VCT LOCK//IN Omega Bracket to feature Sentinels, NaVi, ZETA DIVISION, more
VCT LOCK//IN Brazil’s Omega Bracket kicks off on Wednesday, February 22, with popular teams like Los Angeles-based Sentinels, Ukrainian team Natus Vincere and Japanese roster ZETA DIVISION ready to compete.
Omega Bracket will also feature other teams, namely Team Liquid, Team Secret, KRÜ Esports, Leviatán, Team Vitality, FUT Esports, Global Esports, Rex Regum Qeon, EDward Gaming, 100 Thieves, Fnatic, T1, and FURIA.
The first-round pits Team Liquid against Team Secret on Wednesday, while NaVi will face off against the Argentinian team KRÜ Esports in the second round. The day will conclude with a match between ZETA DIVISION and another Argentinian team, Leviatán.
The action on Thursday, February 23, will begin with a match between French squad Team Vitality and Indian team Global Esports. Turkish team FUT Esports will play Southeast Asia team Rex Regum Qeon in the next round. A game between the American roster 100 Thieves and the Chinese team EDward Gaming is also set for this day.
Sentinels will meet the London-based organization Fnatic on February 24. Following that, Korean team T1 will battle Brazil’s FURIA.
The quarterfinals for the Omega bracket will be held on Saturday, February 25. The following day will witness the tournament’s semifinals.
2023 VCT LOCK//IN
VCT LOCK//IN Brazil is the first stop on the 2023 VALORANT Champions Tour. It involves 30 partner teams from foreign leagues in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and America, plus two invited Chinese teams.
The 32 competing teams have been competing in a single-elimination tournament with a best-of-three first-through-third-round format. All matches in the semifinals and the final will be best of five sets.
Riot Games adopted a random draw mechanism to maximize the frequency of inter-regional conflicts in the first round of matches. The 16 matchups were divided across two brackets called “Alpha” and “Omega.”
VCT LOCK//IN’s first half is over, and Alpha Bracket concluded with two of the most widely-touted contenders, Brazil’s LOUD and South Korea’s DRX advancing to the semifinal.
The high-octane series between LOUD and American organization NRG peaked with over 870,000 viewers, making it one of the ten most-watched matches in VALORANT history.
VCT LOCK//IN Brazil has been taking hold in Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo from February 13 and will end on March 4. The 10,000-seat arena has hosted esports events such as the finals of CBLOL 2022’s second split and the LATAM last-chance qualifier for VALORANT Champions 2022.
Preparing for Omega Bracket
Don “SyykoNT” Muir, manager and head coach of the Sentinels, has assured his players that they are under no stress as they prepare for VCT LOCK//IN.
The opening round of VCT LOCK//IN pits Sentinels against Fnatic, their grand final opponent from their VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters – Reykjavík championship run.
100 Thieves and Sentinels are the only North American teams still competing after Cloud9, Evil Geniuses and NRG got eliminated in the Alpha Bracket.
SyykoNT disagreed with the idea that his squad was nervous because of that. At a news conference, the 31-year-old insisted his teams were not under any pressure.
He said their goals centered on achieving VALORANT Champions and a spot in VCT Masters Tokyo. The VCT LOCK//IN tournament is a stepping stone toward that goal. He added that his squad is attempting to get as much experience as possible by fighting “against international teams.”
SyykoNT said that he expected a challenging matchup against Fnatic due to the additions of Swedish player Leo “Leo” Jannesson and Russian player Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov.
Fnatic, SyykoNT explained, is a well-rounded team, adding that he greatly respects the team. He said his team is familiar with Fnatic’s play style and plans to take advantage of this information throughout the game.
VCT LOCK//IN Brazil, like past VCT events, has been streamed live on VCT’s official channels on YouTube and Twitch. Fans can also tune in to official watch parties hosted by streamers worldwide to watch the action live while listening to commentary and analysis from their favorite gamers.
