VALORANT Masters Tokyo: All qualified teams

May 26, 2023

by Brian Bencomo

The first and only VALORANT Masters tournament of the year is set to take place June 11-26 in Tokyo with 12 of the best teams in the world competing. Three teams from each of the new VALORANT Champions Tour international leagues -- VCT EMEA, VCT Americas and VCT Pacific -- will qualify, as well as two teams from China and one more from EMEA because Fnatic won VCT LOCK//IN earlier this year.

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Many of these teams will be familiar to fans who have watched previous VALORANT Masters events, but there are a couple of surprises among the field and several players competing at VALORANT Masters for the first time. To get you ready for the next global VALORANT tournament, here’s a primer on the qualified teams.

Paper Rex

Pacific

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Despite looking like they were on a decline after crashing out of VCT LOCK//IN and starting off 2-2 in the VCT Pacific league, Paper Rex have appeared stronger of late and will head to Tokyo with a lot of momentum. Paper Rex beat DRX in the upper bracket final of the Pacific playoffs, which was their first ever victory over the Korean kings. Paper Rex have been a lot better since adding Ilya “something” Petrov ahead of Week 3 of the Pacific league. He had the best K/D, second-best rating and was fourth in ACS during the regular season.

DRX

Pacific

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Their consistency is remarkable. This team has qualified for almost every single international VCT tournament dating back to the days when they were known as Vision Strikers in 2021. Despite not winning any of these Masters and Champions tournaments, they almost always do exceptionally well. They’re coming off their two best results internationally -- third at Champions 2022 and top four at VCT LOCK//IN. They were first in VCT Pacific this spring as would be expected but stumbled in the playoffs as they lost to Paper Rex in the upper bracket final.

T1

Pacific

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

T1 never fielded a very competitive team in NA and never qualified for any Masters or Champions tournaments despite being an early champion of the scene. With T1 moving their VALORANT operations to Korea for 2023, the org put together a roster that was good enough to finally qualify for an international event. T1’s Korean roster actually has some North American flair as Son “xeta” Seon-ho, Ha “Sayaplayer” Jeong-woo and Joseph “ban” Seungmin Oh all competed in North America the past couple years. They also scooped up former Overwatch player Lee “Carpe” Jae-hyeok who decided to compete in VALORANT this year. T1 finished third in the VCT Pacific regular season and were the third team from the region to qualify for Masters.

Fnatic

EMEA

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Fnatic have been unbeatable this year. After going 5-0 to win VCT LOCK//IN, they went 9-0 during the VCT EMEA regular season and only dropped one map. Fnatic were the only team in any of the international leagues to go undefeated in their respective league’s regular season. The top fives in K/D, ACS and rating in the EMEA league are pretty much all Fnatic players. Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov, Emir "Alfajer" Beder, Leo "Leo" Jannesson and Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev are all among the top five in rating and K/D. Derke, Chronicle and Alfaer are top five in ACS. Jake “Boaster” Howlett is nowhere to be found in the top fives, but he’s the in-game leader and has been doing a fantastic job as usual of cooking up great gameplans alongside head coach Jacob "mini" Harris. Fnatic have truly been a superteam so far this year. There’s no question they are the favorites to win Masters Tokyo. If they do so, they would be the first team to win two international events in VCT history.

Team Liquid

EMEA

Photo credit: Hara Amoros / Riot Games

Team Liquid are peaking at the right moment as they have overcome a slow start to 2023 to look like one of the best EMEA teams not named Fnatic. Liquid infamously lost to Team Secret at LOCK//IN and then Team Vitality in their opening VCT EMEA matchup. Since then, Liquid have only lost to Fnatic and NAVI, but then beat NAVI in the EMEA playoffs. The team is finally delivering on the promise of an impressive roster consisting of two former Masters champions from Gambit Esports in Igor “Redgar” Vlasov and Ayaz “naTs” Akhmetshin and former Guild player Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel joining Team Liquid veterans Dom “soulcas” Sulcas and Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen.

