We are just hours away from the Round of 16 matches with DRX vs C9 and EG vs Talon Esports. Who will be joining NRG and LOUD at the quarter finals of VCT Lock In 2023? Today, we predict the two winners of the night as we move towards the business end of the tournament.
Round Of 16 Predictions
DRX vs Cloud9
South Korean Giants will be facing the representatives of NA on our first match of the night.
Probable Lineups
DRX
- Kim “stax” Gu-taek (IGL)
- Goo “Rb” Sang-Min
- Kim “Zest” Gi-seok
- Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul
- Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan
Cloud9
- Anthony “vanity” Malaspina (IGL)
- Nathan “leaf” Orf
- Erick “Xeppaa” Bach
- Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro
- Jacob “yay” Whiteaker
Our Prediction
It’s the North America vs Asia in the first match of the night. DRX have defeated BBL Esports 2-1 to make it to the round of 16. On the other hand, Cloud9 steamrolled over another Asian team, Paper Rex. Both teams have shown similar levels of confidence so far in the tournament.
A lot of this DRX vs C9 match boils down to the rosters. Cloud9 now has a pretty much new roster thanks to the Riot Games partnership program. With Zellsis and yay now in the squad, they surely are a force to be reckoned with. But the same DRX roster has been playing together since VCT 2021. There are few teams that come close in terms of co-ordination and that was well displayed at Valorant Champions 2022. This should be a close encounter but we feel like DRX is making it into the quarterfinals from here.
Don’t believe us? We got both our predictions right last night!
DRX is confident they can avenge PRX with this hilarious post tweeted earlier today:
We shall avenge you my son @pprxteam #VCTLOCKIN pic.twitter.com/smTgZoBjIR
— DRX VS @ #VCTLOCKIN (@DRX_VS) February 18, 2023
Evil Geniuses vs Talon Esports
We’ll be finishing the night off with the last match between Evil Geniuses and Talon Esports.
Probable Lineups
Evil Geniuses
- Kelden “Boostio“Pupello (IGL)
- Corbin “C0M” Lee
- Alexander “jawgemo” Mor
- Brendan “BcJ” Jensen
- Ethan “Ethan” Arnold
Talon Esports
- Itthirit “foxz” Ngamsaard (IGL)
- Thanamethk “Crws” Mahatthananuyut
- Apiwat “garnetS” Apiraksukumal
- Jittana “JitboyS” Nokngam
- Panyawat “Sushiboys” Subsiriroj
Our Prediction
Both Evil Geniuses and Talon won their opening matches 2-0, against Heretics and MIBR respectively. The teams seem quite equal in terms of the performance they have displayed so far in the tournament.
The most impressive aspect about Evil Geniuses is the fact that they have a stacked 9-man roster. So, for Talon it’s gonna be hard to predict the lineup of EG. Ethan and BcJ brings a wealth of experience in the lineup which will be crucial for their run here. But let’s not count out Talon Esports. The Thai boys have showed nothing but courage and co-ordination in their opening match against the locals, MIBR. Former XERXIA man, Sushiboys was crowned the MVP of the match. A lot rests on his shoulders tonight as they’ll try to see it through at the series. Evil Geniuses on paper have more experience and firepower, so they should be clinching a spot at the quarterfinals.
See you on February 18th. 😈#VCTLOCKIN | #EVILEXHIBITED | @jawgemo pic.twitter.com/e7ZsrH2UuJ
— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) February 16, 2023
Guess only time will tell if we get our predictions right tonight as well!
