The final stop on the road to VCT Champions 2022 is Masters Copenhagen, the second international VALORANT LAN of the year and the last chance for teams to earn pivotal VCT points toward Champions qualification.
Masters Copenhagen will feature 12 teams again, with almost the same regional split as Masters Reykjavík.
- Three EMEA teams
- Two North American teams
- Two APAC teams
- One Korean team
- One Japanese team
- One Brazilian team
- One Latin American team
- One more South American team
The 12 teams will collide starting on July 10 and compete for as many as 1,000 VCT points, guaranteeing the first-place team a ticket to VCT Champions. These 12 teams are looking to go on a massive run to close out the year before the entire landscape of competitive VALORANT changes next year with the implementation of the partnered system.
Here are all 12 teams attending Masters Copenhagen.
Guild
The first team to secure a Masters Copenhagen spot is a team making their first international VALORANT appearance, Guild. A relatively new organization in the grand scheme of esports, Guild’s VALORANT roster secured its spot in Copenhagen just one week before the organization’s second birthday.
The org first entered VALORANT with an all-Swedish roster but began 2022 with an infusion of international talent, including veteran Koldamenta. They went 4-1 in EMEA Stage Two group play, securing the coveted first seed, and a stunning 2-0 win over former Masters champions M3C locked in a Copenhagen spot for Guild.
Fnatic
Fnatic are well known on the international stage, having appeared at three different LANs over the past year or so, including a grand finals appearance at last year’s Masters Reykjavík. The team is looking to make up for an unfortunate showing at this year’s Reykjavík, where they were eliminated in the group stage while missing two of their starters.
After Reykjavík, the team added two new starters in Enzo (who subbed in during Masters) and Alfajer, and Fnatic haven’t lost a series since. They went 5-0 in EMEA Stage Two groups led by dominant play by Derke and Aljajer and capped off that run with a playoff win over FPX. Boaster will surely have some on-stage shenanigans planned for Copenhagen.
FunPlus Phoenix
The third and final EMEA team to reach Masters Copenhagen is FPX, who now have a chance at redemption after being forced to miss Masters Reykjavík. FPX won EMEA Stage One in dominant fashion, but travel restrictions in Ukraine and Russia, where most of the FPX players hail from, made it so the team could not attend Reykjavík.
FPX brought the whole roster back for Stage Two, and after an opening week loss to Fnatic, the team bounced back with three straight wins to effectively lock in their spot in the playoffs. Suygetsu was the team’s statistical leader during the group stage and he earned Player of the Match honors in their Masters qualifying win against Masters Berlin champions M3C.
OpTic
The reigning champions of Masters Reykjavík are back, and are showing no signs of slowing down. Since the Envy roster switched their branding to OpTic, they’ve been red hot, losing only six total series during both 2022 VCT stages.
In Stage Two, OpTic reasserted their dominance rapidly, jumping out to a 3-0 group stage record with wins over Sentinels, C9, and FaZe. They stumbled in a group stage match versus Evil Geniuses, but got their revenge in playoffs, then rallied to win a gutsy Masters qualifying match against XSET, even with both FNS and crashies suffering from COVID.
XSET
The “fourth place curse” is no more. XSET have been labeled the gatekeeper of NA VALORANT for well over a year: good enough to not get upset by the teams beneath them, but not good enough to break into the top group of teams that go to international events. After their most complete Stage yet, they’ve finally booked their first international ticket.
They finished first at the conclusion of the group stage during Stage Two with a 4-1 record, and broke the fourth place barrier with a win over 100 Thieves in the upper bracket. A loss against OpTic pitted them in a do-or-die Masters qualifying match against FaZe, where Cryocells delivered a masterful performance to secure a win, and a Masters spot, for XSET.
Paper Rex
Paper Rex, a dominant force out of Southeast Asia, put everyone on notice in Reykjavík with two stunning 2-0 victories over The Guard and G2. Those wins have evidently bolstered their confidence.
Since Reykjavík, Paper Rex have won 15 of their last 16 series throughout the Malaysia/Singapore Challengers Stage and the greater APAC Challengers Stage. That one loss was a 1-2 defeat to LaZe, but they ended up getting the ultimate revenge in the Malaysia/Singapore grand finals, sweeping them via a 3-0. The duo of Jinggg and f0rsakeN have been unstoppable, each ranking in the top five in ACS in APAC Challengers.
XERXIA
After splitting the series with eventual champions OpTic at Masters Reykjavk, the Thai roster of XERXIA are back in their second straight Masters event. During the APAC Stage Two challengers event, XERXIA and Paper Rex looked like the clear number one and two, but XERXIA’s plans were derailed early by a playoff round one loss to Team Secret.
That gave XERXIA an avenue to accomplish an extraordinary feat; winning four straight elimination series in the lower bracket of playoffs to secure their Masters spot, capped off with a revenge victory over Secret.
DRX
The kings of Korea won’t be relinquishing their throne any time soon. DRX looked like a serious contender to take home the trophy at Masters Reykjavík, but those hopes slipped away in playoffs after consecutive close losses to OpTic and ZETA.
Upon returning to Korea, they didn’t just return to their old dominant ways, they actually stepped it up another level. In all of Stage One, they only lost one series and three total maps, but in Stage Two, they notched a flawless 23-0 map record between group stage and playoffs.
Northeption
In back-to-back events at the end of 2021, Northeption tragically finished one spot shy of reaching an international event: first in the VCT Japan Stage Three playoffs, then in the APAC Last Chance Qualifier. But after a slow start in Stage One, Northeption finally had their one shining moment to end Stage Two, on their biggest stage yet.
After earning a playoff spot in week one, Northeption played ZETA in the winner’s finals, fresh off the latter’s magical 3rd place run at Masters Reykjavik. While ZETA handily won that first battle, the two met again in the grand finals in front of a sold-out crowd at the Saitama Super Arena, and Northeption got their revenge thanks to a narrow win on Icebox and decisive wins on both Fracture and Ascent.
LOUD
After coming just short of a trophy at Masters Reykjavk, 2022’s Brazilian superteam project in LOUD is back for another chance at hardware. Much like DRX did in Korea, LOUD took their Masters frustrations out on their domestic competition in Stage Two.
LOUD posted a flawless 16-0 map record throughout all of Stage Two. Many of those victories were decisive as well; in group stage, they notched a ridiculous +64 round differential. They 3-0’d NiP twice in playoffs, only letting the Ninjas reach double-digit rounds once in six maps.
Leviatán
To the surprise of almost no one who’s been watching Latin American VALORANT, the finals of the LATAM Challengers Playoffs came down to another battle between Leviatán and KRÜ. This time, Leviatán got the better of the Champions 2021 semifinalists, sweeping KRÜ in surprisingly decisive fashion.
Heading into the LATAM final, KRÜ had not lost a single series through all of Stage Two, only dropping a single map to Leviatán when the teams met in group stage. Leviatán had fallen to KRÜ twice this stage already and suffered an upset loss to FUSION to start the LATAM playoffs. But they rallied through the lower bracket and stunned KRÜ in the final in a dominant 3-0 in front of a raucous crowd.
KRÜ Esports
KRÜ would not be denied the final spot at Masters Copenhagen, claiming their place with a dominant victory over Ninjas in Pyjamas in the LATAM vs. Brazil Playoff.
KRÜ fell just short of qualifying via the LATAM Playoffs, forcing them into a do-or-die series against NiP. But the darlings of VCT Champions 2021 made quick work of the Ninjas from Brazil, taking the best-of-five series in a three-map sweep. Keznit had a monster performance between Jett, Raze, and KAY/O, posting 75 kills over three maps against only 41 deaths and averaging 23 assists.
