Gambit Wins Valorant Masters Berlin

The world of international Valorant felt a little different after the dust settled from the Valorant Masters: Berlin finals, with Gambit Esports taking the win over Team Envy, but more importantly is the defeat of supposed powerhouse teams Sentinels and Vision Strikers. Heading into the knockout stage matches, it was common sentiment that any of the North American teams would easily dismantle an EU team, especially behind the efforts of the then undefeated Sentinels team. However, after dropping their first international map earlier in the tournament to G2 Esports while still taking the match win, Sentinels came up short in the knockout playoffs, setting up the chaos that ensued.

Korea and Japan ultimately also walked away as the overall losers, sending only Vision Strikers into the knockout stages, where the Korean super team was dismantled by the eventual champions of Gambit. The regions left a sour taste in most viewers’ mouths, seeing the Japanese favorites of Crazy Raccoons still fail to pick up a single map win in international competition while South East Asia struggled to break through and pick up any match wins. The maps and competition may have been underwhelming, but the Japanese region teams were consistently playing in matches that were the most viewed of the tournament, only being beaten in viewership by the Sentinels and their matches. 

Another strong result to come out of the tournament outside of who took home the championship trophy, is the number of teams that were qualified for Champions through VCT Points. Although they lost in the finals, Envy was awarded enough VCT Points to punch their ticket to Champions. KRU Esports joins Sentinels as other teams that have already locked in their spot at the year end event that will also be held in Berlin.

Here are the final placements of the teams that competed in the tournament.

Feature Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images