What seven numbers can tell us about Masters: Berlin

VALORANT Masters: Berlin was full of remarkable stats from the opening match between SuperMassive Blaze and Acend to the grand final between Envy and Gambit Esports. With the tournament over, it’s a good time to look back on numbers that mattered most. From agent pick rates to player ACS to regional records and more, here are seven numbers that defined Masters: Berlin.

Editor’s note: All stats are courtesy of VLR.gg.

85%

That was the pick rate for Jett, the most used agent at Masters: Berlin. If you’ve been following the VALORANT Champions Tour all year, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that she was the most picked agent. That figure is still unusually high when compared to her pick rate during VCT Stage 3 events in different regions around the world.

It wasn’t even close how far ahead she was compared to other agents. The next most-picked agent was Sova at 64%, followed by Astra at 60% and then Skye at 58%. Other agents tend to have a high variance in terms of their pick rates across different maps, but Jett is a must-pick on any map. Hera pick rate was below 79% on only one map (Bind at 61%) in Berlin.

Jett is increasingly becoming considered overpowered, with many calling for a nerf. In fact, on Tuesday, Riot Games released patch notes indicating she would be receiving a nerf. Her abilities were on full display in Berlin, with some of the most deadly duelists around the world, including Tyson “TenZ” and Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek.

0

That’s the number of maps lost by Envy going into the grand final, the number of maps Envy won in the grand final, and the number of rounds lost by Gambit Esports in the second map of their semifinal match against G2 Esports. The question is, which one is most stunning?

The fact Envy didn’t win in any maps in the final is only stunning in the context of the fact they didn’t lose any going in. Not dropping any maps to Vivo Keyd or KRÜ Esports is not all that impressive considering the strength of their respective regions. Not dropping a map to 100 Thieves or Sentinels is very impressive considering they were considered the top two NA teams going into the tournament, and Envy had lost to both recently in NA Challengers Playoffs.

Not dropping a single round in a semifinal match against one of the best teams in your region? That’s downright jaw-dropping. Gambit did it, though, against G2. It was the first 13-0 map we’ve ever seen in an international tournament.

After Sentinels went through Masters: Reykjavík without dropping a map, some said that would never happen again at an international tournament, yet Envy almost duplicated that. Not dropping a single round on a map at a VCT international competition? That’s something that will probably never happen again.

5

Photo credit: Riot Games

Speaking of dropping maps, Sentinels lost five maps at Masters: Berlin. After going through Masters: Reykjavík so dominantly, that’s incredibly surprising. In hindsight, Sentinels dropping a map to G2 and then losing to them should have been a harbinger of things to come. Of course, everybody, myself included, thought Sentinels would bounce back, turning up their level of play when it mattered most. The match they lost to G2 was merely a seeding match. Right? Yeah, right.

3-2

That was NA’s record against EMEA at Masters. Despite Gambit beating Envy in the most important match of the tournament, North American teams still got the better of teams from Europe (including teams like Gambit from the CIS region). Gambit beat Envy and G2 beat Sentinels, but Sentinels also beat G2, and 100 Thieves beat both Gambit and Acend. Overall, NA came out on top in the region battle, with EMEA at a close second. NA went 8-2, and EMEA went 8-4. Still a slight edge for NA. It’s fun to debate which region is better (NA, obviously), but this tournament showed just how close the two regions are.

811,370

Photo credit: Riot Games

This was the peak concurrent viewership of Masters: Berlin, according to Esports Charts, and it came during the second match between Sentinels and G2. The second-most watched match was just below this and came during the teams’ first matchup. The grand final ended up bringing in the third-most viewers at just under 700,000. It’s a little disappointing in light of over 1 million viewers tuning in for the Masters: Reykjavík final, but it also speaks to how much viewership fluctuates depending on the teams involved. If the final had been between Sentinels and G2, there’s a good chance over 1 million people would have tuned in as both teams boast large fan bases and the social media trash talk was on another level between these two orgs.

1.44

This was the highest K/D at Masters, and it was put up by El Diablo himself, Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker. Unsurprisingly, he played solely as Jett, the go-to pick for the best duelists in the world. El Diablo’s legend has grown ever since he joined Envy and the team progressed through NA Challengers Playoffs, but the world got to know just how good he is at Masters: Berlin. After their loss to Envy in the quarterfinals, 100 Thieves coach Hector "FrosT" Rosario said “today we fought a monster” in reference to yay. He has only been with the team since August, so imagine how good he and Envy will be at Champions.

280

Photo credit: Riot Games

This was the highest ACS by anybody at Masters. I want to drill down a little on this because technically, Vivo Keyd’s Olavo "heat" Marcelo was just a (cross)hair better than yay with an ACS of 280.3 compared to 280.2. While heat did it across 131 rounds, yay did it over 248 rounds. In a way, yay’s figure is more impressive considering he sustained this high level of play over almost twice as many rounds, but after discussing yay above, this is a great opportunity to highlight heat’s play.

Brazil as a region has proven to be below NA, EMEA and Korea, but that doesn’t mean the region doesn’t have outstanding players. Heat is a world-class player from Brazil. He was just as good on Jett as some of other star Jett players around the world, including TenZ, yay, cNed and Cista “keloqz” Wassim. In fact, when looking at his performance against Envy, his numbers stack up favorably compared to yay. While yay posted a 261 ACS and was +14 with a K/D/A of 47/33/8, heat was better against a better team. Heat had an ACS of 302 and was also +14 with a K/D/A of 51/37/8. If a North American or European team is looking for a star Jett player outside their region, heat is who they should turn to first.

Honorable mention: It’s worth mentioning that Gambit’s Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin had an ACS of 265.9 ACS across 306 rounds on Viper and Cypher. This was the best ACS by far for any player who played at least 100 rounds at Masters and who wasn’t primarily playing a duelist. Among the top 14 players in ACS at Masters, he was the only player who did not play primarily Jett, Reyna or Raze.

Lead photo credit: Riot Games