In just two days, the highly anticipated Valorant tournament, VCT 2024: Masters Madrid, will kick off, awaited by many fans. It marks the first international tournament of the 2024 season, where the top eight teams will compete for a prize pool of $500,000 and the title of champions. This time, developers will treat us not only to an exciting show but also to various gifts and a new 25th agent, who will be introduced during the finals.
If you've been closely following the Valorant esports scene, the teams we're about to discuss today will be familiar to you, thanks to their significant contributions to the competitive scene's development.
Tier list of teams at Masters Madrid
Gen.G
This well-known esports organization excels in other disciplines, but their history in Valorant shows a team that has struggled to make it to international competitions. For Gen.G, qualifying for Masters is a significant achievement, as in the past, they only managed to qualify for tournaments of this level in 2021. Despite questionable performances in the 2023 season, the organizers decided to stick with the same roster, making no significant changes. The current lineup performed decently at Convergence 2023, securing fourth place, and their victory at VCT 2024: Pacific Kickoff shook the entire Japanese region.
Paper Rex
These players from the Pacific region are on a completely different level. Finalists of the 2023 championship, winners of last year's VCT 2023: Pacific League, and let's not forget their third-place finish at VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo. Just these three tournaments secured the players a sum of $625,000. For several years now, Paper Rex has been delighting their fans with high performances, all thanks to the core roster led by Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto. Besides him, the club has two other dark horses who, together with the captain, have been achieving success for the organization on both regional and international stages since 2021.
The second pair to qualify for the international competition, Masters Madrid, were Team Heretics and Karmine Corp, securing the top two spots in the EMEA region.
Team Heretics
A big surprise for all fans in the EMEA region was Team Heretics making it to the international stage. Like many other participants in Masters Madrid, it will be a serious challenge for the European club. In the 2023 season, the organization completely revamped its roster, retaining only one player, the current roster leader Ričardas "Boo" Lukaševičius. Initially, these changes didn't offer much hope, but their second-place finish at VCT 2024: EMEA Kickoff tells us that this decision was the right one.
Karmine Corp
Another phenomenon from the EMEA region is Karmine Corp, who defeated the main favorites of both the regional and international scenes, Fnatic, earning themselves a slot at Masters Madrid. Despite the organization's recent entry into the Valorant discipline, the club has shown that even with a lack of experience, they have all the chances to succeed on the world stage. Before the start of the season, the team signed a trio of relatively unknown athletes, who, under the guidance of Martin "Magnum" Peňkov, defeated one of the strongest Valorant clubs. Whether they can deliver a worthy performance at Masters remains to be seen.
On the still young professional scene of the Chinese region, FunPlus Phoenix and EDward Gaming emerged victorious, both of which had previously competed in other regions.
FunPlus Phoenix
In 2022, FunPlus Phoenix dominated the EMEA region, winning all stages of VCT 2022: EMEA Stage 1 Challengers, then proceeded to Masters 2022, where they claimed another victory, this time on the international stage. After Valorant official launch in the Chinese region, the "Phoenixes" returned home, where they faced a less than bright future. Thanks to two victories at the FGC Valorant Invitational 2023 Act 1 and Act 2, the team qualified for the 2023 World Championship, albeit with difficulty, and managed to compete in the main event of the year for the second time in a row. However, they only managed to secure 13th place.
EDward Gaming
In the Chinese region, EDward Gaming dominated throughout the 2023 season, although they faced challenges when competing on the world stage. Despite this, the club can boast sixth place finishes at VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo and Champions 2023. The team has a very stable roster, with which the organization has been cooperating for several years. Considering the absence of changes in both the playing and coaching staff, it suggests that we shouldn't expect anything new from the Chinese collective.
And the last teams to qualify for Masters Madrid were representatives from the American region, the beloved LOUD and Sentinels.
LOUD
Although the Brazilian team lost their key player, Erick "aspas" Santos, it didn't stop them from securing second place at VCT 2024: Americas Kickoff and qualifying for the international competition. The club has been participating in Masters for three years in a row, but each time they end up at the bottom of the tournament standings. Under the guidance of one of the most experienced IGLs in the Valorant world, Matias "Saadhak" Delipetro, LOUD won first place at the 2022 championship and third place in 2023. After losing their "emerald," the club was forced to find a replacement.
Sentinels
And last in our review are the Sentinels, who defeated LOUD in the Kickoff finals, securing their spot at Masters Madrid and three championship points. Another unstable team that has experienced both highs and lows. In early 2023, the club didn't achieve any significant results. But after reshuffling, the team managed to secure several important victories. One of them was the AfreecaTV VALORANT LEAGUE tournament, which featured representatives from various regions.
In just two days, we will see all of the aforementioned teams in the first international competition of the 2024 Masters Madrid, which will take place over ten days, where the top eight teams from each region will compete for a prize pool of $500,000 and the championship title.
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