NRG and Giants send KOI and DetonatioN home at VCT LOCK IN inaugural day

The day has finally arrived. The inaugural VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) event of the year, VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN has commenced. The first day of competition in Brazil saw the following matches take place as we got rolling with the Alpha Bracket of the event:

• NRG Esports vs. KOI
• DetonatioN FocusMe vs. Giants

For more information on VALORANT Champions Tour, make sure to check out our VCT 2023 Hub.

NRG repent KOI in VCT LOCK IN opener

NRG Esports have swiftly dealt with the Spanish KOI in the opening matchup of the event with a 2-0. However, it wasn't all flowers and sunshine from the very beginning. On the opening map, Icebox, KOI got off to a hot start as they set the tone early with Nikita "trexx" Cherednichenko going absolutely ballistic for his team. However, NRG's Sam "s0m" Oh was slowly heating up, finishing off the half with a 3:9 deficit, but with an ACE. That also brought some momentum to NRG moving forward as they mounted an incredible comeback on their own map pick.

The second half was all NRG as the NA side absolutely dominated on attack with Austin "crashies" Roberts joining the party with s0m. Against all odds, and without a single Duelist agent, NRG punched back effectively and took Icebox 13-11.

Map pick of KOI was Haven, as the Spanish team was looking to forget all about the Icebox loss. However, things once more did not go to their liking. An 8:4 half win on attack for NRG set the tone for the game as KOI would be struggling to overcome Pujan "FNS" Mehta Breach. trexx would once more do his best to lead the team, but to no avail. Despite winning the opening four rounds on Haven's attack, NRG took the map 13:9, closing out the series 2-0 and eliminating KOI from VCT LOCK IN.

VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN

NRG Esports

2

X

0

KOI

Round of 16, Best of 3 - February 13, 2023 - 5:00PM

13

Icebox

11

13

Haven

9

NRG Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

crashies

1.15

220

36/27/17

+9

1.33

71.8%

139.0

27%

56%

5

4

s0m

1.09

227

36/26/12

+10

1.38

82.8%

146.5

34%

50%

4

4

FNS

0.88

173

24/24/18

0

1.00

82.8%

109.6

17%

100%

5

0

ardiis

0.87

190

27/28/12

-1

0.96

78.2%

128.3

18%

71%

10

4

Victor

0.87

172

29/30/10

-1

0.97

69.7%

109.6

24%

55%

6

5

KOI

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

trexx

1.31

275

46/27/9

+19

1.70

73.7%

181.2

32%

43%

3

4

Wolfen

0.78

187

28/38/7

-10

0.74

62.9%

122.7

33%

46%

11

13

sheydos

0.74

158

27/24/6

+3

1.13

67.4%

106.9

24%

33%

2

4

starxo

0.66

123

17/29/22

-12

0.59

70.3%

78.6

18%

0%

0

6

koldamenta

0.62

110

17/34/19

-17

0.50

63.3%

74.9

21%

25%

1

3

Giants send DetonatioN packing

The second and last matchup of the day saw another Spanish organization, GIANTX, take on the Japanese side, DetonatioN FocusMe. From the start, Giants had the upper hand on DetonatioN's very own map pick, Haven. Kirill "Cloud" Nehozhin had a blast on the map as the 19-year-old how to play agent Sova, attaining 29 kills and only 9 deaths on the map. DetonatioN struggled on attack, yet they managed to clinch 4 rounds, making it a manageable 8-4 at the half. However, Giants' attack was just as strong, as they put up 5 straight rounds, blowing out DetonatioN on their own map pick 13-4.

The second map, Icebox, did not see much of an improvement from the Japanese side. Going full steam ahead with a Sage-less agent composition on Icebox, DetonatioN struggled on defense as Giants' very own Žygimantas "nukkye" Chmieliauskas caught wind. The Spanish organization took the half 8-4, before continuing their journey to victory on defense. DetonatioN saw sparks of hope at separate rounds with Shogo "takej" Takemori showing some solid rounds on Viper, yet it would require much more than that for the Japanese side to stand a chance. Giants eventually took their own map pick with a rather swift 13-7 victory, effectively eliminating their rivals from VCT LOCK IN Sao Paulo.

VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN

GIANTX

2

X

0

DetonatioN FocusMe

Round of 16, Best of 3 - February 13, 2023 - 8:00PM

13

Haven

4

13

Icebox

7

GIANTX

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Cloud

1.48

287

42/21/5

+21

2.00

87.1%

191.3

39%

80%

4

1

nukkye

1.33

233

32/18/17

+14

1.78

87.1%

151.0

33%

56%

5

4

rhyme

1.20

201

28/21/19

+7

1.33

83.7%

131.6

36%

43%

3

4

hoody

1.01

208

27/20/6

+7

1.35

87.1%

159.4

23%

75%

6

2

Fit1nho

0.72

161

20/24/8

-4

0.83

81.6%

110.8

21%

56%

5

4

DetonatioN FocusMe

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

takej

0.96

197

13/13/5

0

1.00

60.0%

120.5

42%

67%

2

1

Reita

0.94

208

25/30/8

-5

0.83

56.9%

137.3

44%

27%

3

8

Suggest

0.87

155

21/31/14

-10

0.68

65.7%

90.8

30%

44%

4

5

Anthem

0.68

159

19/29/6

-10

0.66

73.2%

109.1

32%

60%

3

2

xnfri

0.66

151

19/30/6

-11

0.63

64.4%

107.5

19%

25%

1

3

Seoldam

0.49

129

7/16/2

-9

0.44

52.9%

79.5

31%

33%

2

4

MVP: Cloud

The 19-year-old had a phenomenal international LAN debut in VALORANT. From a masterclass kill-wise on Haven, to an all-out info-gathering on Icebox, Cloud and his teammates could not have asked for more. He is our Day 1 MVP of VCT LOCK IN.

Featured Image Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games