To start off the first season of franchised play in VALORANT Champions Tour history, the VCT LOCK//IN São Paulo tournament will be a unique tournament to start off 2023. Including all franchised teams from all over the world, each will play in a single elimination tournament in São Paulo, Brazil. This means it won’t be as long as previous international tournaments, but will still show off the skills each team has heading into their respective regional tournaments later in VCT 2023.
It’s time to lock in for the first international event of the #VCT 2023 season! 🔒
Here’s everything you need to know about LOCK//IN Brazil. pic.twitter.com/11hMbHMYFr
— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) January 17, 2023
VCT 2023 LOCK//IN São Paulo will be single-elimination
There will be 32 teams competing for the VCT 2023 LOCK//IN São Paulo title including all franchised teams and two invited Chinese teams. These are the teams:
Americas
- 100 Thieves
- Cloud9
- Evil Geniuses
- FURIA
- KRÜ Esports
- Leviatán
- LOUD
- MiBR
- NRG
- Sentinels
Europe, Middle East, and Africa
- BBL Esports
- Fnatic
- FUT Esports
- Giants
- Karmine Corp
- Koi
- Team Heretics
- NAVI
- 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
- EDG
- FPX
With a large variety of teams mixed in with little to no seeding, the first matchups were drawn entirely randomly, but with a design to have no regions face each other in the first round. The full list of starting matches are:
- Koi versus NRG
- DetonatioN FocusMe versus Giants
- Gen.G Esports versus LOUD
- FunPlus Phoenix versus Karmine Corp
- BBL Esports versus DRX
- Cloud9 versus Paper Rex
- Evil Geniuses versus Team Heretics
- MiBR versus Talon Esports
- Team Liquid versus Team Secret
- NAVI versus KRÜ Esports
- ZETA Division versus Leviatán
- Team Vitality versus Global Esports
- FUT Esports versus Rex Regum Qeon
- 100 Thieves versus EDG
- Sentinels versus Fnatic
- T1 versus FURIA
The first eight matches from the above order consist of one side of the massive bracket, while the second half represents the second side. As a single-elimination tournament, the first loss a team faces will mark their elimination from the tournament. So, in the grand finals, we’ll have two undefeated teams from each half of the bracket facing off for the LOCK//IN São Paulo title.
Match details
As for the VCT 2023 LOCK//IN São Paulo matches, the majority of matches are in a best-of-three format.
When teams reach the semifinals, each match during and afterwards will turn into a best-of-five series. Even the grand finals are a best-of-five, instead of the traditional best-of-seven finals.
