With every Last Chance Qualifier concluded, Riot Games has seeded the groups for Valorant Champions 2023 and also revealed the opening matchups.
This year's Champions groups and opening matches are:
Group A
-
Paper Rex
Paper Rex
Asia-Pacific
Rank #1
PatMen
Patrick Mendoza
Jinggg
Wang Jing Jie
f0rsakeN
Jason Susanto
d4v41
Khalish Rusyaidee
something
Ilya Petrov
(Pacific) vs.
KRÜ Esports
KRÜ Esports
Latin America South
Rank #2
Dantedeu5
Jesús Federico Larrosa
(Americas LCQ) -
EDward Gaming
EDward Gaming
China
Rank #3
ZmjjKK
Zheng Yongkang (郑永康)
nobody
Wang Senxu (王森旭)
CHICHOO
Wan Shunzhi (万顺治)
cb
Wang Qingchuan (王庆川)
Smoggy
Zhang Zhao (张钊)
Jieni7
Zhang Juntai (张君泰)
(China) vs.
Giants Gaming
Giants Gaming
Inactive
Redgar
Igor Vlasov
Fit1nho
Adolfo Gallego
nukkye
Žygimantas Chmieliauskas
hoody
Aaro Peltokangas
Cloud
Kirill Nehozhin
(EMEA LCQ #1)
Group B
-
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses
North America
Rank #16
supamen
Phat Le
bao
Bao Nguyen
Okeanos
Anthony Nguyen
dgzin
Douglas Silva
C0M
Corbin Lee
(Americas) vs.
FunPlus Phoenix
FunPlus Phoenix
China
Rank #6
BerLIN
Zhang Bolin (張柏霖)
Life
Qu Donghao (瞿东豪)
AAAAY
Zhang Yang (张杨)
sScary
Nutchapon Matarat
Setrod
Ou Taigeng (欧泰赓)
(China) -
FUT Esports
FUT Esports
Europe
Rank #15
xeus
Doğan Gözgen
MrFaliN
Furkan Yeğen
yetujey
Eray Budak
KROSTALY
Okan Alaçam
baha
Baha Gözmen
AtaKaptan
Ata Tan
qRaxs
Doğukan Balaban
(EMEA) vs.
T1
T1
Korea
Rank #5
stax
Kim Gu-taek (김구택)
Meteor
Kim Tae-oh (김태오)
BuZz
Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철)
iZu
Ham Woo-ju (함우주)
Munchkin
Byeon Sang-beom (변상범)
(Pacific)
Group C
-
FNATIC
FNATIC
Europe
Rank #1
crashies
Austin Roberts
Boaster
Jake Howlett
kaajak
Kajetan Haremski
Veqaj
Sylvain Pattyn
Alfajer
Emir Ali Beder
(EMEA) vs.
ZETA DIVISION
ZETA DIVISION
Japan
Rank #8
SugarZ3ro
Shota Watanabe
eKo
Yeom Wang-ryong (염왕룡)
Xdll
Yuto Mizomori
Absol
Kazuki Fujinoki
stand-in
HoneyBunny
Fumiya Tanimatsu
stand-in
(Pacific LCQ) -
NRG
NRG
North America
Rank #1
keiko
Georgio Sanassy
brawk
Brock Somerhalder
mada
Adam Pampuch
skuba
Logan Jenkins
Ethan
Ethan Arnold
(Americas) vs.
Bilibili Gaming
Bilibili Gaming
China
Rank #1
whzy
Wang Haozhe (王昊哲)
Levius
Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中)
rushia
Wang Xiaojie (王晓杰)
nephh
Marcus Tan
Knight
Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔)
(China)
Group D
-
Team Liquid
Team Liquid
Europe
Rank #6
nAts
Ayaz Akhmetshin
kamo
Kamil Frąckowiak
(EMEA) vs.
Natus Vincere
Natus Vincere
Europe
Rank #13
Shao
Andrey Kiprsky
Ruxic
Uğur Güç
hiro
Emirhan Kat
(EMEA LCQ #2) -
DRX
DRX
Korea
Rank #2
Flicker
Kim Tae-hee (김태희)
Flashback
Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁)
MaKo
Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관)
free1ng
No Ha-jun (노하준)
HYUNMIN
Song Hyun-min (송현민)
BeYN
Kang Ha-bin (강하빈)
(Pacific) vs.
LOUD
LOUD
Brazil
Rank #5
lukxo
Lucca Travaioli
Virtyy
Leandro Moreno
pANcada
Bryan Luna
cauanzin
Cauan Pereira
(Americas)
The groups were drawn following the same rules used for Masters Tokyo. Teams from the same region may not be placed in the same group, and will be moved to the next available slot. If they were drawn into the last slot of Group D, they will swap with the team immediately before them until the draw is declared valid. The only exception is for the EMEA LCQ #2 team, NAVI, which were placed in the same group as another EMEA team.
The seeding pools and regional rankings were determined by each team's Masters performance respective to their region's counterparts, with LCQ teams receiving the lowest regional seed.
Champions 2023 will use the same groups format of previous years, with four GSL-style groups that each qualify two teams to the playoffs. Riot has not confirmed if the eight-team playoffs stage will be single or double-elimination like in past years.
Valorant's capstone event of the year runs from August 6 to 27 in Los Angeles. Most of the competition will be held at the Shrine Auditorium, while the final three days of play will be hosted in the KIA Forum. Tickets are on sale and can be found here.


















