The second major tournament of the year, Masters Toronto 2025, will bring viewers exciting matches. Twelve partner teams will compete for a large prize pool of $1,000,000 and points needed to qualify for the world championship. Below, we present our own ranking of the teams participating in the upcoming Masters so that our readers know who the underdogs are and who can be considered the main favorites to win before the event even begins.

C-Tier: Underdogs

Teams: Wolves Esports, XLG Esports

First on our list are the weakest teams, both from the Chinese region, which we believe will not perform well. Although they have qualified for the Masters, they look quite weak among all 12 participants, and their further progress in the tournament table is very doubtful. 

• Wolves Esports – A team that is considered fairly mediocre in its region and cannot compete with the strongest participants. Wolves had a very difficult time qualifying for the current tournament, and only because three slots were available in China Stage 1. Therefore, the team will not be able to compete with the strongest teams in the world.
• XLG Esports – Unlike Wolves, they are performing quite well, but only within their region. All matches against international teams have ended in defeat, which is not surprising. The fact is that XLG only started competing in the partner league in 2025, and it is precisely their lack of experience in competing against the world's strongest teams that makes them outsiders in the upcoming event.

B-tier: Strong competitors

Teams: BiliBili Gaming, Team Liquid, Rex Regum Qeon

The following list includes teams that are average in comparison to other participants. They do not usually take first place in their regions, but they can surprise unexpectedly. However, they cannot be predicted to achieve a high position in the tournament table.

• BiliBili Gaming is the last representative of the Chinese region, which is considered quite weak compared to others. Although BiliBili Gaming does not particularly stand out within the region, we believe that, unlike other participants, the team deserves a B tier due to its experience. The core of the team, which performed quite well at the 2024 World Championship, has remained intact, so BiliBili has every chance to prove itself.
• Team Liquid – Overall, it can be considered a fairly strong team from EMEA and could have been placed in Tier A, but the team will not be playing with a full roster. Key player nAts recently announced that he is having visa issues and will most likely miss the event. Because of this, it is likely that the “horses” will not be able to show their highest level of play.
• Rex Regum Qeon – An unexpected team that did not win a single tournament last season or at the beginning of this season and was considered an outsider, has now surprised everyone and become the winner of VCT 2025: Pacific Stage 1, thanks to which it advanced to the Masters. However, this achievement does not overshadow years of poor performance, and it is still too early to say with certainty that RRQ will continue to dominate.

A-tier: Strong contenders

Teams: MIBR, Paper Rex, Sentinels, Fnatic

In Tier A, we have placed teams that we believe are among the strongest not only in their region but also on the international stage. All participants on this list demonstrate a high level of play and can claim high final positions.

• MIBR – Once an underdog, MIBR now successfully competes for top spots in regional competitions. The team's star player and the strongest duelist in the world, aspas, together with two newcomers from the Challengers scene, have brought MIBR into the top 3 teams in the Americas region and led it to the Masters, where it has a good chance of making the playoffs.
• Paper Rex – Although the team is considered one of the strongest in the Pacific region, it sometimes has problems with stability. The team can successfully dominate one tournament, and then two months later be eliminated from the next one in last place, as was the case in 2024.
• Sentinels – After saying goodbye to TenZ and Sacy, the Sentinels era did not end, as many predicted. Yes, the team failed in the first Masters, but now the players are in very good form.
• Fnatic – One of the strongest teams in the region, which could easily have been in the S-tier if not for its failure at VCT 2025: EMEA Kickoff, where it finished in 5th-6th place. Although the team redeemed itself afterwards and won the second stage of the qualifiers, there is still a risk that the “orange” team will lose its stable form.

S-tier: Elite

Teams: G2 Esports, Team Heretics, Gen.G Esports

In the last list, we have included the teams that we believe are currently the strongest in the world. They have every chance not only to take high places, but also to become champions of the second Masters this year.

• G2 Esports – In our opinion, G2 is currently not only the strongest team in America, but also in the world as a whole. Since the beginning of the year, the team has won both regional tournaments, Kickoff and Stage 1, and also took 2nd place at Masters Bangkok 2025. G2's level of play is impressive, considering that since 2023, only one new player has joined the team, who has fit in perfectly with the favorites.
• Team Heretics – Silver medalists in most tournaments in 2024, Team Heretics have continued to set the bar high since the start of the patch season. We do not believe that defeats to Fnatic and Liquid will affect the team's fighting spirit, quite the contrary. They will have many chances to get even in the upcoming tournament.
• Gen.G Esports – Gen.G remains one of the strongest teams in the Pacific region. The reason we placed them in the S-tier is that their main rivals, DRX and T1, are not participating in the current Masters. Therefore, the team has every chance of becoming the winner.

Masters Toronto 2025 will take place from June 7 to 22 in LAN format in Toronto at the Enercare Centre. Twelve partner teams from the four VCT competitive regions will compete for a huge prize pool of $1,000,000, as well as VCT Points, which are necessary to qualify for the world championship.