Valorant Masters Reykjavik Power Rankings

The much anticipated and first Valorant international event of the year is just around the corner. Masters Reykjavik will have the twelve best teams in the world right now, fighting for the honor to be international champions and having their names engraved in the history books.

Tournament Format

The tournament will start on the tenth of March and end on the twenty-fourth of the same month. Masters Reyjjavik format is similar to the Valorant Champions format, at least in the group stage phase. Note that the winners of the EMEA, NA, BR, and APAC regions are directly qualified for playoffs and don’t need to play the group stage phase.

As you can see in the image, the group stage will have a lower bracket, meaning teams can lose once and still make it out of groups. This format makes every game on the group’s stage crucial since your tournament life or a chance to be the first seed of the group will always be on the line. With this format, filer games are non-existent. Every game of the group’s stage phase will be a best of three.

We saw a major change in playoffs format, as finally, we will have a double-elimination bracket. This is something most fans have been asking for a long time, as they believe it makes the tournament not only more interesting but fairer. In playoffs, all matches until the Grand Final are best of three, with the Grand Final being a best of five.

If you still have some doubts about the tournament format this video should make everything clear for you.

The very first #VALORANTMasters of 2022 is BACK!

Still have questions about the tournament? Here’s everything you need to know about Masters Reykjavík! pic.twitter.com/IcnoN9SzfC

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) March 29, 2022

Valorant Masters Reykjavik teams

We have a lot of new names attending Masters Reykjavik, and also some heavy hitters that missed it out.

Sentinels are the most notable absentee. The first-ever Valorant international champions will not be attending Masters Reykjavik after a disappointing seventh-place finish in the NA VCT playoffs.

Cloud9 and Version1, the teams that dominated the group stage phase of the NA VCT, going undefeated in their respective groups, will also be staying at home. Despite coming into the NA VCT playoffs as the heavy favorites, both teams weren’t able to have the same dominance they showed in the group stage phase.

Unfortunately, FPX will also miss Masters Reykjavik. Contrary to the other teams, FPX had a great run in the playoffs and became the EMEA champions by defeating G2 Esports 3-1 in the Grand Final.

However, the team will not be able to attend Masters Reykjavik due to issues related to Russia’s war against Ukraine. FPX in-game leader ANGE1 can’t leave Ukraine, while SUYGETSU and Shao, the two Russian players of the team, could not get their visas approved to travel to Iceland.

As for the teams that did qualify for the tournament, we have Fnatic, Team Liquid, and G2 Esports from the EMEA region. These three teams will try to continue the EMEA dominance we saw at Valorant Champions.

North America brings some new blood in The Guard and a very experienced and talented team on Optic Gaming.

From APAC, we have Paper Rex and Xerxia (old X10 CRIT roster) making a return to the international stage.

ZETA DIVISION will be representing Japan on the international stage, as they were able to put an end to the dominance of Crazy Raccoon.

The old reliable DRX team is once again representing the Korean region at an international event.

Top four at Valorant Champions KRÜ Esports are back as the LATAM region only representatives.

The Brazilian region brings super team LOUD, which is seen by many as one of the tournament favorites, and Ninjas in Pyjamas which qualified by winning the LATAM VS Brazil playoffs.

Power Rankings

1. The Guard

The Guard is the best team coming into Masters Reykjavik. The rookies quickly made sure everyone took themselves seriously in the NA VCT group phase finishing in second place in group A, only losing to Cloud9.

However, it was in the playoffs that we saw how good this team really is. They made it to the upper final without a sweat, and only their team met their match in Optic Gaming which defeated them 2-0.

Despite that, the team 3-0 Cloud9 in the lower bracket final, and in the grand final got their revenge on Optic Gaming, winning 3-2 and becoming the NA champions.

They are the best strategic team in North America and maybe in the world. The Guard always has a plan and is very well prepared for whatever their enemies will throw at them. Their map pool is big, and even in their least played maps, Breeze and Fracture, they have a positive record against some of the best teams in their region.

With great teamwork, together with some great talented players and coaching staff, everyone should be aware of The Guard.

2. Optic Gaming

While The Guard is the hot up-and-coming rookies, Optic Gaming is the very experienced team that has proved it can beat the best teams at the international level.

