Turkish and Spanish EMEA teams set sights on VCT LOCK//IN trophy (Part 2)

It is time for the second part of our EMEA team analysis that will kick-start the VCT 2023 season at the LOCK//IN tournament with international opponents. The second part of our preview is focused predominantly on Turkish and Spanish teams:

• BBL Esports
• FUT Esports
• Team Heretics
• KOI
• Giants

BBL Esports keep the core, concentrate on young bloods

BBL Esports are one of the most successful Turkish VALORANT teams alongside SuperMassive Blaze. BBL have turned their attention to young bloods for the upcoming VCT season. The majority of the roster, Ali Osman "AsLanM4shadoW" Balta, Doğukan "QutionerX" Dural, Mehmet "TURKO" Özen, and their sixth player Hüseyin "aimDLL" Kabişteke, remained with the organization, while BBL made three transfer moves. Unfortunately, they had to let Efe “Elite” Teber go due to age restrictions and signed Ibrahim "SouhcNi" Sağır ahead of the VCT LOCK//IN tournament. Lastly, the new transfer, Eren "Brave" Kasırga, will be with his team in Sao Paulo.

This change also entails a tactical alteration for the organization as Souchni is the team's in-game leader (IGL). We have seen BBL trying different Turkish IGLs in the past, including Melih “pAura” Karaduman and Caner “CyderX” Demir. There have been rumors of QutionerX taking the IGL role in the 2023 season, but it looks like SouhcNi will be taking the reins after all.

Aslan and Quti are the leaders of the roster, as they carried the firepower weight on their shoulders last year. Aslan was the go-to man for lending a helping hand with utility aid to his teammates with KAY/O and Astra. Aslan is sitting at a 1.14 rating, and QutionerX is right behind him with a 1.13 rating, on top of the 1.19 K/D.

Brave is one of the young bloods that BBL aimed to transfer this year and, fortunately, managed to complete the process. He spent most of his career at SuperMassive Blaze, and he is known for top-level smoker performances.

Can AtaKaptan be the difference-maker for FUT Esports?

FUT Esports decided to keep all players within the organization after the huge VRL Finals success. Buğra "MOJJ" Kiraz, Doğukan "qRaxs" Balaban, Konuralp "qw1" Şahin, Furkan "MrFaliN" Yegen, and Serhat "Muj" Yüksel are going to spend at least one more tournament with FUT Esports, though there has been one addition to the lineup; Ata "AtaKaptan" Tan.

AtaKaptan played for Thunderbolts Gaming for two whole years in the Turkish league. He had outstanding performances utilizing smoker agents while always being the striking name among his teammates. At the end of the year, FUT acquired him to form a 6-man roster. He is currently the rating leader of the pack with a 1.18 rating and a 1.18 K/D.

We had a chance to see FUT Esports perform at Open Fire All Stars 2022 and VCT 2022 OFF SEASON - Red Bull Home Ground 2022. Unfortunately, they had upsetting performances in both tournaments, even failing to get a single win at Red Bull Home Ground. In one of our interviews with the IGL MrFalin, he said: “We wanted to try Ata in those tournaments. Can he adapt to us? Is his communication good? We looked at them a little because we did not have a training period with Ata; in fact, it was very short, like a week.”

With m1xwell’s leadership, Team Heretics can go beyond expectations

Team Heretics formed a whole new roster for the 2023 season after giving a one-year break to the highest competition level in the region. They had impressive performances in 2021 but competed in the Spain Rising Stage last year. The organization saw disastrous regional results and decided to go for a rebuild for VCT 2023 EMEA League.

Cista "keloqz" Wassim is the only member from the 2022 roster of Team Heretics. The newcomers include Auni "AvovA" Chahade, Oscar Cañellas "m1xwell" Colocho, Aleksander "zeek" Zygmunt, and Ričardas "Boo" Lukaševičius. m1xwell stated that the next team would be his last, and it looks like Heretics will be his last. Under his leadership, this team could go beyond expectations.

AvovA was one of the members of the Heretics roster that made it to the VCT 2023: Europe Stage 1 Masters Grand Final, and he made his return to the organization after one year. He played with keloqz and m1xwell in 2022 under the G2 Esports banner. The trio has played with each other for quite some time, which benefits Heretics.

Boo and zeek will complete the lineup for the upcoming tournament. The Lithuanian player competed for OG LDN Utd last year, and zeek was a member of Acend, the first-ever VALORANT World Champions. Even though keloqz is leading the race with the 1.07 rating he held last year, zeek has held a 1.11 rating since the beginning of his career. If we look at the bigger picture, he is also the only VALORANT World Champion on the roster.

Brand new season, almost-brand new Giants

Giants are one of the three Spanish teams competing in Sao Paulo, representing the EMEA region. The organization made a major rebuild and parted ways with four players from last year’s roster, only keeping Adolfo "Fit1nho" Gallego, who had massive performances with the team. Aaro "hoody" Peltokangas, Žygimantas "nukkye" Chmieliauskas, and the head coach Daniil "pipsoN" Meshcheryakov came to the team from G2 Esports. They never won any major trophies, but hoody and nukkye’s individual efforts were must-see in various positions. pipsoN, on the other hand, will fill LATEKS’s position as the new head coach.

Emir "rhyme" Muminovic and Kirill "Cloud" Nehozhin are the last two players on the Giants lineup. Cloud played for Natus Vincere last year, but we were still waiting to see Rhyme perform in major organizations. He was a stand-in for FPX at VALORANT Champions 2022 İstanbul. This issue might have been a concern for Giants fans, but Rhyme won their hearts with his performance at G-Loot VALORANT Clash - Grand Finals. Even though they couldn’t win the tournament, the Bosnian IGL proved his worth.

Whole new roster and coaching staff for KOI, dangerous but challenging

KOI had an awful performance last year that led to a demotion match from the Spanish league. After getting accepted to the franchise league, KOI changed every piece of the roster, including the coaching staff.

The captain, Jose Luis "koldamenta" Aranguren, is one of the most experienced players on the new KOI roster. He played for various organizations, including Acend, G2 Esports, and Guild Esports. His teammate, Nikita "trexx" Cherednichenko, will join him in their new home for the 2023 season. Trexx holds a 1.26 rating. Even though it is the best stat on the team looking at the whole careers of every player, there is another piece of the roster that had a better performance last year.

Berkant "Wolfen" Joshkun held a 1.15 rating last year while playing for Case Esports. He was one of the hottest prospects outside the EMEA Challengers player pool. Wolfen had notable performances with Chamber in his hands, but his most-picked agent is Sova.

Bogdan "sheydos" Naumov and Patryk "starxo" Kopczynski are the last pieces to the puzzle. sheydos left M3C, and he is also very experienced and a solid clutch player. Lastly, starxo is one of the first-ever VALORANT World Champions. After a poor 2022, the Polish-Born will be looking to get back to winning ways of 2021.

BEST PERFORMERS FROM EACH TEAM

The image below shows the best performers from each team based on their performance over the course of the 2022 calendar year. To be taken into account, each player had to play a minimum of 1500 rounds in official matches during the year.

You can find more information about the tournament on our VCT 2023 Hub page.