Only LATAM has yet to decide who will represent it in Iceland.
After nearly a month of tournaments, the 12 teams that will be heading to Reykjavik for the first VCT Masters for 2022 has been set in stone. LATAM is the only region where the representative has not been decided. Over the weekend, six out of the seven regions completed their Challengers rounds to determine each region’s representatives.
The confirmed teams heading to Iceland this April are:
- FunPlus Phoenix – EMEA
- G2 Esports – EMEA
- Fnatic – EMEA
- DRX – Korea
- The Guard – North America
- OpTic Gaming – North America
- Paper Rex – APAC
- Xerxia – APAC
- Zeta Division – Japan
- LOUD – Brazil
There are two more spots to be filled – one from the LATAM Challengers and one from the LATAM vs Brazil playoffs.
EMEA
Three teams qualified for the first Masters – FunPlus Phoenix, G2 Esports and Fnatic. Fnatic was third in the standing when they lost to FPX in the upper bracket, and G2 in the lower bracket. While they lost, they are still heading to Iceland, following the two teams in the grand finale.
FPX met G2 Esports in the Grand Finale, where the former handily beat the latter 3-1. The first three maps saw the two teams in a points rally, with FPX winning maps 1 & 3, and G2 winning map 2. In the fourth map, Split, the match went to overtime as the team tied 12-12 in round 24. But in round 30, FPX took the final point with the match and became the overall winner.
The three teams will be EMEA’s representatives in Reykjavik.
North America
For North America, two teams qualified to be the region’s reps to Iceland – OpTic Gaming and The Guard. The former saw little problem staying in the upper brackets, but The Guard was pushed to the lower bracket, by OpTic leading into the Grand Finale. They did win against Cloud9 to keep on trucking as they head into the Grand Finale.
Their experience gave them an advantage as OpTic and Guard played the full 5 matches to determine the winner. OpTic managed to win two rounds, but Guard was the better team as they won three of the five maps played.
APAC
Paper Rex and Xerxia are the two teams that will be representing APAC to Iceland. Paper Rex from Singapore had a smooth journey to the Grand Final round as they did not drop a single map in the Group stage and the Knockout rounds. Xerxia’s journey was a bit bumpier as they had to go through the Lower Brackets, where they were sent by Paper Rex, before winning matches to be in the Grand Finale.
There, the two teams also took all five rounds to determine who will win the tournament. The winning tally was a ping-pong between the two teams as they each won two matches after four rounds. In the last round, however, Paper Rex showed that they were the better team as they overcame Xerxia 13-8 to win the APAC Challengers 1.
Japan
Zeta Division booked their place as Japan’s sole representative to Iceland as they won against Crazy Raccoon 3-1 in Japan’s Challengers 1. The team had a smooth-ish run in the tournament, without being knocked down to the Lower Brackets.
In the Grand Final round, they met Crazy Raccoon who they bumped down to the Lower Brackets in the Upper Brackets Semifinals. While they did concede one map to the Raccoons, in the end Zeta proved that they are the better team as they managed to grab three wins to be the eventual winner, and the sole representative for Japan to Iceland.
Korea
DRX had a smooth run in the Korea Challengers 1, as they came into the Playoffs as the seeded team after being at the top in the Group Stage standings. They conceded one loss in the Group Stage and one map in the Playoffs in their match against World Game Star.
In the Grand Final, they met up with On Sla2ers that they met in the Upper Bracket Finals. DRX easily beat On Sla2ers in three maps, with a score of 3-0. While On Sla2er gave DRX some challenge in the first map, they lost their momentum in the next two maps as DRX essentially steamrolled over them to be Korea’s representative to Rejkyavik.
Brazil
LOUD did not drop a single match in Brazil Challenger 1’s Group Stage or Playoffs. They easily beat teams like Keyd Stars and Ninjas in Pyjamas as they waltzed through to the Grand Finals.
They met Ninjas again in the Grand Finals and following their pattern, easily steamrolled NIP 3-0 without a speck of trouble. With their win, LOUD is Brazil’s first representative to Iceland.
LATAM's two representatives will be determined with their Grand Final round, which will be played 12 hours from the time of publishing this article.
Masters Rejkyavik, the first Masters event for VCT 2022 will be happening from April 10 until April 14 in Rejkyavik, Iceland.
