 and FURIA, so it is quite logical that the guys will reach the semi-finals of their part and try to wedge into the fight for awards.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo will take place from February 13 to March 4 in Sao Paulo at Ginásio do Ibirapuera. As part of the championship, 32 teams from China, Europe, Asia and America will compete for a total prize pool of $500,000.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2023 Prize Pool Breakdown: LOCK//IN São Paulo

• 1st place: $100,000
• 2nd place: $60,000
• 3rd-4th place: $40,000
• 5th-8th place: $25,000
• 9th-16th place: $10,000
• 17th-32nd place: $5,000