The team didn’t start the NA VCT in the best way, but with time Optic Gaming looked better and better.

With yay picking up Chamber, Victor on Neon, it allowed the team to experiment with new compositions becoming less predictable. Add to that a very experienced IGL in FNS, and you have one of the best teams in the world.

Optic Gaming has a very talented and experienced roster with a great coaching staff to help them out. They will want to revenge for their poor performance at Valorant Champions and take the trophy home.

3. G2 Esports

Who would have thought that after that ruff start to the VCT EMEA group stage, we would see G2 Esports at Masters Reykjavik? Well, not me for sure, but here we are.

After some roster changes and finally deciding to stick with Mixwell as the fifth member of the roster, G2 Esports showed up on a whole different level in the playoffs.

With Mixwell being on Chamber for most of the time and nukkye picking up the role of the main duelist, the team has been thriving. G2 is also a very flexible team, apart from Mixwell, who is mainly on Chamber, but can also pick up Jett when needed, all the players can fill different roles depending on the map.

They have found a lot of success with new compositions, such as no duelist on Icebox, which they are the only team doing that currently, and are undefeated on it, beating M3 Champions, Team Liquid, and Fnatic in a very dominant way.

4. LOUD

Guys, it’s time to do the L. The Brazilian super team is here to win and finally bring some international success to the Brazilian fans.

LOUD completely dominated the Brazilian region, only dropping one map in the entire tournament. They are a very flexible team, and firepower is something they don’t lack.

The team joins the experience of veterans Sacy and saadhak with the young superstars Less, aspas, and pANcada.

Sacy is one of the best initiators in the world, while saadack is an experienced IGL and a very flexible player. As for aspas, he is already one of the best duelists in the world.

5. DRX

The Korean super team, widely considered the best team in Asia, once again dominated the playoffs of their region and qualified for yet another international event.

DRX is not a flexible team as LOUD or G2 Esports. They have their roles very well defined and have found a lot of success like that.

The core of the team has been together for quite some time and has attended all the international events so far. DRX is always a team to look out for, and the Korean region always delivers some well-prepared and tactically brilliant teams.

6. Team Liquid

Despite not looking great recently, Team Liquid is still a very talented team. With Fnatic having to play with maybe two stand-ins, Team Liquid ranked up on this tier list.

The team is full of experienced players, which is very helpful in a LAN tournament. They also have a record of having good tournament runs on the international stage.

Team Liquid is full of talented players, has a great coaching staff, and has become a much more flexible team than before.

7. Fnatic

Fnatic will have to play with one, maybe even two stand-ins. With such a short period of time before the tournament, we don’t know how much these changes can affect the team.

However, Fnatic is still a very talented and well-coached team and has proved before you should not underestimate them.

8. Ninjas in Pyjamas

Many may wonder why NIP is ahead of teams like KRÜ Esports or Paper Rex, and that is because in a region with a super team such as LOUD, they were by far the second-best team in Brazil.

They were able to comfortably defeat Leviatán 3-0 in the LATAM VS BR Last Chance Qualifier, a team that KRÜ Esports had a lot of difficulties beating in a best of five series.

They have a lot of experienced players, which is also something that will prove valuable for them in an international tournament.

9. KRÜ Esports

KRÜ Esports kept the same roster that placed top four at Valorant Champions at the end of 2021. However, they lost their coach Onur who was one of the best Valorant coaches last year.

The team still looks good but doesn’t seem to have improved much from how they looked at Valorant Champions, and at this level, you need to constantly bring something new to the table to stay at the top.

10. Paper Rex

Paper Rex only dropped three maps during the APAC VCT. The team is coming into Iceland intending to prove they can beat the best teams in the world and prove that the APAC region should not be overlooked.

The team is somewhat flexible, with d4v41 being able to play the initiator or sentinel role, and Jinggg is mainly the second duelist player but can also play as a sentinel depending on the map.

With f0rsakeN continuing to prove he is among the best duelist in the world, Paper Rex is still a very solid team.

11. XERXIA

XERXIA finished second in the APAC VCT after a 3-2 loss in the final to Paper Rex. The roster of this team has proved they can beat some great teams at international events and will try to do it again.

Every player has their role, and they aren’t a very flexible team, making it easier to know what type of comps they will use.