Meet the teams that have qualified for VALORANT Masters: Berlin

August 23, 2021

by Jessica Scharnagle

Last updated: Aug. 23

Masters: Berlin qualifiers are coming to a close and teams are starting to prepare for their trips to Berlin. Below are the teams who have qualified and will be traveling to Germany to compete. Teams competing in Berlin will earn circuit points toward qualifying for VALORANT Champions, and the winner will secure a spot at the final event in the 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour.

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Korea -- F4Q and Vision Strikers

F4Q and Vision Strikers are the two teams that will represent Korea at Masters: Berlin. In order to qualify for Challengers Playoffs, they had to get through a single-elimination bracket to qualify for the group stage. After the group stage, the eight winningest teams went on to the playoffs.

F4Q

F4Q dropped only one map in the entire tournament so far, and in order to get to the grand final match for Challengers Playoffs, they had to beat DAMWON Gaming, who beat the previous Masters participants, NUTURN Gaming.

During the qualifiers for Masters: Reykjavík, F4Q was defeated by DAMWON Gaming in the qualifiers, so their improvement is evident in their results.

roster:

Yoo “FiveK” Sung-min
Chae “Bunny” Joon-hyuk
Kim “Efina” Nak-yeon
Kim “zunba” Joon-hyuk
Jeong “Esperanza” Jin-cheol

Vision Strikers

After missing out on Masters: Reykjavík, Vision Strikers have redeemed themselves and have qualified for Masters: Berlin. This team has been absolutely dominating Korea’s Challengers Playoffs. No team has even been able to put up double-digit round wins against Vision Strikers. Every match has been a near-stomp, so it’s no surprise that they haven’t dropped a map at all in Challengers 3 so far. They’re looking like the team that won over 100 matches in a row at one point.

Vision Strikers almost made it to Reykjavík but were knocked out in the semifinals by NUTURN Gaming, who then went on to finish third at Masters.

roster:

Kim "stax" Gu-taek
Goo "Rb" Sang-Min
Lee "k1Ng" Seung-won
Yu "BuZz" Byung-chul
Kim "MaKo" Myeong-kwan
Kim "Lakia" Jong-min

North America -- Sentinels, 100 Thieves and Envy

North America’s three representatives at Masters: Berlin were determined at Challengers Playoffs. Masters: Reykjavík champion Sentinels are no strangers to the international stage, but for 100 Thieves and Envy it’ll be their first times competing overseas in VALORANT.

100 Thieves

100T beat FaZe Clan in a swift 2-0 victory in the first round of Challengers Playoffs. They ended Haven 13-6 and Breeze 13-9 then moved on to their match against XSET.

The XSET match was much more difficult for 100T, especially since they only managed to score three points in the first half of Haven. They woke up at halftime and started dominating. They still struggled in the second map on Ascent, but ended up with a ticket to Germany.

roster:

Spencer "Hiko" Martin
Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella
Joshua "steel" Nissan
Peter "Asuna" Mazuryk
Ethan "Ethan" Arnold

Sentinels

Sentinels started Challengers Playoffs against Rise. They absolutely crushed them in the first map 13-3. On Ascent, they experimented with Hunter “SicK” Mims playing on KAY/O. It didn’t go well for them, and they lost the second map 13-7. Although the second map was a fluke for the team, they came right back in the third match on Bind and dominated again, winning 13-4. They then beat Envy 2-0 to solidify their trip to Berlin for a third straight Masters appearance.

roster:

Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan
Hunter "SicK" Mims
Jared "zombs" Gitlin
Michael "dapr" Gulino
Tyson "TenZ" Ngo

Envy

At the beginning of the tournament, Envy defeated TSM to move on to face off against Sentinels. The matchup was a tight one, with both rounds ending 13-11 in favor of Sentinels, sending Envy to the lower bracket. Envy then had to go through FaZe Clan and XSET to get NA’s last spot at Masters: Berlin.

Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker, who joined Envy a week before Challengers Playoffs started, made one of the biggest impacts for Envy. Now he’ll pack his bags with his new teammates to compete on LAN in Germany.

roster:

Pujan “FNS” Mehta
Victor “Victor” Wong
Austin “crashies” Roberts
Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker
Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen (on loan from FaZe Clan)

Europe (EMEA) -- Acend, SuperMassive, Gambit and G2

The EMEA tournament consists of teams from several regions: Europe, Turkey and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The four teams that will be going to Berlin from this region are Acend, SuperMassive Blaze, Gambit Esports and G2 Esports.

Acend (Europe)

Although they weren’t able to make an appearance at Stage 2 Masters: Reykjavík, Acend were the champions of Stage 1 Masters for Europe, and they now have their shot at becoming Masters: Berlin champions.

Acend qualified for Challengers Playoffs in the first Challengers weekend, so they started with a bye and defeated Natus Vincere and Gambit Esports to secure their spot at Masters: Berlin.

roster:

Santeri "BONECOLD" Sassi
Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek
Vladyslav "Kiles" Shvets
Patryk "starxo" Kopczyński
Aleksander "zeek" Zygmunt

SuperMassive Blaze (Turkey)

The “Turkish superteam” was a favorite among fans to make it through the Challengers Playoffs close to the top, and indeed they have punched their ticket to Germany after defeating FunPlus Phoenix and G2 Esports.

SuperMassive Blaze’s run through Challengers Playoffs has been a clean one. They won both matches 2-0 to clinch their spot at Masters: Berlin. Their dominance is surprising to many, considering their run through their region’s Challengers matches was a hard-fought one. They were knocked into the lower bracket in the semifinals, and had a few close matches before making Challengers Playoffs.

roster:

Baran "Izzy" Yılmaz
Eren "Brave" Kasırga
Mehmet "Turko" Özen
Batuhan "russ" Malgaç
Melih "pAura" Karaduran

Gambit Esports (CIS)

After a fall from the upper bracket, CIS team Gambit Esports beat EU favorite Team Liquid to secure their spot at Masters: Berlin. Gambit will be the first CIS team to appear in an international VALORANT tournament.

The Game against TL was a very tight and tense one. TL started off with a 13-11 victory over Gambit, but the tides turned on Bind. Gambit were able to dominate on that map and ended up taking it easily, 13-3. The last map on Icebox was the deciding factor on who was going to Berlin and who would watch from home, and fans were kept on the edge of their seats as they took it into overtime, where Gambit came out on top 16-14.

roster:

Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov
Nikita “d3ffo” Sudakov
Bogdan “Sheydos” Naumov
Ayaz “nAts” Akhmetshin
Igor “Redgar” Vlasov

G2 Esports (Europe)

G2 Esports vs. Giants Gaming was another tight and exciting match to get a qualifying spot for Berlin, which G2 won 2-1. G2 Esports were sent to the lower bracket by SuperMassive Blaze, one of the first teams to qualify for Masters: Berlin. G2 beat a Giants team that features one of their former players, David "Davidp" Prins

After losing the first map, G2 took Bind in dominant fashion with a 13-3 victory. Then, on Ascent, they took another quick 13-4 win, earning them a spot at the Masters: Berlin.

roster:

Óscar “mixwell” Cañellas Colocho
Žygimantas "nukkye" Chmieliauskas
Auni "AvovA" Chahade
Jose Luis "koldamenta" Aranguren Herrero
Cista "keloqz" Wassim

Japan -- ZETA DIVISION and Crazy Raccoon

ZETA DIVISION and Crazy Racoon will represent Japan at the Masters: Berlin tournament.

ZETA DIVISION

Just when it was looking like Northeption were going to be the other Japanese teams that made it to Germany, ZETA DIVISION got their act together in their rematch. ZETA DIVISION lost to Northeption in the upper bracket semifinals 2-1, which meant that ZETA DIVISION had to fight their way through the lower bracket in order to qualify.

