All news: VCT Valorant Masters

The history of Masters dates back to the very beginning of the VALORANT esports scene. With the release of VALORANT in 2020, Riot initially hatched plans for the development of esports in their shooter, which later turned into the VCT ecosystem.

The Masters Series Championships are an important component of every VALORANT competitive season, and are essentially similar to the Dota 2 Majors. The split competitive season (stages in VALORANT) ends with the Masters Series tournament, and the year ends with the main event, VALORANT Champions.

For participation in tournaments, teams receive VALORANT Champions points, which subsequently turn into tickets to the world championships - VALORANT Champions.

Riot's First Masters - Covid-19 Concern

In 2021, Riot introduced the VCT format for the first time and shed light on the Masters series championships for the first time. They were designed to become a kind of majors, summing up the split held by the teams.

In the debut year for competitive VALORANT, 3 Masters were supposed to take place. Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the first Masters championship was held in a modified format: instead of the general LAN tournament, regional VCT class championships were held with the subtitle Masters in 9 regions:

• VCT 2021: North America Stage 1 Masters
• VCT 2021: Turkey Stage 1 Masters
• VCT 2021: Stage 1 Europe Masters
• VCT 2021: Korea Stage 1 Masters
• VCT 2021: CIS Stage 1 Masters
• VCT 2021: Brazil Stage 1 Masters
• VCT 2021: Japan Stage 1 Masters
• VCT 2021: Latam Stage 1 Masters
• VCT 2021: Southeast Asia Stage 1 Masters

In all regions, 8 teams took part in the championships. The prize pool varied from $30,000 in Latin America to $150,000 in North America.

VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters – Reykjavik

In May 2021, the situation around the coronavirus pandemic was still tense. Tournament operators were having a hard time running events on European and US venues, but Riot decided to stick to the plan and host a full-fledged LAN tournament.

The venue for the first, full major was the capital of Iceland - Reykjavik. The tournament itself received a simple name - VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters - Reykjavik with a prize pool of 600,000.

Format of VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters – Reykjavik

• 10 participants (2 North America, 2 Europe + CIS + Turkey, 1 South Korea, 2 Brazil, 1 Latin America, 1 Japan, 1 Southeast Asia).
• Double-Elimination bracket, no group stage
• All matches bo3, final - bo5
• Breeze card banned

The location of the distribution of teams in the playoffs has become unique. Teams from North America and Europe received the best seed, and all because these regions had a high player base in VALORANT.

Participants of VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters – Reykjavik

• Sentinels
• version1
• Team Liquid
• Fnatic
• NUTURN Gaming
• Team Vikings
• Sharks Esports
• KRU Esports
• Crazy Raccoon
• X10 Esports

The winner of the first Masters was the Sentinels. The team received $200,000 for winning the tournament.

VCT 2021: Stage 3 Masters – Berlin

The final tournament of the Masters series in 2021 was the event in Berlin. VCT 2021: Stage 3 Masters - Berlin with a prize of $700,000 has already gathered 15 teams instead of 10 in Reykjavik. The approach to competition has also changed.

• Format of the VCT 2021: Stage 3 Masters - Berlin.
• 15 participants (4 Europe + Turkey + CIS, 2 North America, 1 Latin America, 2 Brazil, 2 South Korea, 2 Japan, 1 Southeast Asia).
• 4 groups (4 teams + 4 teams + 3 teams), in each group teams play round-robin with bo3 matches.
• Two teams from each group advanced to the playoffs.
• The playoffs were played in a single-elimination system with bo3 matches up to the grand final, the final was played in bo5.

Participants of VCT 2021: Stage 3 Masters – Berlin

• Gambit Esports
• Super Massive Blaze
• Acend
• G2 Esports
• Sentinels
• 100Thieves
• TeamEnvy
• KRU Esports
• Keyd Stars
• Havan Liberty
• Vision Strikers
• F4Q
• ZETA DIVISION
• Crazy Raccoon
• paper rex

The winners in Berlin were Gambit Esports. The final Masters was also remembered for the fact that the champion of the tournament received a direct invitation to VALORANT Champions 2021, which was not the case in Reykjavik.

