VALORANT Masters Toronto: Teams, format, favorites and more

Masters Toronto is the second global event in the 2025 VALORANT Champions Tour, the top tier in VALORANT esports. Twelve of the best VALORANT teams in the world will compete to determine who’s the best and win circuit points toward qualification for the third and final global event in the VCT calendar: Champions 2025.

The top three teams from Stage 1 from each of the four VCT regions -- Americas, EMEA (Europe), Pacific (Asia) and China -- will be present. Masters Bangkok runner-up and two-time defending Americas champion G2 Esports will be in Toronto, and so will fan favorites Sentinels, Fnatic and Paper Rex. There will also be plenty of new faces as well as veterans from teams that will be making their debuts on the international stage. Read on to learn more about the qualified teams, the schedule and format and a breakdown of the field.

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Qualified Teams

Americas

• G2 Esports
• Sentinels
• MIBR

EMEA

• Fnatic
• Team Heretics
• Team Liquid

Pacific

• Rex Regum Qeon
• Gen.G
• Paper Rex

China

• Xi Lai Gaming
• Bilibili Gaming
• Wolves Esports

Format and Schedule

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The first stage of Masters Toronto will begin June 7 and continue through June 11. Eight teams -- the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds from each region will compete in three rounds of a Swiss format. Teams will need to win two matches to advance to the playoffs. The four teams that win two matches will advance to the playoffs.

The opening matches will be:

June 7

• 12pm ET -- Team Heretics vs. Paper Rex
• 3pm ET -- Bilibili Gaming vs. Team Liquid

June 8

• 12pm ET -- Sentinels vs. Wolves Esports
• 3pm ET -- Gen.G vs. MIBR

The Masters Toronto playoff bracket kicks off June 12 and continues through the grand final on June 23. The top four teams from the Swiss stage will join the four No. 1 seeds from each region in this stage. The playoffs will consist of a double elimination bracket with all matches being best of three except the lower final and grand final which will be best of five.

The Favorite

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

There will be one overwhelming favorite at Masters Toronto, and it’s G2 Esports. G2 are one of only three teams that qualified for Masters Bangkok earlier this year and also have qualified for Toronto. They’re the only team in VCT that won both Kickoff and Stage 1 in their region. They fell just short of winning Masters Bangkok, losing to T1 in a five-map nail-biting grand final. Plus, they will be one of the “home” teams as one of the North American representatives in Toronto, and they actually have a Canadian player on the roster in Jonah “JonahP” Pulice. VALORANT tournaments don’t always turn out the way you expect, but G2 have been the most consistent team in VCT this year, and things have set up nicely for them to finally win an international trophy.

Contenders

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If G2 don’t win Masters Toronto, there are three teams that look poised to do so. Let’s start with their regional rivals, Sentinels. While G2 won both Kickoff and Stage 1, it was Sentinels who they beat in both finals. Like G2, Sentinels also qualified for Masters Bangkok. During Stage 1, there was only one team that beat G2, and it was -- you guessed it -- Sentinels. They’re an experienced team that lifted a Masters trophy last year, and despite two roster changes this year, Sentinels have shown themselves capable of winning another. Plus, they might have an even bigger home crowd advantage in Toronto because of how big and passionate the Sentinels fan base is.

As for Fnatic, they’re the EMEA Stage 1 champions. They have a very experienced roster that has won multiple international championships before. Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov will be looking to win his record fourth international title, Jake “Boaster” Howlett will be looking for his third, and Austin “crashies” Roberts will be eager to become the first player to win international titles on teams from two different regions. Crashies won Masters Reykjavík with North American team OpTic Gaming in 2022.

Gen.G did not win VCT Pacific Stage 1, but they finished second and won a Masters just last year with mostly the same roster. Despite losing to Rex Regum Qeon in the Stage 1 grand final, they beat that team in the upper final. Considering Gen.G’s experience on the international stage, they’re the Pacific team most likely to win Masters Toronto.

Wild Cards

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Rex Regum Qeon and Xi Lai Gaming have never qualified for an international tournament, but they each won their regional Stage 1 tournaments, so they can’t be totally discounted. This is why they’re wild cards. They were the best in their respective regions of late, but it’s difficult to say just how they’ll fare against teams from other regions. For example, XLG competed in a small tournament following Stage 1 against teams from the Pacific region and lost to both DRX and Paper Rex.

Speaking of Paper Rex, the perennial international darlings are the embodiment of a wild card with their chaotic style of play, and they seem to be back in form. They’ve come close to winning international tournaments in the past, but their last really good showing was second place at Champions 2023. Their run in Stage 1 with a win over T1 -- the Masters Bangkok champions -- during the playoffs, does inspire confidence. Plus, they won five in a row after Stage 1 (including another victory over T1) to qualify for the Esports World Cup. Team Heretics are another team that has come close to winning international tournaments but fallen just short. They finished second at both Masters Shanghai and Champions last year. Will they finally be able to get over the hump in Toronto?

Finally, MIBR are also a wild card. This is a team that has never competed at an international event and has been one of the worst teams in VCT for the past couple years. What’s different now? Aspas. Erick “aspas” Santos is arguably the best player in the world, and success always comes to him and his teams, from LOUD to Leviatán to MIBR. Of course, this team is not just aspas. MIBR has some incredible young rookies, including Brazilians Eduardo "xenom" Soeiro and Gabriel "cortezia" Cortez and the American youngster Andrew "Verno" Maust. Plus, they have an incredibly experienced and decorated coach in Daniel "fRoD" Montaner. MIBR probably won’t win Masters Toronto, but you can be sure that they’ll make some noise.

Other Qualifiers

Photo credit: Wojciech Wandzel / Riot Games

Chinese teams besides EDward Gaming have generally not performed well at international tournaments. That’s why, with the exception of No. 1 seed XLG, Bilibili and Wolves belong in this tier. Wolves have never qualified for Masters or Champions until now, and Bilibili went winless at Champions 2024 and infamously won two matches at Champions 2023 -- both against NRG.

Team Liquid are the third seed from EMEA and just don’t have a good enough track record internationally to place them higher among the teams that will be at Masters Toronto. It doesn’t help that the EMEA region hasn’t produced the strongest teams over the past year and a half with the exception of Heretics. Liquid also just lost two Esports World Cup qualifier matches to BBL and Karmine Corp, two teams that didn’t qualify for Masters Toronto. Oh, and they will be playing with a stand-in as Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin has been unable to secure a visa. Things just don’t look promising for Liquid.

Lead photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games