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The Valorant Champions Tour 2021 Stage 1 is coming to an end with the ongoing Valorant Masters across all regions.
Valorant Masters is the most important step towards achieving the Valorant Champion title at the end of VCT 2021. All the participating teams have given their all to secure a berth in this tournament.
Of the teams that participated in the previous three Challengers, only eight of them qualified for the Valorant Masters, four of them qualified from the VCT Stage 1 Challengers 2, and the other four from Challengers 3.
Valorant Masters NA schedule and reward
The Masters for the North American region started on March 11th and is set to continue until March 21st. The tournament follows the usual VCT format, featuring a double-elimination bracket format, with each series boasting a best-of-three format besides the grand finals.
The grand final will have a best-of-five format, with the team qualifying from the upper-bracket final being 1-0 ahead in the series as per regulations. For the entirety of the tournament, the newest addition to the agent line-up, Astra, will not be available for picking.
The eight teams participating in the Masters are:
- Team Envy
- Gen.G Esports
- FaZe Clan
- Luminosity Gaming
- 100 Thieves
- Sentinels
- Immortals
- XSET
The tournament features a different reward system to the usual format. Giving away Valorant Circuit Points with a total of $1,50,000 to the eight teams in this tournament makes it even more competitive.
Currently, only two rounds of matches have been played, with teams XSET and Immortals already being thrown out of the tournament. The teams will be placed in seventh to eighth position, securing a total of 10 circuit points for distribution.
With the Masters being the most important Valorant esports tournament so far, all the participating teams have given their 100%.
While some teams have had to exit early in the tournament, others have powered their way to the final steps already. Having played two rounds already, FaZe Clan is set to win after its victory in VCT Challengers 3. The team did not lose a single map in the tournament and secured a position in the upper-bracket finals.
Sentinels, on the other hand, has shown its strength in the previous tournament. Despite the roster change, it secured the second berth to challenge FaZe Clan in the upper-bracket finals.
Individual performances
Some individual plays have left an indelible mark on everyone with clutch plays and numerous kills.
Tyson “TenZ” Ngo of Sentinels led the leaderboard in kills per map with 21.8 while being right behind Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond of Luminosity Gaming.
Even though FaZe Clan is yet to drop a single map, only Andrej “babybay” Francisty from the team has come close to the kills per map score of TenZ, with 21.2 kills per map.
