The best of the best from every region will be in attendance, with 16 teams from all over the world qualifying for the season finale. They include Fnatic, Paper Rex, Evil Geniuses, NRG, LOUD, EDward Gaming, Team Liquid, DRX, Natus Vincere, KRU Esports, FUT Esports, Giants Gaming, T1, ZETA DIVISION, Bilibili Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix.

After winning the VCT LOCK//IN and VCT Masters Tokyo during the year, Fnatic are the clear favourites at +110 with most esports betting sites as they seek to become the first team to win every international event in a single Valorant Champions Tour season.

Best Bet – Fnatic

VCT Champions 2023 appears Fnatic’s title to lose. The EMEA League winners have shown this year that they are in a class of their own. No one got near them at VCT Masters Tokyo, with the champions only losing one map for the entire event. That blip came at the hands Evil Geniuses in the upper-bracket final; however, they would clash again in the grand final, where Fnatic swept EG 3-0.

Fnatic created history after their VCT Masters Tokyo title, becoming the first team to win two international events in a single season, and they will be looking to create more history with a third international title at VCT Champions. With the likes of Jake “Boaster” Howlett and Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov leading their roster, it is hard to go past the pre-tournament favourites.

Best Value – EDward Gaming

EDward Gaming were one of the surprise packets to come out of VCT Masters Tokyo, where they knocked out Natus Vincere during the group stage and LOUD during the playoffs. Before booking their place at VCT Champions, EDG had to go through the China Qualifier. The top-ranked Chinese team went through undefeated and only dropped one map, coming in the grand final against Bilibili Gaming.

Zheng “ZMjjKK” Yongkang, also known as Kang Kang, is one of the best snipers to ever grace the Valorant servers. The 19-year-old is considered one of best up-and-coming talents in the world and is already a leader on this team. If he produces a similar show-stopping performance to what he did in Tokyo, EDG will be there when the whips are cracking on the final days of the event.

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NATUS VINCERE vs FNATIC VCT BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

Natus Vincere and Fnatic will clash on Friday to determine which squad will join the winner of LOUD vs DRX in the VCT 2023 LOCK//IN finals. It will mark the first clash between the two European forces in 2023, but it won’t be the first time the two rosters meet.

NaVi’s lineup (the former core of FunPlus Phoenix) played Fnatic many times in 2022 but are 1-4 across the last five head-to-head clashes. However, the two rosters last met in July, so it’s hard to put too much weight on that record.

Natus Vincere entered the tournament as the main favourite to lift the trophy, and even though they’re still the leading candidates to win it all, making it past Fnatic won’t be easy. Jake “Boaster” Howlett and co. have been exceptional throughout the first three rounds of the competition, beating Sentinels (2-0). FURIA Esports (2-0) and 100 Thieves (2-0) with ease.

Even more impressive is that Fnatic gave up double-digit rounds just twice across the three series – against FURIA (18-16) and 100 Thieves (13-10). Natus Vincere looked just as dominant with their sweeps of KRU Esports (2-0), Team Secret (2-0), and Leviatan (2-0), but they had the luxury of facing weaker opponents.

Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky and Pontus “Zyppan” Eek are two of the top-performing players of the tournament, followed by Fnatic’s Leo “Leo” Jannesson and Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov with third- and fourth-highest KDA (1.45, 1.29). Still, knowing that Fnatic had to play tougher teams, those numbers don’t tell us much.

Even though NaVi have the tools to win, there’s no reason to have Fnatic priced as +120 underdogs with Valorant betting sites. Boaster and his crew have produced excellent performances and look like they’re “feeling it”, making it tough to justify betting against the offered Valorant betting odds.

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Fnatic haven’t made many roster moves ahead of the 2023 VCT season besides singing Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov and former UCAM Esports Club player Maks “kamyk” Rychlewski as a sixth member. The lack of changes makes sense, considering Fnatic had a solid run through 2022, winning the EMEA Stage 2 Challengers and placing top six at VALORANT Champions 2022.

Having proven themselves as one of the world’s top teams, Fnatic will run it back with the same core, and they’ll likely be just as good. On the other side, Sentinels have made plenty of roster changes and built a new lineup around Tyson “TenZ” Ngo.

By adding two reigning world champions in Bryan “pANcada” Luna and Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi, and two former XSET players in Rory “dephh” Jackson and Zachary “zekken” Patrone, Sentinels should be far more competitive than last year. But there are questions about the synergy and the possible language barrier.

Fnatic enter this match with much more to lose, but the pressure has rarely stopped this squad from showing up. Even though Sentinels don’t seem like an easy opponent to face, the odds on Fnatic are too good to pass on.