They made a clean run through the lower bracket, including their rematch with Northeption in the lower bracket final. They even beat Crazy Racoon in the grand final 3-2.

roster:

Koji “Laz” Ushida
Tomoaki “crow” Maruoka
Ryo “barce” Takebayashi
Shogo “takej” Takemori
Ryu “Reita” Oshiro
Akatsuki “makiba” Miyamoto

Crazy Racoon

Crazy Racoon are no strangers to international Masters events, considering they were the sole Japanese representation at Iceland. They had a very clean run through the upper bracket of Challengers Playoffs until they reached the grand final against ZETA DIVISION.

There have been more than a few changes to the roster for this team since the last Masters event, so fans are eager to see what they do in Germany.

roster:

An "Medusa" Min-cheol
Matsuda "neth" Yusuke
Byeon "Munchkin" Sang-beom
Park "Bazzi" Jun-ki
Teppei "ade" Kuno
Hideki "Fisker" Sasaki
Daiki "Minty" Kato

Brazil -- Havan Liberty and Keyd Stars

Sharks Esports, the team that went to Masters: Reykjavík, fell fairly quickly in the playoffs for the Brazil region. They lost to FURIA Esports and then again to Keyd Stars, who eventually went all the way and made it to Masters: Berlin. Team Vikings, another promising team, also fell to Keyd Stars.

Havan Liberty

This team has beat notable teams such as Team Vikings and Stars Horizon. They easily plowed through those two matches 2-0, and they then beat FURIA Esports 3-0 to get into the grand final and secure their spot at Masters: Berlin.

roster:

Rodrigo “myssen” Myssen
Gabriel “shion” Vilela
Marcelo “pleets” Leite
Felipe “liazzi” Galiazzi
Gustavo “krain” Melara

Keyd Stars

Beating out the previous Masters attendees in the lower bracket 2-1, Keyd Stars went on to beat Team Vikings and FURIA Esports to make their way to Masters: Berlin. They beat FURIA Esports 2-0 in the lower bracket final, making their way up to the grand final against Havan Liberty, the team who already qualified for Masters: Berlin through the upper bracket. In the grand final, they beat Havan Liberty 3-0 in a match full of close scores and overtimes.

roster:

Olavo “heat” Marcelo
Jonathan "JhoW" Glória
Gabriel “v1xen” Martins
Murillo “murizzz” Tuchenhagen
Lucas “ntk” Martins

Southeast Asia -- Bren Esports and Paper Rex

The teams who made it in the SEA region had very tough challenges to even get to the playoffs, let alone Masters: Berlin. The SEA region is made up of six subregions: Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Vietnam. Teams had to win their region’s events to make it to Challengers Playoffs where they could compete for just two spots at Masters: Berlin.

Bren Esports -- the Philippines

Bren Esports had a good run through the playoffs up until the upper bracket final where they fell to the other team that qualified, Paper Rex. In the lower bracket final, they showed their dominance again and beat Alter Ego to set up a rematch with Paper Rex in the grand final, which they won 3-0.

roster:

Jessie "JessieVash" Cristy Cuyco
Jayvee "DubsteP" Paguirigan
Jim "BORKUM" Timbreza
Kevin "Dispenser" Te
Riley "witz" Go

Paper Rex -- Malaysia and Singapore

Paper Rex had a tougher time getting through the bracket than Bren Esports did. Even though they were in the upper bracket throughout the tournament, they lost a match in the group stage, and they were almost sent to the lower bracket by Bren Esports in the upper bracket final. When they got to the grand final for a rematch with them, they lost 3-0. If these two teams match up at Masters: Berlin, there’s no telling who could win based on their results at Challengers Playoffs.

roster:

Aaron “mindfreak” Leonhart
Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto
Benedict “Benkai” Tan
Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee
Zhan “shiba” Teng Toh

Latin America -- KRÜ Esports

LATAM’s Challengers Playoffs is the culmination of two separate playoffs for the North and South regions, with only one spot up for grabs.

KRÜ Esports

They’ve done it again, and they’re one of only three teams who have been to Masters: Reykjavík and will also attend Masters: Berlin. There was only one spot up for grabs at Masters: Berlin, and KRÜ almost dropped that spot to Australs, who beat them in the upper bracket. They had to beat Six Karma before reaching the grand final, which they did, and then beat Australs 3-0 to secure their second international appearance.

roster: