VALORANT Masters Madrid: All qualified teams

The VALORANT Champions Tour Kickoff tournaments have concluded across the four VCT international leagues, which means it’s almost time for the first global VCT event of 2024, Masters Madrid. Two teams from each region (Americas, EMEA, Pacific and China) have qualified to form an eight-team field for Masters Madrid, which starts March 14. A few of the qualified teams were a constant presence at international events in 2023. However, the majority of the field is made up of new teams and players who will be either making their global debuts or returning to the international stage for the first time in a while. Many of these teams have big passionate fan bases, which should make this tournament even more exciting. Here’s a primer on all eight teams qualified for VALORANT Masters Madrid.

Gen.G

Pacific

Photo credit: Riot Games

Gen.G are the surprise victors of the VCT Pacific Kickoff tournament. They beat DRX to qualify for Madrid and Paper Rex to claim the top seed for the region heading to Masters. This is the first international tournament that Gen.G have qualified for. After falling just short of qualifying for Masters and Champions last year, Gen.G completely revamped their roster in the offseason with only Kim "Meteor" Tae-o remaining on the squad. Kim "Lakia" Jong-min, Byeon "Munchkin" Sang-beom and Kim "t3xture" Na-ra have all bounced around among the top teams in the region, but Kim "Karon" Won-tae has been a revelation. This is his first time on a signed team and he was named MVP of the VCT Pacific Kickoff finals.

Fun fact: the last time the DRX (formerly Vision Strikers) core did not qualify for an international event was when Lakia and NUTURN Gaming beat them en route to qualifying for the very first international VALORANT tournament, Masters Reykjavík 2021.

Paper Rex

Pacific

Photo credit: Riot Games

Despite Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie being moved to a substitute role in order to complete his mandatory military service this year, Paper Rex are still one of the top teams in the Pacific region. Cahya "Monyet" Nugraha replaced him on the roster, and the team qualified for Masters Madrid by beating T1. The Champions runners-up did lose to Gen.G in the Pacific final, so they will head to Spain as the No. 2 seed from the region. After being so close to winning an international event last year, Paper Rex are looking to finally break through not only for their first global trophy but the first for the Pacific region.

Team Heretics

EMEA

Photo credit: Wojciech Wandzel / Riot Games

It’s been a while since Team Heretics have been this good. Team Heretics were the First Strike EMEA champions in 2020 and EMEA Masters runners-up in 2021, and now they have qualified for their first international LAN. Led by the the Boo brothers (Ričardas "Boo" Lukaševičius and Dominykas "MiniBoo" Lukaševičius) and former Fortnite pro Benjy "benjyfishy" Fish, Heretics beat NAVI 2-0 to qualify for Masters. With Masters being held in Madrid, this Spanish organization will surely be the beneficiary of massive crowd support at Masters.

Karmine Corp

EMEA

Photo credit: Wojciech Wandzel / Riot Games

Karmine Corp pulled off the biggest upset early this year when they beat Fantic, a superteam that won two of three international events last year and had only lost to LOUD and Team Liquid. KC beat Fnatic decisively 2-0 to qualify for Masters Madrid, the first international VALORANT tournament that this organization and most of the players have qualified for.

Martin "Magnum" Peňkov was formerly on Fnatic and played at Masters Reykjavík 2021 and 2022 and Champions 2021, but the other four players will be making their Masters debuts. Magnum is one of four newcomers to this team including Martin "marteen" Pátek, Tomás "tomaszy" Machado and Marshall "N4RRATE" Massey. Marteen and tomaszy were both playing in the EMEA Challengers leagues last year, while N4RRATE came to KC via the North American Challengers league. Frenchman Ryad "Shin" Ensaad is the only holdover from last year on the popular French organization. This young squad is coached by Andrey "Engh" Sholokhov, who led Gambit Esports to victory at Masters Berlin 2021. After beating Team Heretics in the EMEA final, they will head to Madrid as the region’s No. 1 seed.

EDward Gaming

China

Photo credit: Riot Games

EDG will once again represent China on the international stage. With a bye in the group stage, they won their lone group stage match against Wolves Esports and then beat Trace Esports to qualify for Masters Madrid. EDG didn’t make any changes in the offseason as they will look to improve upon their top six finishes at both Masters Tokyo and Champions last year. The player to watch on this team is Zheng "ZmjjKK" Yongkang. ZmjjKK (pronounced “KangKang”) is EDG’s star duelist and a showman onstage.

FunPlus Phoenix

China

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

FPX qualified for Masters after beating Dragon Ranger Gaming in the VCT China playoffs. FPX made a couple of roster changes in the offseason after a disappointing 0-2 performance at Champions 2023. FunPlus added former EDG and Attacking Soul Esports player Qu "Life" Donghao and Australian player Kale "autumn" Dunne. Autumn is the first player from Oceania to qualify for a VCT global tournament.

LOUD

North America

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

With their victory over Evil Geniuses in the VCT Americas Kickoff playoffs, LOUD qualified for their seventh consecutive international VCT event. With Matias “Saadhak” Delipetro at the helm, this Brazilian juggernaut has not missed a global LAN since their formation in 2022. This is far from the same team that first came together just over two years ago. LOUD made two changes last offseason, and Gabriel "qck" Lima joined the team this offseason in place of star duelist Erick "aspas" Santos and has given the team added flexibility as Saadhak continues to innovate with the team’s agent compositions. LOUD lost to Sentinels in the Americas Kickoff final, so they will head to Madrid as the Americas No. 2 seed, but they will be a formidable opponent and a favorite to win Masters.

Sentinels

North America

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Sentinels are back. The fan favorite organization that won the very first VALORANT global LAN, Masters Reykjavík 2021, has qualified for their first international event since Champions 2021. After losing their initial matchup to LOUD 2-0, the team went on an incredible run in the VCT Americas Kickoff tournament beating 100 Thieves and Leviatán and then winning the arduous play-in round robin to qualify for the playoffs. Sentinels beat the NRG superteam in the playoffs to qualify for Masters and then got revenge in a thrilling 3-2 victory over LOUD in the final.

Sentinels played way more than any other Americas team at Kickoff (21 maps and 429 rounds) but still came out on top despite showing off so much gameplay to other teams along the way. Tyson “TenZ” Ngo appears to be back in 2021 form and the leadership of Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro and Mouhamed Amine “johnqt” Ouarid appears to be having a major impact.

Lead photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff