The upcoming closed qualifier of the VALORANT Champions Tour gives teams the opportunity to qualify for VALORANT’s first Masters. Who will make the cut?
With the end of the 2nd open qualifier, the race among the current best performing VALORANT teams for the 4 open Masters spots begins. The double elimination tournament will begin on February 20th and close out on the 23rd with the grand finals. This is not the last chance for teams to qualify for the Masters however, but landing in the top four will certainly help their seeding in the future tournament and give them more time to practice. While there are some notable absences from this event, here’s our take on the teams attending.
Can Xset and Luminosity Maintain Momentum?
The two odd ones out in this bracket are by far Xset and Luminosity Gaming, seeing as these tier 2 and 3 organizations failed to qualify for First Strike and have never been among the top contenders in the scene. Xset made a name for themselves by knocking down First Strike finalists TSM but have been on an upward trajectory for a while now. Winning the NSG x Complexity invitational and falling on to Immortals and Sentinels since, Xset have the potential to be an underdog threat.
BcJ and PureR were the best performers on the team during the Open Qualifiers and are definitely the players to watch on this team. Especially BcJ exceeded expectations as he heralded a 1.13 K/D, 152 ADR, and a .78 KPR. Xset have executed fairly well on some of the rarer compositions like triple smokers, however they have never played on Ice Box in a professional game and had a 0% win rate on Split which teams could take advantage of.
Luminosity had decent runs before, but this is by far LG’s most important tournament since entering the scene. Aproto has been key in the roster’s previous success as the team’s best rifle and entry fragger. LG has seen the most success with Reina included in their double duelist composition and with Reina nerfs coming with the most recent patch, it may drastically change the team’s playstyle.
The First Strike Champions are Coming in Hot
100 Thieves seem to be back in winning form as they were the best performing team in the 2nd open qualifier with Nitr0 making his way back on the roster. The former champions did not drop a single game and averaged only 5 round losses per match. Asuna’s performance was remarkable as he was the tournament’s best player with a 1.64 overall rating, 57 multi-kills, 1.72 K/D, and 44 first bloods. Asuna is one of VALORANT’s most promising stars and tends to be the playmaker of 100 Thieves.
Starting off against Luminosity Gaming, 100 Thieves hopes to crush any hopes of an upset with a statement opener. With this team’s winning record, they are entering as one of the tournament favorites and very likely will take one of the four open Masters qualification spots.
Will Sentinels Rebound?
When Sentinels reach their highs we’ve seen that they can be incredibly dominant and though they lost out sooner than expected at First Strike, Sentinels convincingly were the first team to make it to the closed qualifiers. Sentinels largely owned the early VALORANT scene before TSM and 100 Thieves came looking for the throne and are looking to rekindle the performance that made them one of the best teams in the scene.
Despite players like Asuna dominating much of the current VALORANT discourse, Sentinels still has some of North America’s best players. In their open qualifier, former Overwatch champion Sinatraa averaged a 255 average combat score with 68 multi-kills and a 1.14 K/D. IGL and primary Operator for the roster, ShahZaM, is looking to cement himself once again as one of the best clutch players. Ultimately, Sentinels have had time to prepare and practice and going into this tournament they seem destined to meet with 100 Thieves in the finals once more.
FaZe, Gen.G, and Immortals
These teams have often been in the scene’s periphery, always having great one-off performances but never making it to a final. All three of these are looking for a breakout performance in the closed qualifiers to put their name in the mix for the best team in NA. They have great individual performers, however they all need to improve their team cohesion if they want to make the jump to Masters.
Immortals has been an incredibly consistent team and ShoT UP is quietly one of the best carry players in the scene. Gen.G have certainly upped their play and finally beat out TSM for the first time in a best-of series. Unfortunately, FaZe finds themselves across from 100 Thieves in the first series and will likely have to battle through the loser’s bracket after their first series. Ultimately, I project Gen.G and Immortals to take 2 out of the four qualifying spots.
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