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.
| 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 |
