North American VALORANT Masters Power Rankings

March 10, 2021

by Nerd Street Gamers

This is it! It’s finally time for the first North American VALORANT Masters tournament, operated by Nerd Street Gamers, in the 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour. After three arduous rounds of qualifying, the eight teams competing at Masters have proven to be the best squads in North America. On March 21, one of them will be crowned the best team in the region.

So, who is the best team in North America? We know you have thoughts, and so do we here at Nerd Street Gamers, so here are our Power Rankings for these eight.

Note: These rankings were determined by aggregating the rankings from members of the editorial staff and Press 4 to Defuse teams following the conclusion of Challengers 3.

1. Sentinels

VCT W-L record 14-4 | map record 29-13

Sentinels have been one of the elite teams in the North American VALORANT competitive scene since they were formed. While change has been a constant with other teams’ rosters, their lineup has remained unchanged since Michael “dapr” Gulino joined last June. The other four starters — Jay “sinatraa” Won, Shahzeeb “ShahZam” Khan, Hunter “SicK” Mims and Jared “zombs” Gitlin have been together since April. However, Sentinels will be without sinatraa this weekend after Riot announced they were suspending him pending their investigation after allegations were made against him by his ex-girlfriend on Tuesday.

They have reached the final of every tournament except one they have entered since August: FaZe Clan Invitational, Pop Flash, JBL Quantum Cup, Nerd Street Gamers Winter Championship, VCT Challengers 1 and VCT Challengers 2. The only tournament final they didn’t reach was First Strike; they lost in the semifinals to 100 Thieves.

2. Team Envy

VCT W-L record 16-3 | map record 35-9

Envy have proven to be among the elite teams in North American VALORANT. They were the first team to qualify for Masters and ended up finishing first at the Challengers 2 closed qualifier. Their other notable results include a second-place finish at Pop Flash, third-fourth at First Strike and first at Cloud9 to the Skyes. Envy really took a step forward after signing Victor “food” Wong and Austin “crashies” Roberts in September, two highly touted members of T1’s first roster iteration.

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3. FaZe Clan

VCT W-L record 12-3 | map record 26-11

FaZe are coming off their biggest tournament victory thus far, beating 100 Thieves in the grand finals of Challengers 3 to qualify as the fifth seed for Masters. After failing to qualify during the second Challengers closed qualifier, FaZe remained in the upper bracket throughout Challengers 3 and look dominant heading into Masters. Like Sentinels, FaZe Clan’s roster has remained largely unchanged since last summer. Unlike a lot of other teams, their roster features mostly former Overwatch pros — Andrej “babybay” Francisty, Corey “corey” Nigra, Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo and Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty — rather than ex-CSGO players.

4. Immortals

VCT W-L record 12-3 | map record 27-13

Immortals have become known as something of a talent factory. Quan “dicey” Tran and Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk both started their VALORANT careers with Immortals before being signed away by 100 Thieves in October. Yannick “KOLER” Blanchette, one of the original members of the team, also left in October to go to NRG. Regardless of who’s on their roster, Immortals have been remarkably consistent in their recent results. They finished first in the Challengers 1 open qualifier, second in the subsequent closed qualifier, and third in the Challengers 2 closed qualifier.

5. 100 Thieves

VCT W-L record 12-5 | map record 26-14

Outside of Sentinels and maybe FaZe, there might not be a flashier team than 100 Thieves. From former CS:GO pros like Spencer “Hiko” Martin and Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella to young guns like Asuna and Dicey, 100 Thieves have a star-studded roster. At times they’ve looked dominant, but other times they’ve looked shaky and nearly missed out on Masters. They recently added another former CS:GO pro, Ethan “Ethan” Arnold — who replaced Dicey in their starting lineup ahead of Challengers 3.

6. XSET

VCT W-L record 8-5 | map record 17-12

XSET might be the most surprising team to have qualified for Masters. The organization was formed in July, when they signed their first player, Zander “thwifo” Kim, but the rest of their roster didn’t come together until October. Their major breakthrough was winning the Nerd Street Gamers x Complexity Invitational in January, and they’ve really hit their stride during the first stage of the VALORANT Champions Tour. XSET finished fourth in both the first and second closed Challengers qualifiers, beating teams like NRG, Envy, FaZe Clan and Luminosity along the way, but Sentinels ended both of their qualifier runs.

7. Luminosity Gaming

VCT W-L record 9-7 | map record 21-16

Luminosity’s big breakout was beating Sentinels in the grand finals of the Nerd Street Gamers Winter Championship. The core of their roster — Alex “aproto” Protopapas, Brenden “stellar” McGrath and Brady “thief” Dever — came together in August. Diondre “YaBoiDrei” Bond and Kaleb “moose” Jayne were signed last month, though they had already been playing with LG since the start of the year. They just missed out on qualifying for Masters during the second Challengers closed qualifier, but finally did so after beating TSM in Challengers 3.

8. Gen.G

VCT W-L record 12-7 | map record 26-16

Gen.G failed to win a map during their first chance to qualify for Masters during the Challengers 2 closed qualifier. Despite being knocked down to the lower bracket in Challengers 3, they won a couple matches to secure the eighth and final spot at Masters. Gen.G’s biggest roadblock at Masters might be 100 Thieves, the team that ended their run at each of the last two Challengers closed qualifiers. The core of their roster has been together since May, and their newest addition, Kenneth “koosta” Suen joined in January.