2023 Valorant Champions

2023 Valorant Champions

Tournament information
Game	Valorant
Location	Los Angeles and Inglewood, United States
Dates	August 6–August 26
Administrator	Riot Games
Tournament format(s)	GSL Format (group stage) Double Elimination (playoffs)
Venue(s)	2 Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall (Group Stage and Bracket Stage) Kia Forum (Upper Bracket Finals, Lower Bracket Semifinals and Finals, and Grand Finals)
Teams	16
Purse	$2,250,000 USD
Final positions
Champions	Evil Geniuses
Runner-up	Paper Rex
Tournament statistics
Attendance	11,500
MVP	Max "Demon1" Mazanov (EG)
← 2022 2024 →

The 2023 Valorant Champions was an esports tournament for the video game Valorant. This was the third edition of the Valorant Champions, the crowning event of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) for the 2023 Valorant competitive season. The tournament was held between August 6 and August 26, 2023 in Los Angeles, along with Inglewood, California, United States.^[1] Sixteen teams qualified for the tournament based on their result in the regular season leagues, 2023 Masters Tokyo, and the regional Last Chance Qualifiers.

"Ticking Away" was announced as the tournament's theme song, produced, composed and performed by Grabbitz and bbno$.^[2][3]

LOUD were the defending champions,^[4] but lost to Evil Geniuses in the lower bracket final.^[5]

Evil Geniuses from Americas won the Valorant world championship after defeating Paper Rex from Pacific in the finals by a score of 3–1.^[6]

In September 2022, Riot announced the 30 teams partnered for the 2023 Champions Tour.^[7] Following the inclusion of the 2023 LOCK//IN event, Riot announced the location of 2023 Champions as Los Angeles.^[1]

To promote the event, on July 31, 2023, Riot released the anthem for the tournament, "Ticking Away". The track features artists Grabbitz and bbno$. In coordination with the track release, Riot hosted events across four LA neighborhoods featuring live music, food and livestreaming tournament matches.^[2][8] Additionally, Riot released a number of videos featuring bbno$ as "The Random".^[9]

On July 23rd, the sixteen qualified teams were announced by Riot Games.^[10]

Junta de Andalucía was announced as the Global English Broadcast Partner on August 7th.^[11]

Los Angeles and Inglewood were chosen to host the competition. The tournament was held at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall for the majority of the tournament, and at the Kia Forum for the top 4 teams on the final three days. ^[12][1]

California
Los Angeles	Inglewood	Los Angeles Inglewood
Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall	Kia Forum

Sixteen teams qualified for the global crowning event of the circuit, with teams either qualifying through their respective league or through Last Chance Qualifiers. The top 3 teams of each league during the playoffs or Masters Tokyo for EMEA immediately qualified for Champions, while the other 4 teams had to battle it out in the Last Chance Qualifiers in their respective regions (EMEA was given additional spot for Last Chance Qualifier runner-up due to Fnatic had won Masters Tokyo).^[13][14] China, although Valorant not officially released yet, is given 3 special spots to participate via a qualifier of third-party host.

The group stage took place from August 6 – 13, 2023. All 16 teams were divided into 4 groups of four teams each playing in a GSL-style double-elimination format. Games were held in a best-of-three series. The top 2 teams in each group qualified for the playoffs.

16 Teams were drawn into 4 groups of 4 teams. Teams from the same region cannot be placed in the same group. If a team is drawn into the same group as another team from their region, they will be placed in the next valid group with the exception of the EMEA LCQ #2 seed, which was Natus Vincere. Matchups were based on the draw pools, with Pool 1 teams facing Pool 4 teams and Pool 2 teams facing Pool 3 teams in each group. These pools were determined by the performance of teams at Masters Tokyo and the Last Chance Qualifiers. ^[15]

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its group, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of maps the team won in that match. Teams with map pick/ban choice (i.e., the higher-seeded team or upper-bracket team) are marked by an asterisk.

Note: Times are in the local time of Los Angeles (PDT) (UTC−7).^[16]

The Playoffs are a double-elimination tournament that took place from August 16–26, 2022. All matches were a best-of-three series, except for the Lower Bracket Final and the Grand Final, which were a best-of-five series.

Eight teams qualified for the double-elimination Playoffs portion of the tournament from the group stage.

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in the bracket, while the numbers on the right indicate the number of maps the team won in that match. Teams with map pick/ban choice (i.e., the higher-seeded or upper-bracket teams) are marked with an asterisk. In cases where teams have the same seed from groups, a coin is flipped to determine which team gets the map pick/ban choice. The teams that won the coin toss are indicated with two asterisks. For the grand finals, the team who advanced from the upper bracket gets to ban the first two maps and have map pick/ban choice.

Note: Times are in the local time of Los Angeles (PDT) (UTC−7).

Riot Games raised the prize pool for the 2023 Champions tournament to $2.25 million, an increase from the $1 million of 2022. The winner of Champions received $1 million. ^[18]