VCT 2023 News
- Champions Spotlight: Fit1nho's Giant road to VALORANT ChampionsHave a look at Fit1nho's road to VALORANT Champions as he will be leading the front-line of attack for Giants in Los Angeles.about 1 year ago
- Veteran coach announces Leviatán departureAfter 1 and a half years as Leviatán's head coach, Onur announced his departure from the organization after failing to participate in VALORANT Champions 2023.about 1 year ago
- Champions Spotlight: Paper Rex bring something new to ChampionsPaper Rex have something up their sleeve coming to Los Angeles Champions. Let's have a look at something as he will be having his international VALORANT debut in Los Angeles.about 1 year ago
- 100 Thieves parts ways with VALORANT roster's General Manager ddkFollowing their 8th place in the Americas regular season and elimination at Last Chance Qualifiers, they started introducing changes to their roster starting with the General Manager.about 1 year ago
VCT 2023 Teams
VCT 2023 teams in the Americas International League
The VCT Americas League will be held in Los Angeles, USA.
100 Thieves, Cloud9, NRG Esports, Sentinels, and Evil Geniuses are the VCT 2023 teams representing North America in the 2023 Americas International League. Each team signed fantastic talent for the year as they’ll be eyeing the VCT Champions trophy in 2023.
Sentinels have signed Sacy and pANcada, former players of LOUD, 2022’s VCT Champions, to add to the firepower of Canadian star TenZ. Meanwhile, NRG Esports have acquired most of last season’s OpTic Gaming roster but lost their superstar in the form of yay, arguably the best VALORANT player of 2022. Instead, they imported former FunPlus Phoenix star ardiis to fill yay’s shoes, an equally talented player that is not afraid to take duels. Cloud9 is the VCT team that successfully nicked yay into their ranks, also bringing on board the talented in-game leader, vanity. Meanwhile, 100 Thieves have bet on a mix of experience and raw talent, successfully signing Cryocells who should complement Asuna’s firepower well. Lastly, Evil Geniuses may be a bit of a dark horse among the NA teams. Sporting the excellent potency of rifling from Ethan, excellent game sense displayed by BcJ from his XSET days, and great potential shown by C0M, EG will be looking to shake up the Americas League despite not having an obvious superstar player in its ranks.
LOUD, FURIA, and mibr will be the VCT teams representing Brazil in the Americas International League.
LOUD is undoubtedly the most successful VCT team from the region after their phenomenal 2022 season, coming out on top as the VALORANT Champions. However, after the departure of Sacy and pANcada, cauanzin and tuyz have been brought on board to fill their shoes heading into the 2023 VCT season. Mibr has shown promise in 2022, but the VCT team has never really gone far enough to convince the public that they have what it takes to get within reach of lifting an international trophy. Their secret weapon? heat. The young Jett-main has shown phenomenal mechanical skill and we can’t wait to see more from him in VCT 2023. Finally, FURIA made it to VCT Champions Istanbul last year but lacked the edge to defeat any teams there, being one of the first teams to depart the event. Perhaps 2023 will be a different story for the promising Brazilian squad that sports an aggressive playstyle.
To round out the VCT teams for the Americas International League, Leviatán Esports and KRÜ Esports will be the South American representatives outside of Brazil.
Both teams have had their moments over the past two years at major international VALORANT LAN events. KRÜ Esports has shown its edge at VALORANT Champions 2021 by placing 3rd-4th at the event but have slumped in 2022 when they were defeated by FPX, only managing to grab a 9th-12th placing. Meanwhile, Leviatán has only grown in 2022, placing 7th-8th at VALORANT Champions 2022 after a surprise run at VCT Masters Copenhagen. Their potential has only grown when they have stolen KRÜ’s head coach, Onur, and the trend has continued into 2023. Leviatán have signed Keznit, KRÜ’s most dangerous player, effectively taking apart their rivals, and building their team to their liking.
VCT 2023 teams in the EMEA International League
The EMEA International League features a variety of organizations from European countries. Still, the players are from all over Europe, Turkey, and the CIS region. The League will be held in Berlin, Germany.
Team Vitality and Karmine Corp are the two French organizations that have landed themselves a Riot Games partnership to participate in EMEA’s International League. Team Vitality already has vast experience participating in the VALORANT competitive landscape after taking the runner-up spot at last year’s VALORANT Regional League Finals. Despite the loss to FUT Esports in the finale, Vitality showed its prowess, and their 2023 VCT team bets on a mix of old and new talent, with Twisten coming in as a potential star of the team. Meanwhile, Karmine Corp is a relatively new team in VALORANT esports. Despite that, the team has formed a formidable roster after managing to sign the Benrlitom brothers from Team Liquid — ScreaM and Nivera — to form a very promising Belgian-French mix.
The EMEA International League also features three Spanish organizations join the fight in VCT 2023; Team Heretics, KOI, and Giants Gaming. Team Heretics, former First Strike Europe Champions from 2020, will want to return to their winning ways by signing former experienced G2 Esports player m1xwell, and the young talents of keloqz and former VALORANT Champions winner zeek. Giants Gaming has much to prove, as the team failed to achieve much in terms of top-flight VCT competitions, and instead resorted to participating in lower-tier events. With a more formidable roster consisting of a European medley of talent with rhyme and nukkye at the helm, Giants may finally find the long-desired success in 2023. Finally, much like Giants, KOI failed to find its footing in the 2022 VCT season. However, the team has now joined the top-flight of VALORANT competition. KOI signed a mostly CIS/Eastern European mix featuring Starxo, a former VALORANT Champions winner, and koldamenta, the Spanish in-game leader for the squad.