FUT Esports

EMEA

Photo credit: Hara Amoros / Riot Games

It’s fitting FUT Esports beat Team Vitality to qualify for Masters as FUT also beat Vitality in the VRL Finals last year. It was the same exact result last year too as FUT were the champions of EMEA’s Tier 2 scene. FUT decided to largely keep the same roster except for the addition of Ata “AtaKaptan” Tan, and the org was rewarded for its patience in the roster. They went 5-4 during the VCE EMEA regular season, and despite losing to Fnatic in the playoffs, they became only the second team to take a map from them in league play this year. No Turkish teams qualified for Masters or Champions last year, but FUT have ensured that Turkish fans will have a team to root for in Tokyo.

Natus Vincere

EMEA

Photo credit: Hara Amoros / Riot Games

Everyone knew this team, which consists of four former FPX players and former Acend star Mehmet “cNed” Yağız İpek, would be among the top teams in EMEA this year. NAVI were top four at LOCK//IN and finished second during the VCT EMEA regular season. A loss to Team Liquid in the EMEA playoffs casts some doubt on whether this team is the second best EMEA team after Fnatic. Regardless, Kyrylo “ANGE1” Karasov & Co. will be a force to be reckoned with in Tokyo. Their consistent excellence makes NAVI a definite threat to win the tournament.

LOUD

Americas

Photo credit: Robert Paul / Riot Games

LOUD have only lost this year to Fnatic in the LOCK//IN final and NRG during the VCT Americas regular season. LOUD haven’t looked as dominant as they were last year, but they have always gotten the job done when they needed to. Even when they’ve lost maps to teams, they have come roaring back -- like when they lost a map to Evil Geniuses but then finished the series with a 13-0 map win. Erick “aspas” Santos has been arguably the best player in the Americas as he led the league in rating and K/D and was second in ACS during the regular season.

Evil Geniuses

Americas

Photo credit: Stefan Wisnoski / Riot Games

There’s always that one team that nobody expected to qualify for a major tournament, and at Masters Tokyo that would be Evil Geniuses. They went from a 1-4 start to getting a little lucky to make the VCT Americas playoffs to just absolutely dominating in their two playoff wins over NRG and Cloud9 to qualify. One of the biggest reasons for their rapid ascent has been the play of their star duelist Max “Demon1” Mazanov. In a heartbreaking turn of events though, he will be unable to travel with the team to Japan because of a lack of a passport. EG will still be underdogs in Tokyo, but with the type of confidence this team is playing with, don’t be surprised if they pull off some upsets.

NRG

Americas

Photo credit: Marv Watson / Riot Games

NRG had a slow start in the VCT Americas league as they experimented with different compositions and strategies, but they ultimately became the third and final Americas team to qualify for Masters after beating the regular season darlings, Cloud9. They were the only team that beat LOUD during the regular season. Of course, with the old OpTic core of Pujan “FNS” Mehta, Austin “crashies” Roberts and Victor “Victor” Wong, was there ever a doubt this team would make it? They have a penchant for winning rematches and always seem to rise to the occasion. The trio alongside coach Chet “chet” Singh have competed in every global VCT event since Masters Berlin in summer 2021.

Attacking Soul Esports

China

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Attacking Soul Esports will be making their international debut at Masters Tokyo as the champions of China’s FGC Act 1 tournament. They beat EDward Gaming to win FGC Act 1 and have been the only team to beat EDG in regional competition this year. Their roster is probably best known outside of China right now for Zhang "hfmi0dzjc9z7" Juncheng, whose unpronounceable gamertag is sure to give casters trouble. Qu "Life" Donghao, however, is the player to watch on this team as he’s ASE’s star duelist. The former EDG player joined ASE in November and was top five in ACS, rating and K/D during FGC Act 1 while playing Jett and Raze.

EDward Gaming

China

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Despite China’s relative isolation from other regions, VALORANT fans are likely familiar with EDward Gaming as they enter their third international event following Champions last year and LOCK//IN earlier this year. EDG went winless at both tournaments but have shown promise as they nearly beat 100 Thieves at LOCK//IN. EDG have been the best Chinese team at international events and have been the top team in China since late last year. However, they did finish second to Attacking Soul Esports in China’s regional competition this year as they lost a close 3-2 series to attacking Soul Esports in the FGC Act 1 final.

One more Americas team will qualify.

Lead photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games