VALORANT esports is closing in on its first major event of 2021. Over the course of last weekend, most regions' final Challengers tournament concluded, locking in the final four teams for their respective VCT Masters 1 competition.
In Europe, major upsets set the tone. Fan favourite esports organisations such as G2 Esports and Fnatic were knocked out on the very last moment, eliminating them from overall competition. The European teams that grabbed the final ticket to Masters 1 are Guild Esports, DfuseTeam, Ballista Esports, and Raise Your Edge. Over in North America, FaZe Clan, 100 Thieves, Luminosity Gaming, and Gen.G Esports found their way to the main event.
The Brazilian teams prevailing over everyone else were Imperial Esports, Squad5, paiN Gaming, and Slick. South Korea filled its final Masters spots with APEX PEOPLE, DAMWON Gaming, TNL Esports, and F4Q, while Cyber Skull Esports, Rare Esports, Futbolist, and Zero Zone advanced in Turkey. Finally, in the CIS region it were tyeasy, GMT Esports, forZe, and Team Singularity that came out on top, and in Japan REJECT, FENNEL, Lag Gaming, and Blue Bees left the rest of the competition behind them.
Both Latin American competitions (LatAm North and LatAmSouth) had their Challengers 3 winners locked in already, with those qualifiers ending on February 28th. Only the Hong Kong & Taiwan region still has to find its final competitors for their Masters 1 event, and will hand out its final slots on the 14th of March.
The first-ever offline international tournament for VALORANT has been announced by Riot Games. From May 24 until May 30, ten teams will fight for the trophy in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, all the VCT Stage 1 Masters tournaments will be played locally, without cross-region competition. Riot Games recently revealed that the VCT Stage 2 Masters will be played in a LAN setting in Reykjavik, Iceland.