The crowd could be a factor in this match, but it’s not like FURIA Esports need extra help to defeat T1. These two teams look fairly evenly matched talent-wise, but there’s also the fact that T1 introduced several new signings at the end of 2022.

The new squad has had enough time to gel, and we saw some glimpses of what T1 can do at the Ludwig x Tarik Invitational, but it’s hard to take much from that event. On the other side, we’ve yet to see FURIA play this year, but by keeping most of its roster intact, we can assume that FURIA will play at about the same level as in 2022.

We expect a very close game, so taking T1 at -138.89 with BetOnline doesn’t look too appealing. And even though FURIA aren’t known for their consistency, we’re glad to side with them at even money or better.

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Leviatan will come into their first series of the VCT LOCK//IN as heavy favourites against ZETA DIVISION after winning two smaller competitions on their way to a six-match win streak. The current Leviatan roster is still a relatively new roster after four of the five players were only signed in October and November of last year. However, the South American roster has been in great form and they will be bringing a lot of confidence into their first series of the LOCK//IN.

Their opponents, ZETA DIVISION, had somewhat of a successful 2022 finishing third at the VCT 2022 Stage 1 Masters Reykjavik after they made it all the way to the lower-bracket final, but went down to Optic Gaming 0-3. Since the Stage 1 Masters, ZETA DIVISION have been inconsistent winning three of their last eight series, including losing two of their three series at the VCT Champions 2022.

This series should be closer than the betting suggests and ZETA DIVISION shouldn’t be underrated; therefore, we will be taking overs in the total maps market.

The second series we will be focusing on will be between two teams that are competing at their first S-Tier Valorant event in their short history.

Global Esports have been dominating in the lower tiers of Valorant through across India and the Asia-Pacific region; however, their wins in B- and C-Tier events may not match up to the standard that they will need to win a series at an S-Tier event like the LOCK//IN. GE haven’t played an official competitive Valorant series since November of last year, so they will be coming into this with limited match practice.

Team Vitality ended their 2022 season with third-fourth placings at both the G-Loot Valorant Clash Grand Finals and the Red Bull Home Ground #3. The international roster has been very consistent, not finishing outside of the top four at their last three A-Tier tournaments, which is much better form than their opponents in this upcoming series. Vitality are deserving favourites in this series and they should be winning.

The last of our previewed series will feature another two teams who will be participating in their first S-Tier event, with FUT Esports taking on Rex Regum Qeon.

FUT Esports ended their 2022 season with a seventh-eighth place finish at Red Bull Home Ground #3 and 9th-16th place at G-Loot Valorant Clash Grand Finals. The Turkish roster has been winning a lot of A- and B-Tier events in Turkey but they have struggled when playing internationally, so this will be a good test for them first up against Rex Regum Qeon.

Rex Regum Qeon have been competing in B and C-Tier events throughout the Asia-Pacific region and at their two A-Tier events they have finished in 9th-12th place and fifth-sixth place, showing that they struggle to compete at that level of competition. Now that they are stepping up to participate in their first S-Tier event, we expect them to struggle – even if they are meeting another S-Tier debutant.

This series looks to FUT Esports’ for the taking, so we will be backing them in win the series 2-0.

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While some teams decided to rebuild their Valorant divisions before the 2023 season, Evil Geniuses added new members. Now fielding a nine-man roster, Evil Geniuses have plenty of options to put together a competitive squad, but that’s only in theory.

Evil Geniuses have a few solid pieces, but their results throughout 2022 speak for themselves. With a fifth-sixth finish at VCT 2022 North America Stage 2 Challengers, their best result of the year, Evil Geniuses aren’t a team anyone will be scared to face. Team Heretics, on the other side, are a bit of an enigma with three new members in Aleksander “zeek” Zygmunt, Ri?ardas “Boo” Luka?evi?ius, and Auni “AvovA” Chahade, but on paper, they look much stronger.

Team Heretics didn’t compete in the VCT last season, yet they now field proven VCT talent, including 2021 world champion zeek and two-time Masters finalist AvovA. So even though there are questions of how this roster will fit together, Team Heretics look significantly better than Evil Geniuses.

Ahead of the 2023 season, MiBR signed former Keyd Stars players in Olavo “heat” Marcelo and Matheus “RgLM” Rodigoli, who linked up with André “Txozin” Saidel and two carryovers from 2022 in Leandro “frz” Gomes and Jo?o “jzz” Pedro. Even with the changes, this is not the strongest team in the region, but given the rise of the LATAM Valorant scene, MiBR are not to be underestimated.

