Karmine Corp, DRX, and Cloud9 proceed to VCT LOCK IN Round 2 after early wins

After a lengthy day of intense competition, three teams survived the brink of elimination and will be moving on to round two of the Alpha tournament bracket. The second day of VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN saw the following teams face-off against each other:

• Karmine Corp vs FunPlus Phoenix
• DRX vs BBL Esports
• Paper Rex vs Cloud9

For more information on VALORANT Champions Tour, make sure to check out our VCT 2023 Hub.

Karmine Corp survives a revamped FPX

Although FunPlus Phoenix has had previous encounters on a world stage, however this matchup marked their entry into the scene as a team representing China instead of EMEA. Going against them were Karmine Corp (KC), an EMEA roster, making its debut on the world stage following acceptance into Riot’s partner program. In the battle of debutants, it was the latter that prevailed after two relatively one-sided maps and a fascinating decider.

Lotus, FPX map pick, started off rather peacefully as teams took four rounds a piece. However, VALORANT, being the momentum based game it is turned on its head once Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom started heating up joined by Alexandre "xms" Forté. At halftime, they were leading the score 8-4, with still sufficient time for FPX to recover and fight for the early advantage. Unfortunately for them the match’s MVP, Ryad "Shin" Ensaad, unleashed his potential and paved the path for Karmine Corp to takeover.

The result did not sit well with the opposing team as they came out on Haven guns blazing taking four of the first five rounds. Their inconsistency once again let them down as they were forced into a tie by halftime. To avoid a similar outcome as Lotus, Zhang "BerLIN" Bolin’s Fade and Zhang "AAAAY" Yang Skye paired up to provide an offensive boost and lead the team to a 13-8 finish.

Being the first matchup at the event to go to a decider, there was a lot of anticipation regarding how it would play out. KC, though, wasn’t looking to delay their win any further and demonstrated this attitude on both Offense and Defense. Despite FPX securing the pistol round, KC managed to end the half with a 7-6 lead. FPX witnessed their time in Sau Paulo gradually come to an end, but they could not execute a play against KC’s defense and surrendered the map 13-6.

VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN

Karmine Corp

2

X

1

FunPlus Phoenix

Round of 16, Best of 3 - February 14, 2023 - 5:00PM

13

Lotus

6

8

Haven

13

13

Pearl

6

Karmine Corp

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Shin

1.43

279

57/38/19

+19

1.50

76.6%

170.2

29%

80%

12

3

Nivera

1.35

268

54/40/15

+14

1.35

80.1%

160.5

31%

78%

14

4

ScreaM

1.21

229

50/42/20

+8

1.19

76.1%

142.0

40%

46%

6

7

xms

0.83

160

34/36/13

-2

0.94

73.3%

108.7

32%

86%

6

1

Newzera

0.64

120

25/35/17

-10

0.71

76.3%

74.8

38%

50%

3

3

FunPlus Phoenix

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

YuChEn

0.98

189

40/42/20

-2

0.95

76.3%

125.4

34%

30%

3

7

AAAAY

0.94

202

39/49/20

-10

0.80

76.1%

128.8

31%

14%

1

6

Yuicaw

0.85

190

42/40/7

+2

1.05

67.2%

131.7

22%

20%

3

12

BerLIN

0.84

182

34/47/23

-13

0.72

75.9%

122.8

28%

39%

7

11

TZH

0.84

162

35/42/16

-7

0.83

66.1%

89.4

23%

44%

4

5

BBL Esport’s attempt at a comeback falls through

International LAN events represent the most exciting times in the VALORANT Champions Tour and having matchups go the distance further enhances this experience as this matchup between the Turkish debutants and veterans from Korea. Proceedings commenced on Pearl, DRX’s map pick, and it became eminent very quickly why that was the case. Round after round fell to DRX and it wasn’t until the seventh round that the resistance put up by BBL came to fruition and earned them three rounds. Before BBL could let their hopes rise, DRX concluded the match with a seven round streak taking the lead.

Ascent, on the other hand, was BBL’s map choice and they demonstrated their intent to make this map more challenging as soon as they left the gates on Offense. But, the journey wasn’t as straightforward as they would’ve liked as DRX finished the half with eight consecutive rounds with Kim "stax" Gu-taek leading the way with 1.61 rating on 279 ACS with a 2.0 KD. BBL did good to leave halftime with a newfound confidence and rushed to a map win behind Doğukan "QutionerX" Dural’s masterclass on Jett.