VCT: Masters in 2022

In 2022, Riot continued to improve their esports system. There were no global changes, however, there were some differences between the upcoming season and the first.

The main one is the number of VCT: Masters held per year. In 2022, they were reduced to two, and the first and VCT: Masters 2022 returned to their native harbor - cold Reykjavik.

VCT 2022: Stage 1 Masters – Reykjavik

Iceland once again became the esports capital of VALORANT in the first split of 2022. The conditions of the first Masters in Reykjavik definitely liked Riot, and therefore they decided to return to proven ground again, with some changes.

Format of VCT 2022: Stage 1 Masters – Reykjavik

• 12 participants (North America 2, EMEA 3, South Korea 1, Japan 1, APAC 2 slots, South America 2 slots)
• The group stage was played according to the GSL format, with 4 teams in each group
• Group stage matches are played in bo3 format
• 2 teams from each group qualified for the playoffs
• The playoffs were played in the Double-Elimination format, 8 teams were divided into seeds: top and teams from the group stage
• All matches up to the small final were played in bo3, the small final and the grand final in bo5.

Participants of VCT 2022: Stage 1 Masters – Reykjavik

• G2 Esports
• The Guard
• paper rex
• LOUD
• Fnatic
• Team Liquid
• DRX
• OpTic Gaming
• XERXIA
• ZETA DIVISION
• KRU Esports
• NiP

FunPlus Phoenix could not get to the tournament due to the military invasion of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine. Riot went along with the European organization and gave them 200 VCT points.

The winner of the first Masters in 2022 was OpTic Gaming, who earned $200,000 and 750 VCT points.

VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters – Copenhagen

The final tournament of the Masters series in 2022 was VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters – Copenhagen. Again with minor changes.

Format of VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters – Copenhagen.

• 12 teams (North America 2, EMEA 3 slot, South Korea 1, Japan 1, APAC 2 slots, South America 2 slots).
• 8 bottom seed teams
• Each group of 4 teams, all matches are bo3
• The playoffs were played in the Double-Elimination format, 8 teams were divided into seeds: top and teams from the group stage
• All matches up to the small final were played in bo3, the small final and the grand final in bo5.

Participants of VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters – Copenhagen

• Fnatic
• XSET
• Paper Rox
• Leviathan
• FPX
• Guild Esports
• DRX
• OpTic Gaming
• XERXIA
• Northeption
• LOUD
• KRU Esports

The winners at the second and last Masters in 2022 were FunPlus Phoenix, who failed to make it to the first championship of the series. The team earned $200,000 and 1,000 VCT points for winning the tournament.

Prize tournaments of the Masters series

Being one of the most prestigious series, Masters tournaments offer participants a solid cash reward. A feature of the Masters is the volatility in terms of rewards: as of 2023, each tournament was different in terms of price pool, and not always in the direction of more.

• Masters Stage 1 - Europe ($150,000), CIS ($75,000), Turkey ($75,000), North America ($150,000), South Korea ($100,000), Japan ($45,000), Brazil ($45,000), Southeast Asia ($50,000), Latin America ($30,000)
• Masters - Reykjavik 2021 - $600,000
• Masters - Berlin 2021 - $700,000
• Masters - Reykjavik 2022 - $675,000
• Masters - Copenhagen 2022 - $650.00

Masters series tournaments with the transition to a franchise model

In 2023, competitive VALORANT will be structurally similar to League of Legends. The VCT ecosystem will move to a franchise model with an inherent change in the format of some tournaments.

In 2023, Riot plans to hold one Masters series championship. This is due to the fact that before that there will be a general event for all participants in partner leagues in Europe, North America and Asia - a total of 30 teams.

Masters 2023 will take place in June 2023 and the winner of the tournament will immediately receive a ticket to Champions 2023.