Team Secret bound for major Valorant tourney in Brazil

MANILA, Philippines — Riot Games' popular first-person shooting game is opening its revamped esports season with its biggest tournament yet, the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) LOCK//IN happening at São Paulo, Brazil's indoor sporting arena Ginásio do Ibirapuera from February 13 to March 4.

The tournament will feature 30 teams from the three different VCT Leagues — Americas, Pacific and EMEA — as well as two invited teams from China competing in a single-elimination format (all matches will be best-of-three maps).

The Philippine representatives under the Pacific League, Team Secret, is assigned in Group Omega and will see action at 1 a.m. on February 23 (Manila time) and against Netherland's Team Liquid, one of Europe's top teams that has had a perfect attendance in Valorant Champions. If Team Secret prevails, it will face the winner of the clash between Ukraine's NAVI Esports and Argentina's KRU Esports on 1 a.m. February 26.

Indonesia’s RRQ, which boasts three Filipinos in its roster, is also in Group Omega and will face Turkey’s FUT Esports at 4 a.m. on February 24.

Last September, Riot Games' announced the revamped format of the Valorant Champions Tour. Instead of the past circuit tournaments in Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, North America and other countries, the tour is now divided into three leagues, each with 10 teams competing with a tenure of two years.

Teams that perform well in their respective leagues will earn places in VCT's global tournaments: Valorant Masters and Valorant Champions, while other squads not yet part of the leagues can do so by Ascension tournaments in their respective Challenger circuits with VCT targeting a total number of teams per league increasing from 30 to 42 by 2027.

Team Secret reached the quarterfinals during the 2021 Valorant Champions, ruling the Philippine qualifiers and reaching the Southeast Asia knockouts thrice. A slow start in 2022 saw the squad miss the 2022 world tournament by just a few points.

Upon finishing LOCK//IN, Team Secret will compete in the Pacific League of VCT in April to qualify for Valorant Masters happening in Tokyo, Japan in June.