Masters Shanghai is the second international event of the 2024 VCT season, celebrating VALORANT‘s long-awaited release there as well as the ongoing inaugural VCT China season.
The format for Masters Shanghai significantly expands the amount of competition compared to Masters Madrid, with each of the four VCT regions sending three VALORANT teams instead of just two. The top three teams from the stage one playoffs in each league will have the honor of competing in Shanghai.
With the way the schedules are staggered, some league playoffs will determine which teams go to Masters Shanghai first. Here are all the teams that have qualified for Masters Shanghai.
All VCT Masters Shanghai teams
Paper Rex
Paper Rex has come close to winning an international trophy on several occasions, having finished top four in five different international events over the past three years but still never winning the big one. But the sting of defeat at Masters Madrid immediately subsided when beloved duelist star Jinggg returned to the starting roster earlier than expected.
The team has played some of their best VALORANT since Jinggg returned, losing only one series across the entirety of the VCT Pacific stage one groups and playoffs. Now, they’re only one more win away from securing three vital VCT Championship points before heading to Shanghai.
T1
Despite making Masters Tokyo and Champions last year, T1 did not have a strong international showing. During the offseason, T1 swapped in an entirely new roster core, reaching into the Challenger scenes from North America, Indonesia, and Japan to pick up Rossy, xccurate, and iZu.
The new roster just missed out on Madrid and limped into the stage one playoffs with a 2-4 record on a round differential tiebreaker over Global Esports. But T1 won back-to-back against Team Secret and Gen.G, with the new members stepping up against Secret before relying on familiar former OWL stars in Sayaplayer and Carpe to get it done against Gen.G.
Gen.G
Gen.G completely overhauled its roster before 2024, keeping only Meteor from the year prior and bringing longtime Korean FPS veteran Kang “solo” Keun-chul in as head coach. The new Gen.G made an immediate impact, finishing first at the VCT Pacific Kickoff and pushing Sentinels to five maps in the grand finals of Madrid.
Stage one was a little bumpier for Gen.G, but in a rematch with DRX in the lower semifinal of the playoffs, the sensational controller/duelist duo of Karon and t3xtture stepped up when it mattered, claiming the third spot at Masters Shanghai.
EDward Gaming
EDG continues to be the standard bearer for Chinese VALORANT, having now qualified for six straight international tournaments. In their last three international events though, they capped out at a 5th/6th place finish at all three, despite scoring some major victories. Across VCT China stage one, they’ve only lost once in a 1-2 defeat versus FPX.
Funplus Phoenix
FPX returns to the international stage after a second place result in the inaugural VCT China season. As good as the team looked domestically, having not lost a single match in China this year, they have still yet to win a single international match across three events, not counting the 2022 season when the organization competed in EMEA with the current NAVI core.
Dragon Ranger
The players on Dragon Ranger are living the ultimate path-to-pro dream, as the winners of China Ascension 2023 have secured a spot at Masters in their home country in just their first year of the league. While the roster has yet to show up either FPX or EDG in domestic play, some guaranteed international experience should go a long way for this young core.
Fnatic
Fnatic is not making a habit of missing multiple international events after falling short of making Masters Madrid. Their stage one performance started and ended with some tough losses, but they managed to sneak through into playoffs on round differential. In playoffs, close but not uncomfortable wins against Liquid and KC put them back on the international stage. This doesn’t look like the same nearly unbeatable Fnatic we saw last year, but they’re certainly not a team to look past.
Team Heretics
The youth movement in Team Heretics continues to pay off, with the young roster reaching its second straight international tournament. While they lost both matches at Masters Madrid, the team with no international experience pushed the veteran rosters of Sentinels and Paper Rex to the limit in their Masters debut. Four straight EMEA wins against Liquid, KC, NAVI, and FUT Esports paved the way for another crack at international glory for Team Heretics.
FUT Esports
After a slow start to the 2024 super team, the Turkish superteam built on FUT Esports has finally delivered on the promise of its potential. Across stage one, FUT picked up several major wins against the likes of Liquid, Karmine Corp, and Fnatic, and secured their spot in Shanghai with an even more decisive victory over KC.
G2 Esports
More than two years after the core of The Guard faltered on the international stage after achieving an automatic playoffs berth at Masters Reykjavík, the trio of trent, valyn, and jonahP are back. Leaf also makes his long-awaited return to international play after reaching playoffs with Cloud9 way back at Champions 2021. After a back-and-forth Americas stage one, G2 locked in for playoffs with dominant 2-0 wins over both C9 and the previously undefeated KRÜ, becoming the first Ascension team to qualify for an international event.
100 Thieves
The trash talking, world champion in-game leader Boostio has lit a fire underneath this 100T roster, bringing out star-worthy performances from the likes of Asuna and Cryocells. The two stars made their names on strong international showings, and have the chance to do so again, while Boostio’s stock as a leader continues to skyrocket.
Leviatán
The roster mix of players from all across Americas, including two world champions, are heading to compete in the international events a roster of this caliber was made for. Aspas and c0m will look to lead by example and replicate the success they’ve had on the global stage.
