Long has the community awaited for the return of Valorant Champions. This year's edition is the first international VCT LAN hosted in North America, pitting the 16 best teams of the world against each other in Los Angeles. The VCT 2023's capstone event will be held between August 6 and 27 and will crown 2023's Valorant Champions.
Most of the field has been determined since Masters Tokyo, which ended with the three-best teams of each International League qualified to Champions. Teams from the Americas, EMEA, and the Pacific are also joined by three Chinese teams, the most ever seen at a VCT LAN.
Format
Unlike in Masters, there are no free passes in Champions. The 16 attending teams have been seeded into four GSL groups, which were drawn publicly once the LCQs concluded.
The four groups of Valorant Champions 2023 are:
Group A
- Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov (Pacific)
- KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori Klaus Nicolas Ferrari Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro heat Olavo Marcelo (Americas LCQ)
- EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) Muggle Tang Shijun (唐时俊) CHICHOO Wan Shunji (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Haodong Guo Haodong (郭浩东) (China)
- 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 #20 Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le Apoth Vincent Le jawgemo Alexander Mor (Americas)
- FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Rank #2 Autumn Kale Dunne Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) AAAAY Zhang Yang (张杨) BerLIN Zhang Bolin (張柏霖) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) (China)
- FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #5 MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan cNed Mehmet Yağız İpek qRaxs Doğukan Balaban (EMEA)
- T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 Sayaplayer Ha Jeong-woo (하정우) Rossy Daniel Abedrabbo Carpe Lee Jae-hyeok (이재혁) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) xccurate Kevin Susanto (Pacific)
Group C
- FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 Leo Leo Jannesson Derke Nikita Sirmitev Boaster Jake Howlett Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder (EMEA)
- ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #8 Laz Ushida Koji yuran Yushin Hato hiroronn Hiroki Yanai Dep Yuma Hashimoto SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe (Pacific LCQ)
- NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #8 crashies Austin Roberts Victor Victor Wong Marved Jimmy Nguyen Ethan Ethan Arnold Demon1 Max Mazanov (Americas)
- Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #5 B3ar Yang Zhanxiong (杨瞻雄) whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) Levius Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中) Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) Yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) Biank Zhong Jianfei (钟剑飞) (China)
Group D
- Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #15 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Enzo Enzo Mestari Mistic James Orfila Keiko Georgio Sanassy (EMEA)
- Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Rank #7 ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky Zyppan Pontus Eek SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin ardiis Ardis Svarenieks (EMEA LCQ #2)
- DRX DRX Korea Rank #1 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) (Pacific)
- LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #1 Quick Gabriel Lima saadhak Matias Delipetro Less Felipe de Loyola tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira (Americas)
Each group will move two teams into the playoffs. The four teams who place first in their group will first play against any of the four teams who play second. The draw is mostly random; the only contigency is that teams from the same group will be placed on opposing sides of the bracket to avoid early repeat matchups in the upper bracket.
Like most VCT events, nearly every match in the event will be a Bo3. The lower bracket final and grand final are the only exceptions, played Bo5.
Prize Pool
Valorant Champions 2023 boasts the highest prize pool seen at a VCT event so far. In total, $2,250,000 USD will be dished out to the 16 teams. The winning team will take $1,000,000 home.
- 1st: $1,000,000
- 2nd: $400,000
- 3rd: $250,000
- 4th: $130,000
- 5th-6th: $85,000
- 7th-8th: $50,000
- 9th-12th: $30,000
- 13th-16th: $20,000
The teams will also earn 50% of net proceeds from the Champions 2023 Collection — an in-game bundle that includes a Vandal skin, knife, and other cosmetic items.
Schedule (Group Stage)
Sunday, August 6
- 12:00 PM PDT | 9:00 PM CEST | 4:00 AM JST - Group D: Team Liquid vs. Natus Vincere
- 3:00 PM PDT | 12:00 AM CEST | 7:00 AM JST - Group D: DRX vs. LOUD
Monday, August 7
- 12:00 PM PDT | 9:00 PM CEST | 4:00 AM JST - Group B: FUT Esports vs. T1
- 3:00 PM PDT | 12:00 AM CEST | 7:00 AM JST - Group B: Evil Geniuses vs. FunPlus Phoenix
- 6:00 PM PDT | 3:00 AM CEST | 10:00 AM JST - Group D: Winner's Match
Tuesday, August 8
- 12:00 PM PDT | 9:00 PM CEST | 4:00 AM JST - Group C: NRG Esports vs. Bilibili Gaming
- 3:00 PM PDT | 12:00 AM CEST | 7:00 AM JST - Group C: FNATIC vs. ZETA DIVISION
- 6:00 PM PDT | 3:00 AM CEST | 10:00 AM JST - Group B: Winner's Match
Wednesday, August 9
- 12:00 PM PDT | 9:00 PM CEST | 4:00 AM JST - Group A: Paper Rex vs. KRÜ Esports
- 3:00 PM PDT | 12:00 AM CEST | 7:00 AM JST - Group A: EDward Gamings vs. Giants Gaming
- 6:00 PM PDT | 3:00 AM CEST | 10:00 AM JST - Group C: Winner's Match
Thursday, August 10
- 12:00 PM PDT | 9:00 PM CEST | 4:00 AM JST - Group A: Winner's Match
- 3:00 PM PDT | 12:00 AM CEST | 7:00 AM JST - Group D: Elimination Match
- 6:00 PM PDT | 3:00 AM CEST | 10:00 AM JST - Group B: Elimination Match
Friday, August 11
- 12:00 PM PDT | 9:00 PM CEST | 4:00 AM JST - Group A: Elimination Match
- 3:00 PM PDT | 12:00 AM CEST | 7:00 AM JST - Group C: Elimination Match
Saturday, August 12
- 12:00 PM PDT | 9:00 PM CEST | 4:00 AM JST - Group D: Decider Match
- 3:00 PM PDT | 12:00 AM CEST | 7:00 AM JST - Group B: Decider Match
Sunday, August 13
- 12:00 PM PDT | 9:00 PM CEST | 4:00 AM JST - Group A: Decider Match
- 3:00 PM PDT | 12:00 AM CEST | 7:00 AM JST - Group C: Decider Match
CEST and JST times past midnight refer to the next day.
Broadcast
Valorant Champions 2023 will have broadcast drops, which means that you can earn in-game rewards from watching official streams. If you connect your Valorant account with your Twitch or YouTube account, you may be awarded a title and player card.
The "Lowrider" title can be earned by watching any match between group stage match August 6 and 13. The "Gekko Diff" spray can be earned by watching a playoffs game between August 16 and 25. The "Champions 2023" player card can only be earned by watching the grand final, on August 26.
English Broadcast Talent
- Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez (Host)
- Yinsu Collins (Host)
- Victoria "ChubbyNinja" Cheng (Host)
- Sean "sgares" Gares (Analyst)
- Mimi "aEvilcat" Wermcrantz (Analyst)
- Seth "Achilios" King (Commentator)
- Clinton "Paperthin" Bader (Commentator)
- Arten "Ballatw" Esa (Commentator)
- Doug "EsportsDoug" Cortez (Commentator)
- Brennon "Bren" Hook (Commentator)
- Josh "Sideshow" Wilkinson (Commentator)
- Michael "hypoc" Robins (Commentator)
- Lauren "Pansy" Scott (Commentator)
- Tom "Tombizz" Bissmire (Commentator)
- Mitch "MitchMan" McBride (Commentator)
- David "prius" Kuntz (Observer)
- Heather "sapphiRe" Garozzo (Observer)
- Alberto "Tiie" Chavez Benitez (Observer)
- Nicholas "Yehty" Tesolin (Observer)
Streams
According to Riot, Valorant Champions 2023 will be broadcast in several languages and through several watch parties, which have not yet been totally revealed.
Coverage
VLR.gg is covering all of Valorant Champions 2023 in our event hub, which includes our live match ticker and stats to comb over. The event also features pick'ems, which close one minute prior to the first match of the event.