VCT LOCK//IN São Paolo: Everything you need to know

February 9, 2023

by Brian Bencomo

This year marks the start of a new era for VALORANT esports. There are 30 teams that Riot Games has chosen to partner with who will compete in one of three top tier international leagues: Americas, EMEA and Pacific. The 10 Americas teams hail from North and South America, the 10 EMEA teams come from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the 10 Pacific teams call Asia home.

All 30 teams will compete at VCT LOCK//IN São Paolo, making it the biggest and most competitive international VALORANT tournament to date. In addition to these 30 teams, two teams from China have been invited to round out the 32-team field. To get you ready for this tournament, here are all the teams competing, the schedule and format and some storylines to watch.

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Teams

Americas

100 Thieves
Cloud9
Evil Geniuses
FURIA Esports
KRÜ Esports
Leviatán
LOUD
MIBR
NRG
Sentinels

EMEA

BBL Esports
Fnatic
FUT Esports
Giants
Karmine Corp
KOI
Natus Vincere
Team Heretics
Team Liquid
Team Vitality

Pacific

DetonatioN FocusMe
DRX
Gen.G
Global Esports
Paper Rex
Rex Regum Qeon
T1
Talon Esports
Team Secret
ZETA Division

China

EDward Gaming
FunPlus Phoenix

Schedule and format

The 32 teams have been divided into two groups: Alpha or Omega. Each of these groups will comprise one side of the 32-team single-elimination bracket. The Alpha teams will begin play Feb. 13 and continue through Feb. 19 until two teams are left. The Omega teams will play Feb. 22-27 until that side of the bracket is down to two teams.

The final Alpha and Omega matches will be the tournament semifinals, which will take place March 2 and 3. The grand final will pit the winner of each group against each other on March 4.

Storylines

Who are the favorites?

Photo credit: Riot Games

For a full breakdown of the field, check out this ranking of all 32 LOCK//IN teams. In that ranking, there were six teams that stood out as S Tier teams: 100 Thieves, DRX, Fnatic, Natus Vincere, NRG and Paper Rex. These teams all made minimal to no changes to successful 2022 rosters. 100 Thieves had a strong finish to the year and added Matthew "Cryocells" Panganiban to give the team more firepower. They won the Red Bull Home Ground #3 offseason tournament in December, beating other partnered Americas and EMEA teams. NAVI signed almost the entire FunPlus Phoenix roster, which won Masters: Reykjavík last year, and added the highly skilled Mehmet "cNed" İpek, who won Champions with Acend in 2021. DRX and Paper Rex were top-five teams last year and didn’t make any roster changes. NRG signed three players and the coach of Masters: Reykjavík champions OpTic Gaming and added the one FunPlus Phoenix player who didn’t sign with NAVI.

Which of the favorites have the easiest/hardest path to the grand final?

Photo credit: Riot Games

The six teams mentioned above are the most likely to win LOCK//IN. However, some should have an easier path through the bracket than the others. On the Alpha side of the bracket, NAVI appears to have the easiest path to reach the semifinals. Their biggest hurdles would appear to be Team Liquid and Leviatán. TL no longer have Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom and Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom but they added two players from the dominant Gambit team that won Masters: Berlin in 2021. They should be good, but likely lack enough team synergy yet to take down NAVI. Leviatán peaked in the latter half of 2022 and strengthened their roster in the offseason, but they still might not be good enough to beat NAVI. In the Omega group, NRG should win their first two matchups and then will likely need to beat LOUD to reach the semifinals. After losing Gustavo "Sacy" Rossi, Bryan "pANcada" Luna and their coach, this is not the same LOUD team that won Champions. Meanwhile, NRG is three-fifths of the old OpTic roster plus their coach and a high-end replacement for Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker in Ardis "ardiis" Svarenieks. On paper, NRG should be able to beat the new-look LOUD.

Staying in the Alpha group, Paper Rex and DRX face the unlucky prospect of potentially facing each other in their second matchup. That will happen if DRX beat BBL Esports (which they should) and if Paper Rex beat Cloud9 (which is not a gimme). In fact, the Paper Rex vs. Cloud9 matchup figures to be one of the tougher first-round matchups, and the winner could be the team that ultimately reaches the LOCK//IN semis. Going back to the Omega group, Fnatic and 100 Thieves could face off with a spot in the semifinals on the line. 100 Thieves should cruise to this encounter. However, Fnatic could stumble in their initial matchup against Sentinels, which would suddenly make 100 Thieves’ path to the semis a lot easier.

How likely is it that a Brazilian team lifts the trophy in São Paolo?

Photo credit: Riot Games

Not very. If LOUD had been able to keep their championship roster together, then they would have had a good shot of winning LOCK//IN with the Brazilian crowd cheering them on. With only three-fifths of that roster still together and two new players without as much international experience, it’s unlikely LOUD win again. However, they could reach the semifinals. FURIA and MIBR should be competitive and will likely receive a boost from the crowd, but neither team appears to have enough talent to win five straight matches against the best teams in the world. Sentinels, who have two Brazilian players, could reach the semifinals, but they would have to beat Fnatic and likely 100 Thieves to get there.

Which region among the Americas, EMEA and Pacific is the strongest?

Photo credit: Riot Games

With the Americas, EMEA and Pacific teams being spread across the bracket roughly evenly, there will be plenty of interregional matchups and plenty of chances to see how the three regions compare. Finding out which region is the best won’t just be a fun debate at this tournament. The team that wins LOCK//IN will give their region an extra slot at Masters: Tokyo, the next international VCT event. Based on the first two years of VALORANT esports history, either the Americas or EMEA will likely emerge as the best region. No team from the Pacific region has ever won an international VCT event. However, with so much roster turnover on the Americas and EMEA teams this offseason, Pacific teams DRX and Paper Rex might be two of the strongest teams at this tournament.

Lead photo credit: Riot Games