Meet the 10 VALORANT teams heading to Iceland for Masters

May 14, 2021

by Gabriel Ionica

The VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Challengers Finals have come to a close and teams from around the world are gearing up to travel to the upcoming Masters: Reykjavík international LAN tournament in Iceland. It’s the second LAN tournament being held in Iceland this month after the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational. Before we dive deep into covering Masters, which takes place May 24-30, let’s take a step back and review the journeys of the 10 teams that will be duking it out for the title of best VALORANT team in the world at IceLAN.

North America

Sentinels and Version1

Sentinels and Version1 will be the two teams representing North America in Iceland. Sentinels have been largely unstoppable since the beginning of the VCT. The kings of NA have performed well throughout the Challengers rounds, only dropping out of the Stage 2 Challengers 1 open qualifier thanks to an upset from Built By Gamers. They quickly recovered in the Stage 2 Challengers 2 qualifiers and carried that momentum into the Stage 2 Challengers Finals where they beat Version1 in the grand finals.

Version1 are a relatively new team compared to Sentinels. Since they came together in February, their highest finish outside of Challengers Finals was first at the Pittsburgh Knights Monthly Gauntlet. Even though their road to Masters has not been spotless, they put together an impressive lower bracket run during Challengers Finals, beating four teams along the way, including NA favorites Team Envy and Cloud9 Blue.

EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)

Team Liquid and Fnatic

Combining the top teams in Europe with CIS and Turkey meant that the latter two regions had quite the challenge on their hands. That challenge made itself clear by the fact that the two teams that qualified were both European teams: Team Liquid and Fnatic.

Like North America’s top seed, Team Liquid had a rocky road to Masters. Team Liquid failed to make it past Europe’s open qualifier during Stage 2 Challengers 1. The Challengers 2 open qualifier went much better for them after a 2-1 victory against Ninjas in Pyjamas brought them into the closed qualifier. Even though Fnatic defeated them there, Team Liquid took their revenge in the Challengers Finals after both teams had secured their spots at Masters.

Fnatic had almost the same experience as Team Liquid. Like TL, they failed to make it out of the Challengers 1 open qualifier, but ultimately stepped up their game in Challengers 2. The fact they made it to Iceland over more favored European teams like FunPlus Phoenix and Guild Esports is an impressive feat.

Japan

Crazy Raccoon

The Japanese VALORANT scene was treated to quite the upset when Crazy Raccoon defeated Absolute JUPITER at the VCT Japan Stage 1 Masters. Their domination continued into Stage 2 when they qualified for Challengers 1 and subsequently made it into Japan’s Challengers Finals. They let Absolute JUPITER know once again that they were the new kings of Japan and took the region’s Masters spot over them. What an underdog story.

Korea

NUTURN Gaming

If we’re talking about upsets though, there was an even bigger one in Korea. Vision Strikers, the team that won over 100 matches in a row from their founding in June until April did not qualify for Masters thanks NUTURN Gaming. NUTURN Gaming were established in January and the only tournament they’ve played in other than VCT events was the DouYu Bie Zhuang Cup Winter. We didn’t see it then, but NUTURN’s nail-biting 2-3loss to Vision Strikers at the VCT Korea Stage 1 Masters was indicative of just how close they were to Vision Strikers. Long live the new best team in Korea.

Brazil

Team Vikings and Sharks Esports

Like NA and EMEA, Brazil also got two spots at Masters Iceland. Team Vikings seem well-suited for the event, having placed consistently high in every event they’ve competed in since Ultimasters AOC on Jan. 7. Their results seem to have improved since they signed Matias "Saadhak" Delipetro on Jan. 5, so perhaps he was the key to their success.

Although Sharks Esports haven’t been as successful as Vikings lately, their current squad enjoyed plenty of success under their previous name of Squad5. They finished first at Chroma Cup #1 in January and AORUS League - Brazil #3 in February as Squad5, and they finished first-second at VCT Brazil Stage 1 Challengers 3. They underperformed at Brazil’s Stage 1 Masters, but they did just enough in Challengers Finals to qualify for Iceland.

Southeast Asia

X10 Esports

Southeast Asia often flies under the radar when compared to other regions. That said, X10 Esports are SEA’s Vision Strikers. These boys have gone largely undefeated, save for two second-place finishes at the VCT Thailand Stage 1 Challengers 1 qualifier and VCT Southeast Asia Stage 1 Masters. Last month they signed Patiphan “Patiphan” Chaiwong, who played Overwatch for Talon Esports and represented Thailand at the 2018 Overwatch World Cup.

Latin America

KRÜ Esports

Due to COVID restrictions, Riot decided that the North and South subregions that comprise Latin America would compete in separate brackets before the winners battled it out for a spot at Masters Reykjavík. The fight came down to Infinity Esports from the North and KRÜ Esports from the South. Infinity placed second at First Strike Latin America North while KRÜ’s experience only extends to VCT. Although this might have made Infinity Esports the favorite, VCT has taught to always expect upsets and that’s exactly what took place here. After a hard-fought four maps, KRÜ eliminated Infinity.

As a quick note, none of the First Strike winners will be attending Masters Reykjavík in Iceland. It goes to show just how variable results have been from month to month in VALORANT esports’ young history and that no team has been able to stay on top of their region for long. Masters Reykjavík will be the first time we’ll find out which region is the best, at least for now.

Lead image credit: Riot Games