Valorant was first announced in early 2020 as a brand-new shooter that combined Overwatch and CS:GO elements. Since its release, the game has slowly gained ground and established itself as one of the titans of competitive esports. Seeing an opportunity to push the envelope and test new ideas, Riot announced their first official tournament circuit – Valorant Champions Tour.
The general idea behind the tournament was to provide competitive Valorant action all year round. Heading into 2023, Riot Games has innovated and transformed the Valorant Champions Tour, or VCT, on an international lefvel. These new premier-level leagues will see the top players in the world compete for spots at global events.
With an incredible surge in viewership and popularity across all levels of competition, competitive Valorant is quickly becoming one of the top esports betting opportunities in the esports industry. Bearing this in mind, we’d like to break down everything you need to know before placing your first bets!
Best Betting Sites for the Valorant Champions Tour
When it comes to bookmakers, our recommendations revolve around the likes of:
- GG.Bet Esports – GG.Bet is an esports specialist betting site that offers a secure and user-friendly platform with competitive odds and a wide range of betting options for Valorant esports events. At the time of writing, new players could receive a matched deposit bonus of up to $300.
- Thunderpick Esports -Thunderpick, a crypto betting platform, is another popular platform for betting on Valorant esports events, including the Valorant Champions Tour. With its user-friendly interface, comprehensive in-game statistics, and various betting options, Thunderpick provides a fun and exciting way for users to get involved in the action. Thunderpick offers new customers a 100% deposit bonus of up to $500.
- MyStake Esports -MyStake is a reliable platform for betting on the Valorant Champions Tour and other Valorant esports events with crypto. MyStake is an excellent choice for anyone interested in VCT betting. A dedicated esports betting bonus of 100% up to $500 awaits new sign-ups.
With each of these operators scoring at least a 4/5 in our exclusive reviews, each offers the best for Valorant Champions Tour Betting odds alongside a vast selection of other esports. Whether you’re new to Valorant betting or esports betting in general, these are all great means of starting!
How to Bet on VCT 2023: Quick Tips
When it comes to betting on the Valorant Champions Tour, there are a number of means to do so – consider the following common bet types:
- Moneyline/Match-Winner Betting – very straightforward and a great way to start out by simply picking a winner while considering the odds available in a particular match- do you go for the favourite or the underdog?
- Tournament Winner – this simple betting also extends to betting for the entire tournament before it starts – these are known as ‘outrights’.
- Handicap Betting – picking a match winner or a tournament where the bookmaker offers handicap settings, such as a +1 round handicap, to try and make a bet more balanced. This type of bet is quite variable.
- Total/Over-Under Betting – a game of Valorant offers many variables. With an ‘over-under’ bet, you could bet on the number of rounds played or the statistics of a particular player, depending on the betting platform. Here, a stronger knowledge of the teams and individual players helps out greatly.
- Special-Type Bets – once you’ve mastered all other bet types, try your hand at some special bets. These include niche criteria such as betting on match parameters such as pistol rounds, bombs planted and more. Offering the highest risk, these bets usually come up with the greatest rewards.
VCT Betting Odds: Consulting the Numbers
So, what do the Valorant odds look like for VCT 2023?
To help out with your betting decisions, we’ve listed the GG.Bet outright winnings odds for the opening event, VCT LOCK//IN Sao Paolo, below:
Odds provided by GG.Bet (Accessed – 12/02/23)
Overall, it seems Natus Vincere, Sentinels and Fnatic are considered favourites by bookmakers.
Beyond predicting the winner, there are multiple other betting options and odds to consider, as explained above.
Valorant Champions Tour Format
The timeline of this Valorant tournament is well thought out and pretty straightforward.
Overall, the two main stages of regular season league competition are marked with a concluding international offline tournament. These continental leagues will be the new method by which teams will qualify for the premier-level global tournaments, namely Masters (Tokyo) and Champions.
Image Credits | Riot Games
Starting shortly with the VCT LOCK//IN Sao Paolo event, all partner teams will feature in this competition to get things started. Find all of the participating teams for the Valorant Champions Tour 2023 season below:
- EMEA Partner Teams: BBL Esports, Fnatic, FUT Esports, Giants, Karmine Corp, KOI, Natus Vincere, Team Heretics, Team Liquid, Team Vitality
- Americas Partner Teams: 100 Thieves, Cloud9, Evil Geniuses, FURIA Esports, KRU Esports, Leviatan, LOUD, MIBR, NRG, Sentinels
- Pacific Partner Teams: DetonatioN FM, DRX, Gen.G, Global Esports, Paper Rex, Rex Regum Qeon, T1, Talon Esports, Team Secret, ZETA DIVISION
- China Invited Teams: (may or may not be involved in VCT 2023) EDward Gaming, FunPlus Phoenix
Of note, the Chinese teams have not been confirmed as participants, although they will be competing in the season’s opening event.
Following the opening event, the regional leagues will take place according to the following dates:
- EMEA League VCT 2023 – 27th March – 28th May
- Americas League VCT 2023 – 26th March – 28th May
- Pacific League VCT 2023 – 26th March – 28th May
Within each regional league, the 10 partnered teams will compete in a single round-robin for eight weeks to qualify for Regional Playoffs. Once in the Regional Playoffs, the top 3 teams from each region will advance to the Masters tournament, where teams may secure a spot at the biggest event of the year – Valoeant Champions 2023.
In addition, teams who fail to qualify for Valorant Champions through Masters will have one last opportunity through the Last Chance Qualifier.
Image Credits | Riot Games
Every team will want to make it to Champions – the most prestigious event of the year, where teams fight to leave their mark on history and is clearly, the best esports betting opportunity of the year! Notably, the Valorant Champions tour prize pool is increasing yearly.
Now, while this premier competition is ongoing, the Tier 2 scene – Valorant Challengers – will allow amateur teams the opportunity to compete for prize and seeding. More specifically, by qualifying for regional Ascension leagues, these teams have the opportunity to compete at premier VCT 2023 events, while the winning team from each region earns a spot in the VCT for two years!
From top to bottom, this new format is incredibly competitive and accessible to anyone willing to test the odds. In conclusion, here’s the overall timeline Valorant Champions Tour schedule:
- VCT LOCK//IN Sao Paulo – 13th February
- VCT Regional Leagues – March-May
- Masters Tokyo – June
- VCT Last Chance Qualifier + Challengers Ascension Tournament – July
- Champions – Fall
On a separate note from mainstream VCT, Riot Games is also hosting the Game Changers series too – a series dedicated to female esports. Similarly layered, on a smaller scale, these events will coincide with VCT events, offering some great competition and concluding with the highly anticipated Game Changers World Championship (Fall 2023). Such events also offer Valorant Champions Tour betting opportunities!
Image Credits | Riot Games
Valorant Champions Tour Predictions
The Valorant Champions Tour is the place to be for any competitive team worth its salt. If you’re looking for a challenge, this is it. As such, the tournament will involve the best Valorant teams worldwide and prove to be a chance for many up-and-coming young players to test their mettle and potentially make it big.
Considering that this is the inaugural year of a new format, predictions may be tough initially, but they will only get easier. Here, we provide some top picks to get you started – here are some favourites to consider when Valorant Champions betting:
- Natus Vincere – combining elements of the former FPX roster, bringing on a world champion such as “cNed” to help them frag makes them incredibly likely to make a deep run in this first event of the year.
- LOUD – as the reigning champions from last season, LOUD has made a few small changes while maintaining the core of the team which took over the world – can they do it again this year?
- Paper Rex – perhaps the only team that hasn’t made changes, Paper Rex looks to bring excitement and creativity from the Pacific region and hopefully help the region earn their first international win.
- DRX – consistently placing well at international esports tournaments last year; DRX could very well show up and remind everyone of their 3rd place finish at Valorant Champions last year.
- Fnatic – placing 5-6th at Valorant Champions last year, they’ve brought in new talent with “Chronicle” and “Leo“, looking like one of the most dangerous European teams in the competition, with some of the best Valorant players.
- 100 Thieves – as the only favourite from North America, a few tournaments over the past month have demonstrated that this event is seriously impressive and have the potential to take over.
Of course, heading into a new season with new teams and a constantly changing game means that every team is in the balance!
How to Watch Valorant Champions
Overall, thanks to a lack of exclusivity, competitive Valorant is available on the major platforms for esports – YouTube and Twitch. For convenience, find the main Twitch channel for Valorant Esports below:
Naturally, you’ll need to select the appropriate stream depending on the region you’re interested in or whether you’d like to watch Game Changers or Valorant Challengers.
In addition, the broadcasting Valorant Champions Tour schedule for every regional event and tier of competition is variable. To view the scheduling in your region, we recommend visiting the official Valorant Esports page.
In conclusion, using all of this knowledge and our Valorant Champions Tour predictions, you are more than ready to start Valorant Champions Tour betting.
