Valorant Champions Tour 2023: Riot announces LOCK//IN tournament details including teams, brackets, format, match schedule and more

This is set to be the largest event in the history of the VALORANT Champions Tour, as per Riot Games. LOCK//IN will have the world’s best 32 esports team contesting for the ultimate prize in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Riot Games has announced the LOCK//IN tournament details. This is set to be the largest event in the history of the VALORANT Champions Tour, as per Riot Games. LOCK//IN will have the world’s best 32 esports team contesting for the ultimate prize in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The tournament kicks off on February 13 and ends on March 4. 

LOCK//IN Participating Teams

LOCK//IN will have teams participating from different regions of the world including  Americas, Pacific, and EMEA. There are two teams invited by Riot Games to represent China at the official tournament.  

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LOCK IN Participating Teams
AMERICAS Teams PACIFIC Teams EMEA Teams Invited Teams from China
100 Thieves DetonatioN FocusMe BBL Esports EDG
Cloud9 DRX Fnatic FPX
Evil Geniuses Gen.G FUT Esports  
FURIA Global Esports Giants  
Kru Esports Paper Rex Karmine Corp  
Leviatán Rex Regum Qeon KOI  
LOUD T1 NAVI  
MiBR Talon Esports Team Heretics  
NRG Team Secret Team Liquid  
Sentinels ZETA Division Team Vitality  

 

LOCK//IN Tournament Format

Riot Games has went with a single-elimination format for this tournament. They’ve also revealed that the subsequent esports events will once again follow their usual double-elimination format. 

LOCK//IN followed a random draw process so that teams from different regions are paired together in the first round. Riot has also tried to maximise the possibility of inter-regional matches for the second round.

To achieve this, Riot first paired the regions into 16 first-round match-ups where each match-up would consist of two team slots. Here’s how that works out: 

  • 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 given a random number from 1-10 so as to accommodate 32 teams. For example: Americas 1-10, EMEA 1-10, PACIFIC 1-10, China 1-2. Riot also took the liberty of pairing teams from China with team slots from the AMERICAS and EMEA to “maximize geographically diverse competition”. 

Then, Riot distributed the 16 match-ups across two sides of the single elimination bracket. This was done so as to increase the chances of inter-regional matches for the first two rounds. For reference, Riot has named these brackets Alpha and Omega.

Here are the Alpha and Omega brackets for LOCK//IN event 

 

Alpha Matches Omega Matches
AMERICAS vs PACIFIC - 3 AMERICAS vs PACIFIC - 2
EMEA vs PACIFIC - 2 EMEA vs PACIFIC - 3
EMEA vs AMERICAS - 2 EMEA vs AMERICAS - 2
CHINA vs EMEA -1 CHINA vs AMERICAS - 1

 

Riot then explained how the final bracket came to be. “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.” 

LOCK//IN event schedule

LOCK//IN will consist of three stages:
 

  • Alpha Matches: February 13 -19 
    • Alpha Matches will play out until there are only two teams left. 
    • Each match will be a Best-of-Three to decide the winner.

       
  • Omega Matches: February 22 - 27
    • Same rules as Alpha matches.
    • Alpha Matches will play out until there are only two teams left. 
    • Each match will be a Best-of-Three to decide the winner.

       
  • Finals Stage
    • The remaining four teams play through the Semifinals and Finals to decide the final winner.
    • Matches in the semifinals and finals will be decided by Best-of-Five score. 

 


LOCK//IN match schedule:

Monday February-13 Alpha Matches
Tuesday February-14 Alpha Matches
Wednesday February-15 Alpha Matches
Thursday February-16 Dark Day
Friday February-17 Alpha Matches
Saturday February-18 Alpha Matches
Sunday February-19 Alpha Matches
Monday February-20 Dark Day
Tuesday February-21 Dark Day
Wednesday February-22 Omega Matches
Thursday February-23 Omega Matches
Friday February-24 Omega Matches
Saturday February-25 Omega Matches
Sunday February-26 Omega Matches
Monday February-27 Omega Matches
Tuesday February-28 Dark Day
Wednesday March-01 Dark Day
Thursday March-02 Semifinals
Friday March-03 Semifinals
Saturday March-04 Finals