Caleb Wolfe
Sports Editor
As the VALORANT Masters Tournament has wagered onward, more and more teams have fallen by the wayside. The North American region showcased 47 different teams when the tournament began, but now only four teams remain: Sentinels, Cloud9 Blue, Team Envy, and Version1.
Three of these teams make up the current top four in the North American rankings (Sentinels being ranked number one, Team Envy being ranked number three, and Cloud9 Blue being ranked number four) per Liquipedia. Therefore it’s unsurprising that these teams qualified for the final four of the tournament.
The significant outlier is Version1. Their organization is currently ranked number sixteen in North America per Liquipedia, yet they have managed to shock viewers, analysts, and opposing teams with their success. Additionally, Version1 have beaten several teams who are ranked notably higher than them to get to this stage in the tournament, which makes their Cinderella story all the more impressive.
As stated prior, some insanely skilled organizations have fallen to Version1. A few of those teams eliminated from the tournament by Version1 include: the number six ranked team FaZe Clan, the number ten ranked team XSET, the number eleven ranked team Andbox, the number twelve ranked team NRG, and the number thirteen ranked team Renegades.
However, only two of the four remaining teams will advance from the regional stage of the tournament. As it stands, Sentinels and Cloud9 Blue sit in the winners bracket of the tournament, therefore the winner of that match-up will qualify. Meanwhile, Version1 and Team Envy sit in the losers bracket, so the loser of the match-up will be knocked out of the tournament. Afterwards, the loser from the winners bracket, and the winner from the losers bracket, will face off for the final qualifying spot.
Those two qualifying teams will have the privileged of flying to Reykjavík, Iceland for their seat in the VALORANT Masters Finals. More importantly, they will compete against teams from across the globe for a prize pool of well over six figures. That final stage of the tournament is scheduled to begin on May 24th, so fans of the game can mark their calendars accordingly.
