VALORANT Stage 1 Masters NA: Who Are The Favorites?

The conclusion of VALORANT’s Stage 1 is just ahead of us. At Masters, the eight best North American teams will brawl for the coveted trophy. But which teams have the biggest chances of getting through to the top?

At Challengers 2, teamd first got the opportunity to secure tickets for the Masters event. Back then, Team Envy, Sentinels, Immortals, and XSET managed to qualify. The likes of TSM, T1, and Cloud9 failed to even make Challengers entirely.

THE WINNERS OF CHALLENGERS 2

With a 3-0 in the Grand Finals, Envy proved that they belong to the top brass in North America. Sentinels barely managed to keep up, but their placement nonetheless qualified them for Masters. The same holds true for Immortals and XSET, who had to leave the tournament in the Lower Bracket, but still as a part of the Top 4. So does this mean that Envy are now the favorites for the event?

This question does not have an easy answer. After all, the team hasn’t achieved anything else in the first two months of 2021. At the NSG Winter Championship, they bombed out in the Quarter Finals versus Sentinels already. At Challengers 1, they failed to make Top 4. This inconsistency is a major struggle for them, but the rest of the playing field doesn’t have it any better.

Sentinels lost the Grand Finals of the NSG Winter Championship to Luminosity. Afterwards, they won Challengers 1 over Immortals, just to lose against Envy in Challengers 2. So they are just as shaky as their big rivals.

WHO WILL WIN THE OPENING MATCHES?

Sentinels will meet up with Luminosity again. Since the NSG Winter Championship took place, a lot has changed. ShahZaM and his men will surely not suffer another loss to Luminosity and will try to get into the Upper Bracket Semis as fast as possible.

Even though Immortals managed to secure their Masters spot much earlier than 100 Thieves, they still haven’t had to face Ethan “Ethan” Arnold. The CS:GO pro player suddenly announced his move to VALORANT and swiftly signed for the Thieves. Challengers 3 was an almost flawless experience, except for the Grand Finals defeat at the hands of FaZe Clan. FaZe were much too strong and Andrej “babybay” Francisty mounted a phenomenal 1.75 rating. Ethan barely scraped together a 0.97 rating, even though that’s probably down to Challengers 3 having been his first pro tournament in VALORANT.

In FaZe Clan, XSET have an almost insurmountable task ahead of themselves. The team barely managed to reach Top 4 in Challengers 2, and now they have to face the definitive winners of Challengers 3. Zander “thwifo” Kim and his troops won’t stand a chance against babybay and the rest of FaZe, who put up an overwhelming performance just days ago. In contrast to that, Team Envy should have a much better time going up against Gen.G. Even though Kenneth “koosta” Suen and his colleagues shouldn’t be discarded that easily, a strong Envy should be able to dispatch them anyways.

THE EVENT’S TOP FAVORITES

Sentinels, Team Envy, and 100 Thieves make up the pinnacle of North American VALORANT right now. While FaZe did showcase their massive potential at Challengers 3, that one victory hardly justifies putting them into the same tier as the likes of Envy. The large Double Elimination bracket offers teams some room for mistakes. It will allow for teams like XSET to lose their Opening Matches and still aim for a higher placement in the VALORANT Champions Tour Masters event.