Team Liquid, KRÜ Esports and ZETA DIVISION leave VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo

The first game day of the Omega bracket at VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo has ended, as a result of which Team Liquid , KRÜ Esports and ZETA DIVISION said goodbye to the chances of winning the championship. In turn, the teams Team Secret, Natus Vincere and Leviatán Esports got their first wins, making it to the next round of the competition.

Team Liquid - Team Secret

The starting meeting after a short break started on the Icebox map, which became the choice of the Philippine team. At the same time, Team Secret players immediately seized the initiative on the server, demonstrating impeccable defense and crushing their opponent — 10:2. After the side switching, the "liquid" tried to return to the game, but it was too late. As a result, Team Secret confidently reached the end and took the lead in the series — 13:8.

Then the teams moved to the Fracture map, which turned out to be the choice of Team Liquid. Here the situation developed in a similar way, since the European team again failed in the attack and did not show anything to improve their situation. In turn, Team Secret continued to dominate on defense to finish the first half with a devastating score of 9:3. After the side switch, Team Liquid again began to recoup, but the Philippine team quickly got the necessary rounds and knocked out the opponent from the championship — 13:7.

Natus Vincere — KRÜ Esports

The next match started on the map Ascent, which turned out to be the choice of the Latin American team. However, the "Born to Win" did not invent unnecessary problems for themselves, instantly seizing the initiative on the server in order to show an excellent attack and get a threefold advantage - 9:3. In the second half, the players of KRÜ Esports failed to return to the game, while Natus Vincere successfully finished playing on defense and took the lead in the series - 13:5.

Next, the teams moved to the Lotus map, which became the choice of the Born to Win. Nevertheless, here everything was going in favor of the Latin American team, which spun in the attack and got a solid advantage - 9:3. However, after the switchover, KRÜ Esports disappeared from the radar, while Natus Vincere made a strong comeback and knocked out the opponent from the tournament — 13:10.

ZETA DIVISION — Leviatan Esports

The final meeting of the game day started on the Ascent map, which turned out to be the choice of the Latin American team. At the same time, the Leviatán Esports players immediately took control of the situation in order to crush the opponent even before the changeover — 10:2. In the second half, the Japanese team did not wake up, while Leviatán Esports confidently finished playing in the end and took the lead in the series — 13:4.

Next, the teams moved to the Pearl map, which became the choice of ZETA DIVISION. Here the struggle turned out to be much more, because now the Japanese were fighting and even managed to finish the first half with parity - 6:6. However, after the side switching, Leviatán Esports managed to seize the initiative to finally close the opponent and advance to the next round of the competition — 13:11.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo runs from February 13 to March 4 in Sao Paulo at Ginásio do Ibirapuera. As part of the championship, 32 teams from China, Europe, Asia and America are fighting for a total prize pool of $500,000.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2023 Interim Results: LOCK//IN São Paulo

• 1st place: $100,000
• 2nd place: $60,000
• 3rd-4th place: $40,000
• 5th-8th place: Talon Esports and NRG — $25,000
• 9th-16th place: Giants Gaming, Karmine Corp, Cloud9 and Evil Geniuses — $10,000
• 17-32nd: KOI, DetonatioN FocusMe, FunPlus Phoenix, BBL Esports, Paper Rex, Team Heretics, MIBR, Gen.G Esports, Team Liquid, KRÜ Esports and ZETA DIVISION — $5,000