VALORANT: Masters Bangkok teams and Swiss Stage matchups finalized

With the conclusion of the VCT EMEA Kickoff after a 3-2 victory by Team Vitality over Team Liquid, the seeding and Swiss Stage matchups for VCT Masters Bangkok have been finalized. Eight teams from the Americas, EMEA, Pacific, and China will be in attendance, with the top two teams from each region qualifying for Masters.

VCT China saw 2024 world champion EDward Gaming and Champions playoffs partner Trace Esports both qualifying to Bangkok, with Kickoff being EDG's eighth Chinese championship title in a row.

Ascension hopefuls G2 Esports and two-time Masters winners Sentinels both qualified out of VCT Americas, with G2 coming out as the top seed. The Americas final marked the fourth consecutive victory of G2 over Sentinels in a VCT match, with the latter not having beaten the former Guard core once since their qualification to the VCT through Ascension.

VCT Pacific concluded with two Korean teams making their way to Masters in DRX and T1. DRX clawed out on top over T1 in a 3-2 grand final, marking the organization's first ever VCT Pacific trophy. T1's recent matches have been notably marked by an absence of Go "Sylvan" Young-sup, with Lee "carpe" Jae-hyeok taking his place: currently, it is unknown whether or not carpe will continue starting for T1 heading into Bangkok.

Tournament favorite Team Vitality ultimately emerged triumphant in the VCT EMEA, reverse sweeping Team Liquid to come out as the top seed. Despite going down early on against FUT Esports, Liquid crawled their way back to glory in a five match lower bracket gauntlet, even stomping over Champions 2024 grand finalist Team Heretics in a 3-0 lower final sweep on the way.

EDG, G2, DRX, and VIT all will enter Masters as the first seeds of their respective regions, while TE, SEN, T1, and TL enter as second seeds heading into the Swiss Stage. Teams will only need to win two matches in order to qualify to the four-team double elimination Playoffs bracket. The Round 1 matches for Masters Bangkok are as follows:

Masters Bangkok is slated to begin on February 20, with the tournament lasting until March 2.