It is the comeback of the Valorant competitive season and things are burning up in Sao Paulo. The VCT 2023 Lock In is underway already with the round of 16 kicking off tomorrow. Today at Gamopo, we make some predictions on who’s winning on the first day of the Ro16.
About The VCT Lock In
VCT Lock In Round Of 16
The VCT Lock In is the first tournament of the VCT season and takes place early in the year. The Lock In is meant to help teams get into top form for the rest of the season by providing them with an opportunity to compete against other top teams. Lock In is featuring every team from the Americas, Pacific, EMEA leagues as well as two invited teams from China! The winning team that secures the championship will earn their region an extra slot at Masters 2023.
The round of 16 will be featuring NRG vs. Giants and LOUD vs. Karmine Corp on the first day. Visit the link to learn more about the event.
Round Of 16 Predictions
NRG vs Giants
NRG beat KOI 2-0 in a pretty tight series to make it to this round. On the other hand, Giants beat DetonatioN FM convincingly with a 2-0 score line.
But let’s move onto the first round of 16 matchup for now. NRG is walking into this series being one of the tournament favorites. They have a well-balanced team composing of the core players of the previous OpTic lineup. While there were some doubts about s0m, he buried that in the last match against KOI with a stellar performance. Giants has a decent lineup as well but they seem to be quite reliant on nukkye, the former G2 man.
we play @GiantsGaming in VALORANT today… ngl they look good in this hype vid 😳 pic.twitter.com/67HaJYXz74
— NRG (@NRGgg) February 17, 2023
The two teams have not played against each other before. With all of that being considered, we give the edge to NRG.
LOUD vs Karmine Corp
LOUD also had a bit of a hard time making it to the round of 16 beating Gen. G in a close series. Their opponent, Karmine Corp had to try hard too. They beat FunPlus Phoenix in a series that went all the way, on a score line of 2-1.
Senhoras e senhores, chegou o grande dia.
LOUD × Karmine Corp#LOUDWIN pic.twitter.com/qwhgFmjsZh
— LOUD 🇧🇷 (@LOUDgg) February 17, 2023
The victors of Champions 2022 will be looking to decimate Karmine Corp. While the Brazilian team has let go of Sacy and pAncada, they are still a formidable lineup with tuyz and cauanzin. With ScreaM as the IGL, KC looks promising as well. Shin and Nivera have shown form in the maps they have played at thus far. But we don’t think it’s enough to take down LOUD. We’re going for a LOUD win tonight.
Both the matches should be quite exciting tonight. May the best teams win!