From the far eastern side of Europe, BBL Esports and FUT Esports will be joining the VCT International Leagues as Turkish representatives. FUT is the winner of the VALORANT Regional Leagues in 2022 and has shown that its players have the discipline to mount a comeback after being 2:0 down in a best-of-five series and reverse-sweep Team Vitality in the grand finale. Following that success, the team has decided to retain the VRL-winning roster, with the minor change of signing a sixth-man, ATA KAPTAN. Meanwhile, BBL Esports will be looking to get into the swing of things this season. Following constant roster changes in 2022, the team failed to find meaningful success. This is considering that BBL are the First Strike Turkey Champions and the runners-up of VCT Turkey Stage 1 Masters. Hopefully, the recent signing of SouhcNi alongside previous roster changes will solidify the team.
Only one CIS organization has made it into the VALORANT International Leagues: Natus Vincere (NAVI). NAVI has essentially signed the entire former FunPlus Phoenix roster without ardiis who joined NRG Esports in the Americas International League. In his place, however, the Turkish star of the VALORANT Champions-winning Acend has stepped in; cNed. The former FPX roster was a force to be reckoned with in 2022 and they may be one of the most dangerous teams in the league.
Finally, Team Liquid and Fnatic round out the list of VCT teams in EMEA. Being juggernaut organizations, VALORANT fans have grown accustomed to seeing them compete at the highest level in the game. And yet, both had a rather underwhelming 2022 given their star-studded rosters. Team Liquid will be coming into the VCT International League without ScreaM and Nivera. However, the team acquired Redgar, nAts, and Sayf to fill the void. All three players have historically proved that they belong in the top tier of VALORANT and will surely retain Team Liquid’s reputation going into VCT 2023. As for Fnatic, the reputable team led by the charismatic figure of Boaster has signed Leo and Chronicle to boost the team’s chances in the VCT league. With Derke and Alfajer being Fnatic’s skilled superstar players, Fnatic’s expectations to finally lift a trophy will be sky-high in the 2023 VCT season.
VCT 2023 teams in the Pacific International League
The Pacific VCT International League will be held in Seoul, South Korea. The League features teams from all corners of the Asia region.
Despite the event being held in Seoul, DRX is the only South Korean team in the League. Led by stax, DRX (formerly Vision Strikers) has already become one of the most storied VALORANT teams due to their achievements in the region. Despite that, the Korean juggernauts are yet to lift an international trophy.
Two Japanese organizations have landed themselves a spot in the Pacific League — ZETA DIVISION and DetonatioN FocusMe. ZETA DIVISION, formerly known as JUPITER, has been part of VALORANT since April 2020, hopping on the VALORANT train even before the game was officially released. ZETA has undoubtedly been a force to be reckoned with in Japan, and has shown phenomenal form at Masters Reykjavik last year by placing third. DetonatioN FocusMe has a less impressive resumé of achievements, but has made some fantastic transfers in October 2022, bringing in some of the finest talent in the region to form a Korean Japanese mix.
T1 and Gen.G Esports are VCT teams that have their HQs in the US and South Korea (though Gen.G is also based in China) and are now fielding rosters in the Pacific League. T1 has previously fielded a North American team, signing their first player back in March 2020 (brax). Since then, the team was unable to find a successful roster, resulting in constant team changes. Their participation in the Pacific League represents a fresh start as they have retained Sayaplayer and signed ban as an import. Similarly, Gen.G Esports have had its fair share of roster troubles when competing in NA. Their new all-Korean team features former DRX player k1Ng and ex-Northeption player Meteor.
Global Esports is an India-based organization that has made a bold move when assembling its roster for the VCT 2023 season. The team has signed multiple players, a mixture of Indian VALORANT talent paired with regional up-and-coming stars as well as importing AYRIN from the NA region.
Team Secret and Rex Regum Qeon are both VCT teams that partly have their HQs in the Philippines. Team Secret’s VALORANT roster has mostly remained unchanged ever since the team acquired the BREN Esports roster towards the end of 2021. The team has competed internationally in the past but does not have any major trophies to display just yet. Rex Regum Qeon is a VCT team that entered the VALORANT sphere in 2020 and has shown continuous improvement over time. Despite frequent roster changes, even releasing its roster at the end of 2021, the organization stayed in VALORANT and showed a few sparks of brilliance in the 2022 VCT season. Now, the team has formed a Philippine-Indonesian roster by signing players such as Tehbotol or Lmemore from ONIC Esports.
Rounding off the list of VCT teams in the Pacific International League are Talon Esports and Paper Rex. Talon Esports, based in Thailand, has signed most of the former XERXIA roster. Despite the already fantastic signing, fans will be most excited to see the return of Patiphan, who competed in VALORANT but decided to return to Overwatch. Following his display of immense skill when he competed, Talon has acquired one of the most exciting players and roster to look forward to in this VCT League. When it comes to Paper Rex, the Singapore-based VCT team is one of the most known and successful VALORANT teams in the whole region. Led by Benkai, chief executive of fancy walkouts, Paper Rex has two of arguably the most talented players in the whole VCT scene in the form of f0rsakeN and Jinggg. Paper Rex has shown in 2022 that it is one of the top VCT teams and its presence in this VCT Pacific League is sure to bring lots of attention.