The VCT Masters One NA VALORANT tournament kicked off today. The tournament features some familiar faces, like 100 Thieves, Sentinels, and Envy, all of whom had success at the First Strike tournament in 2020. The tournament also has some notable absences, most interestingly TSM, who placed second at the NA First Strike, did not qualify during the Challengers One stage.

The teams competing in this weekends VCT Masters events are:

• Envy
• Gen.G
• XSET
• FaZe Clan
• Sentinels
• Luminosity
• Immortals
• 100 Thieves

The double-elimination tournament will unfold over the next week and a half, concluding on Sunday March 21st with the Grand Finals. Here are our power rankings for every team attending the event.

#1 FaZe Clan

While FaZe Clan struggled in the early days of VALORANT, they have really turned things around in recent months. They are coming into the VCT Masters One NA tournament off a sweep victory over 100 Thieves in the finals of the NA Stage 1 Challengers 3 tournament this past weekend. The team is hoping to take that momentum into this week’s competition in pursuit of the Masters One NA title.

FaZe has revamped their style of play during the Challengers One qualification stage. Their new style relies heavily on a aggressive, disruptive playstyle that is designed to keep enemy teams from playing their preferred playstyle. 

Along with the new philosophy of play, FaZe Clan’s individual members have been playing really well. Anrej “BabyBay” Francisty can’t seem to miss a shot lately and Corey “corey” Nigra’s in-game-leadership has produced some very impressive results. If FaZe keeps playing at the top of their game, they have a very good shot at winning the Master’s One NA tournament.

#2 100 Thieves

The 100 Thieves VALORANT roster got off to a strong start at Riot’s first official tournament, NA First Strike tournament, which they won in an intense final match against TSM. That victory showed that the team is capable of great things. 

Since the First Strike, however, there has been some cause for concern. 

They didn’t qualify for the NA Stage 1 Challengers 1 event in January, which was an uncharacteristically bad performance for the team. But they managed to pull it back together and take second place to FaZe clan at the Challengers 3 event last weekend, so they have been looking strong coming into this tournament.

The team captain Spencer “Hiko” Martin is not only a strategic leader, but also one of the best clutch players in the world. When Hiko is playing well, the entire roster plays better.

#3 Team Envy

Team Envy has been quietly persisting as one of the most reliable and explosive teams in all of VALORANT. While they may not always be the first name people think of when they think about NA VALORANT, they have proven to be one of the best teams in the region. Most recently, they defeated Sentinels in a 3-0 sweep to take the VCT 2021 NA Stage 1 Challengers 2 victory.

Envy’s success in VALORANT tends to rely on their individual skill to win matches. Players like Crashies and food serve as essential clutch performers who often make the difference between winning and losing rounds by winning their aim-duels. While Envy is often outclassed in terms of preparation and strategies, they are able to make up for it with solid fundamentals and impressive plays from their star performers.

On a good day, it’s really hard to beat Envy.

#4 Sentinels

If you had asked me where the Sentinels ranked last week, they would be first or second. But with their star slayer Sinatraa suspended while he is under investigation for sexual assault, the Sentinels are going to have to deal with a lot of uncertainty. The team signed Tenz to replace sinatraa at this weekend's event.

Tenz is a great player and formerly competed in VALORANT for Cloud9 Blue. However, with no opportunity for practice and an entire playbook to learn on short notice, it is unclear if Sentinels will be able to succeed at this tournament or not. The addition of a new player to such a talented roster isn’t going to immediately destroy their chances of success, but it does push them down a few spots in power-ranking.

#5 Immortals

Immortals have a solid VALORANT roster that has the discipline to take home matches. Their biggest weakness over the past few months has been facing the Sentinels, who eliminated them in the finals at Challengers 1 and semifinals at Challengers 2. Against everyone else, however, Immortals have looked really good. They even bested Envy in the finals of the Challengers 1 qualifier.

It seems like Immortals has consistency no matter who is on the roster. Right now the team’s biggest strength is their two duelists, Rhett “Kehmicals” Lynch and Andrew “ShoT_UP” Orlowski. The squad has been playing together since January and has had time to work on communication and strategy. 

#6 Luminosity

Luminosity had a slow start in VALORANT. They have had some decent showing of late. They placed third place at both Challengers 1 and Challengers 3. They haven’t shown the ability to win top-tier tournaments, but they are able to hang with most top-tier teams. This includes beating Sentinels to win the NSG Winter Championship. 

Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond and Kaleb “moose” Jayne officially joined the roster in late February after spending a lot of time as stand-ins on the squad. They were there when Luminosity won the NSG Winter Championship and are waiting to prove themselves on a bigger (virtual) stage. 

#7 Xset

Xset is the youngest organization competing at this week’s VALORANT Masters One tournament, having been founded in July of 2020. They have consistently remained in the top global 15 teams throughout their time competing in VALORANT and defied many people's expectations by qualifying to the Masters One in the first place.

They have not won any major events, with their highest placing at a top-tier event being fourth. But this team has shown that they are able to defy expectations, so while they are one of the lower ranked teams, they are scrappy enough that you can next quite count them out.

Brendan “BcJ” Jensen is the newest addition to the VALORANT roster. He recently admitted that Xset are seen as “underdogs” in the NA VALORANT scene due to the team’s lack of Counter-Strike experience. For them, VCT Masters is a “learning experience,” BcJ said, noting that they will be learning to play to their strengths. 

#8 Gen.G

Gen.G is a great VALORANT team, otherwise, they would not have qualified for this week's tournament. However, they are arguably the worst team that qualified. Gen.G has yet to win any A-Tier events, and only barely qualified to the tournament at this past weekend Challengers 3 event, where they placed fourth. 

The squad had to defeat Kooky Koalas, an amateur team, to qualify for VCT Masters One NA. They also took down NRG, but have yet to style on the higher-ranked teams in recent tournaments. It will be interesting to see how they do against supposedly stronger squads.