Riot Games Announces Valorant VCT LOCK//IN Tournament

Valorant developer and publisher Riot Games has announced the Valorant VCT LOCK//IN tournament. The event, which the company calls the biggest in the history of the Valorant Champions Tour, will be held from February 13th to March 4th, 2023, at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil.

LOCK//IN will feature 32 teams across the Americas, Pacific, and EMEA leagues, as well as two invited representatives from China. The teams will be divided into two single-elimination brackets, with the top two teams from each bracket moving on the tournament’s final stage.

Valorant VCT LOCK//IN

AMERICAS TeamsPACIFIC TeamsEMEA TeamsInvited Teams from China
100 ThievesDetonatioN FocusMeBBL EsportsEDG
Cloud9DRXFnaticFPX
Evil GeniusesGen.GFUT Esports 
FURIAGlobal EsportsGiants 
Kru EsportsPaper RexKarmine Corp 
LeviatánRex Regum QeonKOI 
LOUDT1NAVI 
MiBRTalon EsportsTeam Heretics 
NRGTeam SecretTeam Liquid 
SentinelsZETA DivisionTeam Vitality 

Here’s more information on VCT LOCK//IN’s tournament format:

To accommodate the largest number of teams Riot Games has hosted at a single event, the tournament will use a single elimination format. Subsequent events will return to a double elimination format.

To maximize the number of inter-regional matches at LOCK//IN, a random draw process was implemented that paired teams from different regions in the first round, while also maximizing the possibility of inter-regional matches for the second round.

First, regions were paired into 16 first round match-ups, with each match-up consisting of two team slots.

  • EMEA vs PACIFIC – 5 match-ups
  • AMERICAS vs PACIFIC – 5 match-ups
  • AMERICAS vs EMEA – 4 match-ups
  • CHINA vs AMERICAS – 1 match-up
  • CHINA vs EMEA – 1 match-up

Each team slot was assigned a random number from 1-10 to account for the 32 teams in attendance. (Americas 1-10, EMEA 1-10, PACIFIC 1-10, China 1-2). In line with our goal to maximize geographically diverse competition, teams from China were paired with team slots from the AMERICAS and EMEA.

Second, the 16 match-ups were distributed across two sides of the single elimination bracket to maximize inter-regional matches for the first two rounds. For this event, the two sides of the bracket will be referenced as Alpha & Omega:

Alpha MatchesOmega Matches
AMERICAS vs PACIFIC – 3AMERICAS vs PACIFIC – 2
EMEA vs PACIFIC – 2EMEA vs PACIFIC – 3
EMEA vs AMERICAS – 2EMEA vs AMERICAS – 2
CHINA vs EMEA -1CHINA vs AMERICAS – 1

Finally, a random draw assigned each of the 32 teams a number from 1-10 that corresponded to their region and an already placed team slot, giving us our final bracket.

The Alpha group matches will be held from February 13 to 19 while the Omega matches will follow from February 22 to 27. The final stage will then be hosted from March 2 to 4.

Valorant VCT LOCK//IN

Valorant VCT LOCK//IN

Riot Games has also announced that more information on Drops, Watch Parties, and more will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Valorant VCT LOCK//IN will be held from February 13th to March 4th, 2023, at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil.