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VCT LOCK//IN 2023 kicked off in February as the very first major international Valorant event of the season. Teams from all across the world convened in São Paulo, Brazil, to compete in this single-elimination tournament and grab an additional Masters slot for their respective regions.
Team Liquid, one of EMEA's most esteemed teams, was amongst the 32 organizations that were invited to compete in the event. Despite the quality of individual talent within their roster and their status as one of Europe's top teams, Team Liquid failed to make their mark in VCT LOCK//IN 2023, and were eliminated after their very first match.
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Redgar shares his thoughts on IGL-ing in Team Liquid's multi-national roster at VCT LOCK//IN 2023
Prior to the start of the 2023 season, Team Liquid engaged heavily in the player market in attempts to build a roster with the potential to lift a Champions trophy.
The departure of the talented brother duo of ScreaM and Nivera urged Team Liquid to sign Sayf from Guild Esports, and nAts and Redgar from M3 Champions (formerly Gambit Esports). After adding these three world-class players to their roster, all eyes were on Team Liquid to perform at the highest stages of Valorant esports.
Out of their three new players, the most impactful addition is perhaps that of Igor "Redgar" Vlasov, a young in-game leader (IGL) who has consistently performed well at the highest levels of Valorant.
Ahead of Team Liquid's matchup against Team Secret, Redgar spoke about the complications of being the IGL for a multi-national roster like Team Liquid where him and nAts were the only ones who spoke Russian. Redgar stated:
"I don't think that is a problem, because I know how to speak in English, and he (nAts) knows as well. Sometimes in the beginning, we had some problems finding out what some things meant, but right now, we understand pretty clearly what we're thinking and what we want to do. It's pretty simple. You just need time to adapt to that."
Presently, Redgar and nAts have been competing together for over two years. The duo met when Gambit Esports acquired Redgar back in January 2021. Since then, they have earned a runners-up finish at the 2021 Valorant Champions and have won numerous titles, including VCT 2021 Stage 1 CIS Masters, Stage 3 Masters: Berlin, and more.
Being a single-elimination tournament, even a single defeat at the VCT LOCK//IN 2023 event will send teams home. Team Liquid was eliminated from the tournament after Team Secret overpowered them by winning two consecutive maps on Icebox and Fracture.
Despite their quick elimination, Team Liquid are maintaining a positive attitude and exited the tournament with their heads held high. With a roster that's certainly capable of taking on the best teams in the world, Team Liquid will enter the VCT EMEA League as a promising contender and will give it their all to claim one of the EMEA region's slots for the VCT Tokyo Masters 2023.
