Since the long-awaited arrival of partnered VCT team skins in the VALORANT store, pro players have gone to great lengths to promote their team’s bundles, especially now before the start of Masters Madrid.
Heading into the opening set of matches at the first international VALORANT tournament of the year, two opponents have agreed to a friendly wager that will guarantee at least one more bundle purchase.
Team Heretics’ Dominykas “MiniBoo” Lukaševičius called out overzealous Sentinels bundle salesman and recently made permanent starter Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro today on Twitter/X, challenging him to a bet. If Sentinels beat Team Heretics in the opening round of the Swiss stage, miniBoo will buy the Sentinels bundle. But if Team Heretics win, then Zellsis has to buy the Heretics bundle. Unsurprisingly, Zellsis agreed.
The VCT team bundles for all 30 partnered teams and the three Ascension teams from each region arrived less than a month ago, and the in-game items supporting partnered teams have already gotten tons of on-screen promotion during VCT streams. The players and content creators representing these teams have also gone above and beyond promoting them.
Sentinels earlier today announced a $20,000 contest for fans to submit their best VALORANT clips using the Sentinels Classic, with the clips to be judged by brand ambassador Tarik. Superstar celebrities like Lionel Messi and Shaquille O’Neal have even advertised the bundles (for KRU and NRG, respectively) on social media.
Several teams are already way ahead of their projected sales, too. Leo Faria, the global head of VALORANT esports, said during the VCT Americas Kickoff stream that some teams “have already beat their minimum guarantee for the entire year in two weeks.” Faria also said that Riot will release bundle sale rankings “very soon.”