Haven was chosen as the decider and by this point in the matchup, it was clear that DRX were the favourites to win it all. They decided to make a statement early on taking eleven out of twelve rounds of the first half with Goo "Rb" Sang-Min being a significant lethal entity. He finished that half on a 2.00 rating on 348 ACS with only one death over 12 rounds. Comeback at this stage was seemingly impossible, but BBL nonetheless tried and successfully managed to delay DRX’s win by six more rounds.

VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN

DRX

2

X

1

BBL Esports

Round of 16, Best of 3 - February 14, 2023 - 8:30PM

13

Pearl

3

11

Ascent

13

13

Haven

7

DRX

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

stax

1.25

227

49/39/26

+10

1.26

84.6%

152.1

37%

57%

4

3

Rb

1.24

225

48/32/22

+16

1.50

86.0%

144.8

27%

62%

8

5

MaKo

1.20

212

39/36/42

+3

1.08

87.4%

135.1

30%

67%

4

2

BuZz

1.20

255

52/44/12

+8

1.18

79.2%

156.3

20%

62%

16

10

Zest

1.00

182

41/37/17

+4

1.11

80.6%

124.3

39%

25%

2

6

BBL Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

QutionerX

1.06

241

51/52/7

-1

0.98

62.5%

149.1

30%

48%

11

12

Brave

1.01

206

41/49/26

-8

0.84

73.1%

132.5

29%

57%

8

6

SouhcNi

0.75

154

33/43/17

-10

0.77

67.5%

102.1

29%

30%

3

7

AsLanM4shadoW

0.70

149

33/44/8

-11

0.75

62.4%

107.4

23%

33%

2

4

TURKO

0.65

129

30/41/18

-11

0.73

66.5%

94.8

31%

29%

2

5

Paper Rex face an early exit

Both, Cloud9 and Paper Rex, were no strangers to the global stage having competed at multiple events throughout VCT 2021 and 2022. However, they had surprisingly never engaged in an encounter prior to this occasion. With yay and Zellsis’ arrival into the roster, there was a significant majority backing their win in the matchup and despite Paper Rex’s countless efforts at a comeback, the NA team prevailed courtesy of Erick "Xeppaa" Bach’s mind blowing performance.

Cloud9 were fortunate to commence the matchup with pistol round wins, a key deciding factor for the buildup of momentum. They were able to capitalize on this opportunity and establish a two point lead going into halftime, which they subsequently expanded on once they switched sides and let the offensive capabilities of Skye flourish in all its beauty.

After Cloud9 finished 13-9 on Lotus, both teams transitioned to Pearl where Paper Rex envisioned the potential for a comeback. However, the map was Cloud9’s pick, which meant that they had several tricks up their sleeves to counter any such uprisings and they demonstrated their dominance from the get-go with a 10-2 start and finishing shortly after with a 13-4 score courtesy of Xeppaa and Nathan "leaf" Orf as well.

VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN

DRX

2

X

1

BBL Esports

Round of 16, Best of 3 - February 14, 2023 - 8:30PM

13

Pearl

3

11

Ascent

13

13

Haven

7

DRX

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

stax

1.25

227

49/39/26

+10

1.26

84.6%

152.1

37%

57%

4

3

Rb

1.24

225

48/32/22

+16

1.50

86.0%

144.8

27%

62%

8

5

MaKo

1.20

212

39/36/42

+3

1.08

87.4%

135.1

30%

67%

4

2

BuZz

1.20

255

52/44/12

+8

1.18

79.2%

156.3

20%

62%

16

10

Zest

1.00

182

41/37/17

+4

1.11

80.6%

124.3

39%

25%

2

6

BBL Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

QutionerX

1.06

241

51/52/7

-1

0.98

62.5%

149.1

30%

48%

11

12

Brave

1.01

206

41/49/26

-8

0.84

73.1%

132.5

29%

57%

8

6

SouhcNi

0.75

154

33/43/17

-10

0.77

67.5%

102.1

29%

30%

3

7

AsLanM4shadoW

0.70

149

33/44/8

-11

0.75

62.4%

107.4

23%

33%

2

4

TURKO

0.65

129

30/41/18

-11

0.73

66.5%

94.8

31%

29%

2

5

MVP: Xeppaa

Paper Rex are known to be a formidable competitor especially at international LANs, but they did not stand a chance today on neither Lotus or Pear primarily due to the contributions of Xeppaa, who decided to play Skye throughout and found considerable success doing so with a collective 1.63 rating on 278 ACS with a 1.91 KD.

Featured image courtesy of Riot Games