VCL Brazil: Preview

Brand new for the 2023 competitive season is VCL Brazil. Here's everything you need to know about split one!

Format

The regular season features eight teams competing against each other in a Single Round Robin format. Each team will play each other once and all matches are best of three. The top six teams advance to the playoffs. The playoffs will feature a double elimination bracket. All matches leading up to the Grand Finals will be best of threes and the Grand Finals itself will be a best of five series.  

Teams

Here are all the teams competing in Split 1

1) 00 Nation

Popular esports organization 00 Nation, also known as ZeroZero Nation, are one of the four invited teams to the upcoming Brazilian VCL. They announced their roster on December 19th of last year.

Arthur "artzin" Araujo
Gabriel "shion" Vilela
Bruno "b4rtiN" Câmara
Benjamín "adverso" Poblete
Lorran "prince" Ferreira
Dyamond "phonics" Pillon (Head Coach)
João "fame" Moraes (Coach)

This roster features immense talent and experience. Brazilian player artzin hails from Stars Horizon, where he played with them in the Brazilian VCT Challengers last year. Shion hails from the Brazilian team Liberty. He has played with them for the past two years. Br4rtiN is a former CS:GO pro, who played for teams such as GODSENT and Team Reapers. This is his first competitive experience in Valorant and it'll be interesting to see what he can do. Perhaps the most well-known name on this roster is Chilean player adverso. He previously competed for LATAM team Leviatán. With them, he competed at the highest level of Valorant, both regionally and internationally, including a seventh-place finish in last year's VCT Champions tournament. Rounding out this roster is Brazilian player prince, who hails from Los Grandes. With them, he has competed in numerous Brazilian tournaments and has had much success. The Head Coach of 00 Nation, phonics, also comes from Los Grandes, where he was their Head Coach. Some of the other teams he has coached in the past include Leviatán, ODDIK, Australs, and Imperial Esports. He will bring a load of experience and should really help this team out. The second Coach for the team, fame, comes from Gamelanders Purple, where he was their Coach for all last year. He has also coached for Stars Horizon in the past and will be a good fit for 00 Nation. This is one of the strongest teams in the league and they should play well.

2) Liberty

The second of the four invited teams is well-known Brazilian esports organization Liberty. Liberty has been competing in Valorant since August 2020 and on January 13th announced their brand-new roster for the upcoming split.

Gabriel "tockers" Claumann
Matheus "PEPA" Coletto
Guilherme "guuih" Mariano
Eduardo "duhT" Teixeira
Carlos "Zanatsu" Eduardo
Saymon "Hiromi" de Sousa (Head Coach)

Leading the roster as IGL is tockers. The former League of Legends player and coach turned Valorant player joins Liberty from Brazilian team Sealed, which is who he competed with in the last few months of 2022. PEPA is an experienced player who has previously played for Team Vikings and paiN Gaming. Guuih hails from Rise Gaming and has also been a part of ODDIK and Tuzzy Esports in the past. DuhT and Zanatsu both come from DELIRA. Hiromi, who is the Head Coach of Liberty, has been a part of the organization since 2020 and will continue in that role for this year. It'll be interesting to see how this roster does against some of the stronger ones in the league.

3) TBK Esports

The third invited team to VCL Brazil is TBK Esports. The Brazilian esports organization has competed in Valorant since 2021 and on January 10th announced their new roster for the upcoming split.

Leon "ryotzz" Felipe
Lucas "lukzera" Soares
Matheus "matheuzin" Brito
Matheus "DeNaro" Hipólito
Davi "chase" Mello
Diego "dyx" Matheus (Coach)
Rodrigo "shoyu" Matheus (Coach)

Brazilian players ryotzz, lukzera, and matheuzin have all been a part of TBK Esports since December 2021. Joining them on this roster for the upcoming Brazilian VCL is DeNaro and chase. The former hails from MIBR and brings a lot of experience to this team and the latter hails from Gamelanders Blue. The Coach of the team, dyx, has been with TBK Esports since early 2022 and will stay with them for this upcoming split. Shoyou was previously an Analyst for TBK's game changers team and will now join the main team as a Coach. Mixed with upcoming talent and experience, it'll be interesting to see how this team plays.

4) Keyd Stars

The fourth and final team invited to VCL Brazil is Keyd Stars. The Brazilian esports organization, which is also known as Vivo Keyd Stars, entered Valorant on September 30th, 2020. On December 2nd of last year, they announced their new roster for the upcoming split.

Marcelo "pleets" Leite
Gustavo "krain" Melara
Felipe "liazzi" Galiazzi
Julio "pollo" Silva
Felipe "flainzz" Saldanha
Marlow "MARLOW" Garcia (Coach)

This roster features experienced Brazilian players who have all been competing at the top of the scene since 2020. Pleets has previously competed for Los Grandes and Liberty. He has had much success in the Brazilian scene and even qualified for an international event in VCT 2021 Masters Berlin with Liberty. Krain and liazzi both hail from Liberty as well. Rounding out the roster is pollo and flainzz who both come from Stars Horizon. Pollo has also played for teams such as Team Vikings, Black Dragons, and RED Canids in the past. Additronally, flainzz has played for Keyd Stars on their previous roster, back in 2020. The new Coach for Keyd Stars, MARLOW, hails from Stars Horizon Vênus. He has also coached for Liberty Female in the past and the old Keyd Stars roster back in 2020 to 2021. It'll be interesting to see how this roster can compete against some of the other strong teams.

5) ODDIK

The first team to qualify for VCL Brazil through the Qualifiers is ODDIK. The Brazilian esports organization first entered Valorant in February 2022 and have been making themselves known in the Brazilian scene. In October of last year, they signed a new roster, which is the one that will play in the upcoming split.

Fernando "fznnn" Cerqueira
Victor "BLD" Junqueira
Leonardo "fzkk" Puertas
Guilherme "jacobin" Jacob
Kauã "tisora" Martins
Rodrigo "Gatti" Gatti (Coach)

This roster has been together since October 2022. They played one tournament during the offseason, which was the Copa Rakin #3 cup. They placed second and won $2,000, beating teams such as TBK Esports and DELIRA. In the VCL Brazil Qualifiers, they beat out teams such as SQUAD6, TotalePRO, and REiGN to secure a spot in the league. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep up with the stronger teams in the league.

6) The Union

The second team to qualify for the Brazilian VCL through the Qualifiers is The Union.

Gustavo "GuhRVN" Ferreira
Fillipe "pancc" Martins
Ilan "havoc" Eloy
Rafael "raafa" Lima
Lucas "ntk" Martins
Pedro "peu" Lopes (Coach)

The core of this roster GuhRVN, pancc, and havoc have all been together since June 2022, playing for free agent team DIRETORIA and then they got signed by The Union in July. The two newest additions to this roster are raafa and ntk, who both joined on November 27th of last year. Raafa has previously played for Liberty and ntk has previously played for Keyd Stars. Those two were big pickups and have certainly helped the team. Peu has been the coach for The Union since July 2022. Currently one of the top teams in Brazil, it'll be interesting to see how this team does in the league.

7) RED Canids

Brazilian esports organization RED Canids have been competing in Valorant since 2020. They tried their hand in the VCL Brazil Qualifiers but unfortunately didn't make it with their previous roster. On January 9th, they signed the free agent roster Acadêmicos do Tucuruvi, which secured a spot in the league through the Qualifiers.

Gustavo "gtnziN" Moura
Ronaldo "RND" Kanashiro
Gabriel "gaabxx" Carli
Caio "CTC" Torres
Leonardo "Leozin" Quindeler
Caio "napz" Sousa (Coach)

This roster looks like one of the strongest teams in the league on paper. They formed in November for the VCL Brazil Qualifiers. GtnziN, also known as gtn, hails from MIBR and has also competed for Team Vikings in the past. RND and CRC both hail from Los Grandes and gaabx comes from Sharks Esports. Rounding out the roster is 16-year-old player Leozin. This is the first organization he will be competing for, and this will be a great experience for both sides. The Coach for the roster, napz, hails from Rise Gaming. He has also coached for ODDIK in the past. This roster should be one of the stronger ones in the league and it'll be exciting to watch them play.

8) TropiCaos

The eighth and final team in split one of VCL Brazil is TropiCaos. The Brazilian esports organization signed a roster in November just to compete in the league Qualifiers and it paid off for them. The roster is as follows.

Rafael "mNdS" Mendes
"Brinks"
Vinicius "v1nNy" Gonçalves
Eduardo "xenon" Soeiro
Gabriel "cortezia" Cortez

This roster is mixed with experienced players and upcoming talents. At the helm of the team is former MIBR player mNdS. He is joined by Brinks and v1nNy, who both hail from Gamelanders Blue. Rounding out the roster is xenon and cortezia. The former joins TropiCaos from Laboratorio do Leozin and the latter joins the roster from Team Brave Soldiers. This is one of the more interesting rosters in the league and they should do well.

When and how to watch

VCL Brazil: Split 1 starts on January 18th and all the matches will be streamed here in Portuguese.

Stay tuned to @ValorantTracker on Twitter for full Valorant esports coverage.

Credits to VCL Brazil/Valorant/Riot Games for the article image