Here’s everything you need to know about the 8 teams qualified for Masters Madrid 

Masters Madrid will be this year’s first international VCT tournament, taking place in Spain’s Madrid Arena. Starting on March 14, this Masters will feature only 8 teams, a reduction from the previous year’s 12 contenders at Masters Tokyo. 

This event is bringing new squads that have never competed in a Masters before, and we might just see underdogs dominating on a global stage. Here’s our preview of all 8 teams that qualified for Masters Madrid 2024.

Masters Madrid Team: Americas Kickoff

We will update this section after the Semifinal matches of the Americas Kickoff.

Masters Madrid Team: EMEA Kickoff

We have two underdog teams from the EMEA Kickoff who will compete in their first-ever Masters this year. 

Karmine Corp

•  Martin “MAGNUM” Penkov
•  Tomás “tomaszy” Machado
•  Marshall “N4RRATE” Massey
•  Martin “marteen” Pátek
•  Ryad “sh1n” Ensaad
•  Andrey “ENGH” Sholokhov (Head coach)

From being one of the worst teams at the EMEA League last year with a 2-7 record to becoming the winner of the 2024 EMEA Kickoff – Karmine Corp has written an incredible Cinderella story for themselves. 

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This is a roster where four out of the starting five came from the Challengers League, and names like FNATIC and NAVI overshadowed them. That’s why it was a huge surprise when Karmine Corp broke everyone’s expectations and defeated the tournament favorites to secure a spot in Madrid.

ON A EXPLOSÉ FNATIC 2-0.

ON EST EN FINALE DU KICKOFF, ET QUALIFIÉS AUX MASTERS MADRID. #KCORP

GG GUYS YOU ARE INSANE @shinVALORANT @just_magnum @tomaszy_ @N4RRATE @imthemarteen @ENGHHHHHH @ZE1SHH

GGWP 🤝 @FNATIC pic.twitter.com/xcHh7deKqs

— Karmine Corp (@KarmineCorp) February 29, 2024

KC had to go through the play-ins to reach the playoffs, and after that, their most important match against FNATIC was also supposed to be the hardest one. In a massive turn of events, the team of rookies defeated the LOCK//IN and Masters Tokyo champions, eliminating the favorites from the event. 

Team Heretics

•  Ričardas “Boo” Lukaševičius
•  Dominykas “MiniBoo” Lukaševičius
•  Mert “Wo0t” Alkan
•  Enes “RieNs” Ecirli
•  Benjy “benjyfishy” David Fish
•  Patryk “paTiTek” Fabrowski (sub)
•  Neil “neilzinho” Finlay (Head coach)

Similar to Karmine Corp, Team Heretics was one of the weakest EMEA teams in last year’s VCT, with a combined record of 2-9 in all three events they participated in. 

After a revamp of the roster with boo and benjyfishy from the previous lineup, it was tough to set high expectations on a team consisting of several newcomers. 

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2-0 NAVI WE ARE GOING TO MADRID OH MY GODDDD SO PROUD OF MY TEAM 🫶🫶🫶🫶 #vamosheretics

— benjyfishy (@benjyfishy) February 29, 2024

It was evident that the EMEA Valorant scene witnessed a power shuffle when Heretics not only made it to the playoffs with a 2-0 record but defeated NAVI to get their Masters ticket as well, and they did it with their substitute player paTiTek.

Masters Madrid Team: Pacific Kickoff

This time, DRX won’t be participating in a Masters from the Pacific League. Instead, one of the underdog rosters is accompanying Paper Rex to have their Masters debut.

Gen.G

• Kim “Meteor” Tae-O 
• Kim “t3xture” Na-ra
• Kim “Lakia” Jong-min
• Byeon “Munchkin” Sang-beom 
• Kim “Karon” Won-tae
• Kim “HSK” Hae-seong (Coach)

Gen.G has significantly improved this year by not only securing Masters but winning the Pacific Kickoff against one of the best teams in the world. 

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In 2023, this squad’s only significant achievement in the VCT was reaching the League playoffs. After the huge roster change, the South Koreans have secured their first Masters. 

Paper Rex

• Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee
• Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto
• Aaron “mindfreak” Leonhart
• Ilya “something” Petrov 
• Cahya “Monyet” Nugraha
• Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie (Substitute)
• Alexandre “alecks” Sallé (Coach)

Even without one of their star players, Paper Rex has secured another Masters spot for themselves. Last year, this squad was one of the scariest opponents on international stages, reaching the Grand Final of Champions 2023. 

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Thanks to their bye-in, PRX only needed two consecutive wins to qualify for the Masters. While the expectations remain high for the Singaporeans, they will have to prove their dominance by defeating the rookies of 2024.

Masters Madrid Team: China Kickoff

FunPlus Phoenix and fan-favorite EDward Gaming will represent China after winning their semifinal matches of the first-ever VCT China event. 

EDward Gaming

• Guo “Haodong” Haodong
• Wan “CHICHOO” Shunzhi
• Wang “nobody” Senxu
• Zheng “ZmjjKK” Yongkang
• Zhang “Smoggy” Zhao
• Tang “Muggle” Shijun (Coach)
• Lo “AfteR” Wen-hsin (Substitute)

The favorites of China still sit on their thrones after proving dominance in yet another regional event. EDG made big waves last year, winning big games during the VCT debut. 

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Champions 2023 is where EDG further solidified itself as not only China’s best but also one of the top rosters in the world. They made it to the Playoffs once again, defeating teams like Giants and Bilibili. 

FunPlus Phoenix

• Zhang “AAAAY” Yang
• Chang “BerLIN” Po-lin
• Tang “TZH” Zhehao
• Liang “Lysoar” Youhao
• Kale “autumn” Dunne
• Deng “NaThanD” Senqiao (Coach)

This will be the first-ever Masters for FPX after switching to China. Last year, they made it to two global events: LOCK//IN and Champions 2023. While the group had great results in regional events, they struggled a lot at both international tournaments. 

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There haven’t been a lot of changes to FPX’s core for the 2024 season, and the only new member is autumn, who replaced Yuicaw. 

Stay tuned with ESTNN for more news on Valorant Esports.