FaZe dominate, TenZ and Sentinels excel in first weekend of VALORANT Masters

March 15, 2021

by Gabriel Ionica

The first weekend of the VALORANT Champions Tour NA Masters was a sight to behold, with several thrilling matches. After the first four days of competition, here’s where the eight teams that competed stand when the tournament resumes Thursday:

Winner’s final: FaZe Clan vs. Sentinels

Elimination matches: Gen.G vs. 100 Thieves and Team Envy vs. Luminosity Gaming

Eliminated teams: XSET and Immortals

For those who weren’t able to catch this weekend’s action live, here’s a quick recap of all the matches for a little taste of everything that took place this weekend.

Sunday

FaZe beat Envy 2-0

FaZe looked strong after their win against XSET on Thursday and looked just as strong in this match too. They started off Icebox with a solid 9-3,and they carried momentum into the second half. Corey “corey” Nigra and Andrej “babybay” Francisty led the charge and FaZe took Map 1 by a score of 13-6.

The first half of Bind was give-and-take, with Envy taking some good rounds away from FaZe. Their lead didn’t last long though, and the first half still went the way of FaZe 7-5,with an ace from Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen to close things out. The FaZe juggernaut continued into the second half as they won the map 13-8. At this point, FaZe look unstoppable at Masters.

Sentinels beat 100 Thieves 2-0

Sentinels were not messing around in their first match against 100T, with an unbelievable 10-2first half. Those two rounds were the only ones 100T would win in Map 1, and a 4k by Shahzeeb “ShahZaM” Khan in the first round of the second half sealed 100T’s fate. Sentinels won Ascent 13-2 in a mind-blowing game that made 100T look like amateurs.

The first half of Haven looked very similar to Ascent, and Sentinels once more took an early lead over 100T with an 8-4halftime in which Tyson “TenZ” Ngo proved that he still has what it takes to be one of, if not the best players in North America. The second half was a different story though. Ethan “Ethan” Arnold turned into an absolute powerhouse and carried 100T round after round into overtime. The round-swap game was on, and after two overtimes, Sentinels pulled through once again, defeating 100T 16-14with Ethan dropping 29 kills for his team.

Saturday

Gen.G beat XSET 2-0

XSET seemed to struggle against Gen.G’s aggression despite holding a lead throughout the first half of Ascent. Gen.G pushed back with some rounds of their own, but XSET managed to win enough rounds to win the half 7-5. Unfortunately for XSET, their momentum didn’t follow into the second half, and Gen.G steamrolled them to a 13-8 final.

Gen.G took their momentum into Haven and continued denying all of XSET’s attempts, taking the first half 9-3. XSET seemed to come alive in the second half, with some very close comeback rounds against Gen.G. Ultimately, they couldn’t really get things going, even with Brendan “BcJ” Jensen topping the leaderboard, and Gen.G won Haven 13-11.

Luminosity Gaming beat Immortals 2-1

This matchup was the closest one of the weekend. Split was a roller coaster of emotions, with neither team being ahead for too long. Despite some absolutely incredible rounds from Luminosity, including an amazing clutch from Kaleb “moose” Jayne, Immortals rolled with the punches, swung back and won Split 13-11.

Haven looked a bit more even for both teams, with the score tied 6-6 athalftime. The second half is when things got turned upside down and Luminosity shut down Immortals’ attempts at coming back like they did on Split. As if their performance wasn’t already impressive, anace from Brenden “stellar” McGrath secured the 13-9win for Luminosity and sent the match to Map 3.

Bind was once again anyone’s game, but a 4k from Brady “thief” Dever foreshadowed what was to come. Despite an early lead from Immortals, Luminosity came back and tied the game 6-6. Despite Immortals’ best efforts in the second half, Luminosity closed this one out 13-10.

