After three extensive double-elimination brackets that made up the Challenger events, the field of teams for Masters One has been set. Eight teams will compete in the finale of phase one of the VALORANT Champions Tour.
Four teams already qualified for Masters via a top-four finish at the second Challengers weekend, and now four more have joined after Challengers Three.
Masters will follow a similar format to all the Challengers events; a double-elimination bracket with all best-of-three matches, except for the best-of-five grand finals. The team that advances to the grand finals via the winners bracket by going 3-0 will earn a one-map advantage to start the final series.
Let’s take a look at each of the eight teams that have qualified.
Team Envy
The champions of Challengers Two, Envy have hung around the conversation of NA’s best team for months now. Finally they became the focus of those talks with a dominant 3-0 showing against Sentinels in the Challengers Two final. Coming up on the half-year anniversary of this lineup in its current form, Envy are playing some of their best VALORANT as of yet.
Sentinels
Sentinels‘ most recent performance may have been a smackdown at the hands of Envy, but they’ve been firing on all cylinders regardless. Their only losses across Challengers One and Two have been an opening loss to Luminosity and their last loss to Envy, and they avenged that loss to LG later in that tournament. They’re still widely considered NA’s best team, and a bruised ego from Challengers Two could mean they take it out on the field at Masters.
Immortals
Alongside Sentinels and XSET, Immortals finished in the top four of both Challengers One and Challengers Two. After adding Nicholas “NaturE” Garrison and Rhett “Kehmicals” Lynch just before Challengers, Immortals spoke to Dot about how hopeful they were. The two young players are actualizing their potential early, and it’s brought out the best of the entire roster. The next big hurdle for them will be getting past teams like Envy and Sentinels.
XSET
XSET is in a similar situation to Immortals, as a team not as established as the other top teams but riding a wave of momentum after a new addition. XSET added Brendan “BcJ” Jensen, a former Apex Legends player, just prior to Challengers, and he’s been a contributor on Sova and Omen. How XSET differs from other teams is their players’ backgrounds, with experience in Apex, Overwatch, Crossfire, and other titles instead of primarily CS:GO. A steeper learning curve hasn’t slowed them down however, but like Immortals, look to prove themselves against the very best.
Luminosity Gaming
Luminosity were the first team out of the Challengers Three field to punch their ticket to Masters. LG stumbled at Challengers Two, their first after officially signing moose and YaBoiDre, but recovered with two solid 2-0 wins at Challengers Three. They stomped out the Kooky Koalas before their Cinderella run even started. Then they delivered a shocking 2-0 upset over TSM on the shoulders of YaBoiDre.
FaZe Clan
FaZe have been through a lot to get here. They had to play through the open qualifier for Challengers Two, only to get smoked by Sentinels and XSET. But at Challengers Three, they defeated a surging T1 to set up a qualification match with NRG. The two teams stole each other’s map picks to set up a pivotal third map on Ascent, where a godly performance from babybay on Jett was the difference maker. They faced Luminosity in the upper bracket final of Challengers Three and join them in Masters.
100 Thieves
100T went from First Strike champions to missing Challengers One to falling short at Challengers Two to qualifying for Masters. It’s been quite a ride for 100T, who missed nitr0 during their first qualifier then brought in a completely new player in Ethan for their third and final chance. They looked like they were in trouble after losing their first series to NRG, but recovered against T1 to force a deciding series against TSM. In that series, 100T looked the most dominant they’ve looked all year, shutting down TSM and wrapping it up with a classic Hiko clutch.
Gen.G
Gen.G booked themselves the final ticket to Masters. Despite some heroic playmaking and dominant results in the qualifiers, Gen.G struggled in the main event for both Challengers One and Two. It seemed like they’d falter again, falling to TSM to open Challengers Three. But patience finally paid off, as they rallied to win over Kooky Koalas then NRG Esports. Both map wins against NRG were hard fought, but it was duelist duo Shawn and huynh who led the way.
