Masters Santiago (February 28-March 15) opens as the first international event of the 2026 season with a structure designed to separate teams quickly: a 12-team field split into an eight-team Swiss Stage and an eight-team playoff bracket. Each VCT region sends three teams (Americas, EMEA, Pacific, China), and the seeding is determined by each league’s Kickoff triple-elimination finish, which produces the #1, #2, and #3 seeds.
The four #1 seeds skip the Swiss Stage and qualify directly to the playoffs: FURIA, BBL Esports,
Nongshim RedForce, and All Gamers, while the #2 and #3 seeds from every region enter the Swiss Stage. Swiss matches are played as BO3, with a simple rule: two wins qualify to playoffs, two losses eliminate you, meaning the phase produces four playoff teams to join the four already qualified.
Swiss begins immediately with four series:
Gentle Mates vs EDward Gaming, T1 vs Team Liquid, G2 Esports vs Paper Rex, and Xi Lai Gaming vs NRG, setting the tone from match one, since every result directly impacts qualification paths. Once Swiss concludes, Masters transitions into an eight-team double-elimination playoff bracket, where the four Swiss qualifiers join the four top seeds, and the title race is decided through the upper and lower bracket routes.