Friday

Sentinels beat Luminosity Gaming 2-1

All eyes were on Sentinels’ newest acquisition, for the debut of superstar TenZ. That didn’t seem to hurt Luminosity’s performance though, who had a strong attacking side on the first half of Ascent. Even with some pop-offs from Alex “aproto” Protopapas, Sentinels seemed to have answers for every one of Luminosity’s challenges. The second half was off to a similar start, with Luminosity even unraveling Sentinels’ fake rush to A site. That proved to not be enough either, and the power of Hunter “SicK” Mims and TenZ combined to push Sentinels past Luminosity 13-8.

It looked like the Sentinels train was full steam ahead at the beginning of Split, and Luminosity were absolutely swarmed round after round. At one point, Sentinels were up 7-1and looking very confident in their lead. That’s when Luminosity snuck up from behind them and took them to overtime. Despite their performance in the first half, Sentinels secured no rounds in overtime and Luminosity ended up taking the game 14-12.

With both teams having a map win, it was down to Icebox to decide a winner. Sentinels looked like they took the lead they had in the first half of Split and brought it into Icebox, only dropping three rounds to Luminosity. Before they knew it, Sentinels took the half away from Luminosity 9-3. TenZ stepped up big this match, with a 4k and four 3k’s to shut down Luminosity’s advances. Even though Kaleb “moose” Jayne took a solid 4k for his team on Round 10, Sentinels won Icebox 13-6 after an extremely fun game to watch.

100 Thieves beat Immortals 2-0

100 Thieves really put the pressure on Immortals on Ascent with a dominant first half. A combination of textbook teamwork and an ace from Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella on Round 4 led to an 8-4first-half win for 100T. The second half didn’t go as well for 100T, and their round wins looked a lot more scattered. Immortals, powered by Noah “jcStani” Smith fought back after every one of 100 Thieves’ round wins and sent the game to overtime, where 100T won it 15-13.

Haven came down to the wire even more so than Ascent. Andrew “ShoT_UP” Orlowski looked particularly strong for Immortals as he put 100T in some very awkward duels and helped Immortals to a 7-5halftime lead. Ethan and Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk both stepped up for 100T in the second half, denying Immortals almost every single defuse opportunity. Despite fans likely wishing for a third map, 100T made sure that wasn’t the case and took the game 13-8 to close out the series.

Thursday

Team Envy beat Gen.G 2-1

Gen.G had a strong start to this matchup, opening up with a six-round lead, but Envy came roaring back to tie the score 6-6 at halftime. Despite Haven being Gen.G’s pick, Envy’s attacking side was unbeatable and Gen.G were unable to fight back, losing the map 6-13.

Icebox, which was Envy’s pick, was up next. This time around, the first half was much more dominant for Gen.G, and Envy had to fight back from a 2-10deficit. The first few rounds of the second half almost looked like Envy were going to run it back and take it 2-0 but Gen.G closed out Icebox 13-5.

On Bind, it was such a close first half that it almost felt like Envy from Haven were fighting Gen.G from Icebox. There wasn’t a single time when either team was more than two rounds ahead, and the first half ended with a nail-biting 6-6 score. That same nail-biting atmosphere transferred to the second half, but Envy, thanks in part to Victor “food” Wong, were able to pull ahead and turn their edge into a 13-10map win.

FaZe Clan beat XSET 2-0

XSET showed off for the first few rounds on Haven, taking round after round from FaZe. That’s when fan-favorite babybay stepped in for FaZe. Many aggressive Jett plays from him and a 4k from Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty led FaZe to a close 7-5first half edge. In the second half, XSET looked almost scared of babybay, allowing FaZe to take some free sites and bomb plants. Try as they might, XSET were unable to fight back, and FaZe ended the game 13-6 with babybay topping the leaderboards with a whopping 28 kills.

Going into Bind, FaZe had full control of the situation, just like they did on Haven. This time around, the entire team showed up to play, with Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo looking particularly dominating in the first half. XSET tried everything, but every advantage they had was immediately stripped away by the FaZe squad with a 9-3halftime score. In the words of the broadcast analysts, FaZe were “playing with their food and eating out of that XSET cereal bowl,” even more so in the second half. FaZe’s “sophisticated smeaging” continued into that second half and they beat XSET 13-3on Bind to take the match.

Lead image credit: Riot Games