Yet the same can be said about Asian teams. We’ve seen X10 Esports and XERXIA do some serious damage on the international stage over the last two years, and that core is now a part of Talon Esports.

Although Talon also field some unproven talent, this roster looks scary and should do well even when faced with top-tier teams. This is a winnable match for MiBR, but at the offered Valorant betting odds, it makes far more sense to back Talon Esports. They look weaker than the Brazilians, but the gap is not as big as the bookmakers’ numbers would suggest.

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The Brazilians were meant to feature on the opening day of the tournament, which commenced on Monday in Sao Paulo. However, with a number of team members laid up through illness, they could not field a full roster for their scheduled match with Gen.G Esports.

As such, tournament organizers have given the team two days for the sick players to rest and recover in order to play as a full team on February 15, hopefully.

“Due to sickness among multiple players, LOUD will not be able to field a full roster for their previously scheduled VCT LOCK//IN opening day match on Monday, February 13,” the statement read.

“As a result, we have made the decision to move the match between Gen.G and LOUD to February 15 to provide LOUD with additional time to recover. February 13 will now feature two matches while February 15 will now feature three matches. The start time for matches on February 13 and 15 remain unchanged.”

February 15 will see Evil Geniuses and Team Heretics compete, followed by Talon Esports taking on MIBR, and LOUD’s postponed match with Gen.G will be held afterward. The start time of the first match, 11am CT, was not altered.

As the LOCK//IN tournament taking place in Brazil, the home of the 2022 VCT champions, Riot has provided two options for local fans who had tickets to the February 13 clash to see the February 15 match at no extra charge.

The first will give fans that attended the February 13 games a complementary ticket to Wednesday’s fixture. The second method will provide fans free admission to February 15 if they provide an unused valid ticket for the opening day.

“We want to ensure that fans can see their favorite team compete. Given this situation surfaced so early in the tournament, it was possible to reschedule with minimal impact to the event,” the statement continued.

If any fans are still unsatisfied with those offers, Riot revealed they could receive a full refund through Ticket360.

Despite their current problems, LOUD enter the LOCK//IN as one of the favored teams to win the competition. The group is mainly made of new players; however, LOUD retained three of their players from the 2022 VCT tournament.

Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi and Bryan “pANcada” Luna left the Brazilian team during the offseason and signed with Sentinels. Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi, the team’s former coach, also left and is currently working for MIBR, LOUD’s rival South American squad.

Cauan “cauanzin” Pereira and Arthur “tuyz” Vieira were recently signed to the team and will represent LOUD at the LOCK//IN. The new head and assistant coaches are Daniel “fRoD” Montaner and Jordan “stk” Nunes, respectively.

Additional precautions will likely follow if LOUD’s players are still sick by the end of the extension to allow the team to compete. Teams were given COVID-19 quarantine rooms in previous VCT tournaments where sick players could play without the risk of infecting other competitors.

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?Karmine Corp built a new roster around Alexis “Newzera” Humbert and Ryad “Shin” Ensaad by adding the former MAD Lions player Alexandre “xms” Forté and the Belgian brothers Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom and Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom. This looks like an excellent roster, but with so many big names, KC are bound to be overhyped.

While ScreaM and Nivera didn’t disappoint while playing for Team Liquid in 2022, they weren’t shining stars either. They are still viewed as better players than any on FunPlus Phoenix’s current lineup, but there’s a good reason for that – most of FPX’s players are making their VCT debut this season.

FPX built a team of unknown Asian talent, but the lack of notable results doesn’t mean this roster lacks talent. As seen across the last couple of years, the Asian Valorant is very strong, and its teams can cause serious damage against unprepared European squads.

Backing a team of players with little to no experience competing on big stages sounds like a bold move, but fading Karmine Corp, who’ve yet to play with this lineup, is the right play.

DRX made just one roster change ahead of the 2023 season in October when the Korean squad signed Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung. The decision to keep the roster intact makes sense, considering DRX performed well last season and ended the year with a bronze medal from VALORANT Champions 2022.

With the results DRX showed last season, they should win a big event in 2023; the only question is when. And VCT LOCK//IN gives them an excellent opportunity to do so, especially with one of the leading contenders dealing with sickness.

DRX’s bracket in Brazil looks very manageable, with BBL Esports in the first round, followed by the winner of Cloud9 vs Paper Rex and likely Evil Geniuses as their quarter-final opponents. DRX can slip, but until the final eight, we don’t see a single team in DRX’s bracket that could match the Koreans, including BBL Esports — a second-tier team whose best result in 2022 was qualifying for VCT EMEA Challengers 1.

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