This weekend we saw the first ever VALORANT Masters event. Here we had the best teams in their respective regions battling it all out for one of the most prestigious titles in the esport. Here’s our VCT Stage 1 Masters (North American and Europe) Recap.
Acend’s journey in VCT Stage 1 Masters Europe
Starting with Europe, we had quite a bit of an upset happen. Who would’ve thought that this mix of European players would take down the former champs, along with a couple of other notable names in the scene?
Acend kicked it off with a 2nd placement in group A, taking down Ballista Esports, as well as Ninjas In Pyjamas. With this result they finished 2nd with a 2-1 scoreline, and qualified to the playoffs of the VCT Stage 1 Masters.
In the playoffs they matched against the fearsome Funplus Phoenix squad. FPX won the first map (13-7 on Bind) but Acend replied back with 2 wins of their own. It’s worth mentioning that the series was very close, and the final map (Icebox) went to 14-12 as its final score.
Grand Finals
With this Victory, Acend progressed to the Grand Finals versus the Heretics lineup, the same team that pulled off an upset in First Strike. Heretics won the first map (Split) 13-8, and Acend tied it all with a 13-9 win on Bind. Team Heretics replied once more with a win on Haven (13-9), and Icebox was once again, in favour of the Acend roster. The 5th and final map was Ascent, and what a map to end the series on. In the end, it went to the final round of the match, finishin 13-11 in favour of Acend. This is how it all ended:
What about North America?
North America had a bit of a Cinderella story with the Sentinels squad winning it all. First and foremost, the team was already down 1 man due to current investigations going on with Sinatraa. This meant that the team had to opt for a rapid stand-in with TenZ moving on from Cloud9 as a full time streamer, onto this talented Sentinels lineup.
They started it all with a 2-1 victory over Luminosity Gaming in the Quarterfinals. After this win, they were up against the new and reformed 100 Thieves lineup. Despite 100T being the favourites, the Sentinels took them down seamlessly with a 13-2 victory on Ascent, and a 16-14 win on Haven.
Then came the strong FaZe Clan roster in the Upper Bracket Final. At first, they seemed like a competent challenger, but in the end, they weren’t. Sentinels won both maps (Icebox 13-5, Haven 13-8), and slotted themselves in the Grand Finals.
Grand Finals
FaZe Clan quickly rebounded from their Upper Bracket Final loss, as they won 2-0 versus Gen.G in the losers bracket. This meant that the Grand Finals was going to play out with a rematch between NA’s strongest titans in VALORANT. Despite a promising comeback from FaZe, they just couldn’t compete with TenZ and the Sentinels. They won the series with a clean 3-0, and with it, $60,000 and the VCT Stage 1 Masters NA trophy.
Concluding thoughts
It’s definitely surprising to see that Acend pulled off the unexpected to come out victorious in Europe. Same goes for Sentinels, with such a quick adaptation to their newest member TenZ. It’s worth mentioning that the only map this Sentinels roster lost during the event, was the Split matchup versus Luminosity, early on in the tournament. Time and time again we’re seeing new story lines emerge within this VALORANT competitive scene, and we just can’t wait for more.
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