Since before the VALORANT Champions Istanbul ended with the crowning of LOUD as the best team in the world, great news had already been revealed regarding what would come with the 2023 season, which brought many changes to the global competitive level.
To give rise to the new era of the VCT, the 30 teams that are members of the new international leagues of the circuit, as well as 2 invited squads from China will meet in the capital of Brazil in a mega meeting in which everything will be at stake from the first departure.
Now, it’s time to get into what will be the biggest VALORANT tournament to date, where many dramatic moments and even some surprises await us from February 13 to March 4: VCT LOCK//IN São Paulo.
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In recent years, VALORANT has become a global phenomenon within the esports industry, being one of the fastest growing emerging scenes in terms of audience and investment from organizations around the world.
With such exponential progress, the VALORANT Champions Tour required an unprecedented evolution to cement its place as a full-time professional circuit, which led to the creation of international leagues for the Americas, and the EMEA and US regions. Pacific Asia.
Due to such drastic changes, the VCT 2023 calendar also suffered from a necessary adjustment, since with the relocation of the teams chosen for these tournaments, there would not be time to prepare what is necessary for an international tournament like the Masters.
That is why, to welcome this new era, it was decided to create a unique event that would bring together the best squads on the planet, and also serve to introduce each of their rosters prior to the start of the international leagues.
LOUD will try to defend his champion title before his people
VCT LOCK//IN 2023 will be one of the biggest events not only for Riot Games’ shooter, but also for any competitive FPS, since it will combine large organizations and a risky format in one of the countries with the greatest fans of this kind of game. Titles.
And with LOUD hosting them after reaching glory in Turkey, the stage is set for this battle between the VCT Americas, EMEA and Pacific teams, and the guests from China to be one to be remembered for years to come.
As revealed in September 2022, the inaugural VCT 2023 tournament will take place at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo. In this venue, fans from all over will be able to enjoy the best of VALORANT competitive for 3 weeks, and will even have the opportunity to enjoy activities and meet several of the players in meet and greets.
Featuring all the squads from the international leagues as well as a couple of invited teams, there will be 32 organizations looking to make their mark in Brazil and start the season as the team to beat. Below we list each of these:
Américas: 100 Thieves, Cloud9, Evil Geniuses, FURIA, KRÜ Esports, Leviatán, LOUD, MiBR, NRG y Sentinels.
EMEA: BBL Esports, Fnatic, FUT Esports, Giants, Karmine Corp, KOI, NAVI, Team Heretics, Team Liquid y Team Vitality.
Pacífico: DetonatioN FocusMe, DRX, Gen.G, Global Esports, Paper Rex, Rex Regum Qeon, T1, Talon Esports, Team Secret y ZETA Division.
China: EDG y FPX.
Among the highlights of the American continent, the LOUD team stands out, which will defend its crown after beating OpTic Gaming in Istanbul, as well as Sentinels, the winners of the first Masters in 2021. We can also meet the KRÜ Esports and Leviatán squads, who will represent Latin America after their successful passage through the VCT tournaments, in which they left our region very high.
On the EMEA side, we can find a wide variety of renowned organizations such as Fnatic, NAVI and Team Liquid, along with very popular emerging teams such as KOI and Team Heretics. Here the absences also shine, since none of the previous Masters and Champions winners appear among the participants.
To close, as for the Asian teams, we can note the presence of FPX, who were crowned winners of the Copenhagen Masters. Likewise, teams such as DRX, Paper Rex and ZETA Division stand out, which reached the Top 3 in several of the VCT 2022 tournaments.
Being a special occasion and having so many participants, VCT LOCK//IN São Paulo will introduce a format that was not exempt from criticism, but that will allow the tournament to flow in the best possible way by accommodating as many games on each day of competition.
First, the 32 teams were divided through a random draw into 2 groups of 16 teams (Alpha and Omega), with 5 representatives from each international league plus some of the guests from China. This in order to maximize the number of interregional games in the LOCK//IN, in addition to maximizing the possibility of this type of encounter in the second round.
32 squads will compete for an additional place at the Tokyo Masters
From here, everyone will meet in 2 single-elimination brackets, with best-of-3 matches from the first round to the semifinals. The final of each bracket and the grand final between the winners of each group will be the best of 5.
While no major title will be at stake in this event, the squad that manages to emerge victorious will not only receive applause from the public and a monetary prize, but will also secure an extra place for their international league in the VALORANT Masters Tokyo.
Continuing with the face-to-face return globally, VCT LOCK//IN São Paulo will have a live audience in its entirety. Tickets for the Ginásio do Ibirapuera are available through the Ticket360 platform, with prices ranging from R$90 to R$110, and R$130 for those who like to attend the grand finale.
And for all those who cannot travel to Brazil, you can follow all the action and the best moments of the tournament through the official channels of VALORANT Esports. As with past events, there will be broadcasts in more than 15 different languages across platforms like Twitch and YouTube.
Additionally, viewers will be able to get a couple of free rewards from drops available during live streams on both platforms, so it’s important to link your Riot accounts to them before or during the tournament.
You can get these rewards by watching the live stream
The broadcasts of VCT LOCK//IN São Paulo will begin on February 13 at 11:00 AM, Mexico City time, so prepare your supplies to support your favorite team and enjoy the new era of VALORANT competitive.
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