The Valorant Champions Tour is kicking into full gear with its VCT Masters 1 tournament. Each region has made it to this point. In North America, eight teams are set to do battle in a talented-filled bracket. Prior to this, however, teams had to fight their way through the Challengers events. That was not the easiest task to undertake for some of NA’s best and brightest Valorant rosters. There are a handful of notable teams missing from the VCT Masters 1 North America bracket..

Top Valorant teams missing from VCT Masters 1 North America

TSM

TSM has to be the most notable team missing from the Masters 1 North America tournament. The Valorant Champions Tour was certainly going to be their time to regain NA dominance. Unfortunately for them, the complete opposite happened. With a superstar roster consisting of Matthew “Wardell” Yu, Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik, Stephen “reltuC” Cutler, James “hazed” Cobb, and Taylor “drone” Johnson, it is shocking to see them missing from the bracket.

In the first two Challengers qualifiers, they were defeated just shy of a Main Event appearance. The Challengers 1 Round of 16 saw them lose a heartbreaking third map overtime against Masters qualifying team XSET. The Challengers 2 Quarterfinals delivered another close loss from Masters qualifying team Gen.G Esports. After finally making it to the Challengers 3 Main Event, they got their revenge on Gen.G. Two uncharacteristic beat downs by Luminosity Gaming and 100 Thieves, however, cancelled any hopes for them to make VCT Masters 1 North America.

NRG

The NA Valorant scene is filled with incredible talent. There was no way every single deserving team would make it to the first Masters tournament. That is the case with NRG. The organization put together and incredible roster. They tied it together with the signings of Ryan “Shanks” Ngo, Gage “Infinite” Green, and most recently Bradley “ANDROID” Fodor. The squad made it to the Main Event of Challengers 1 before being shown the door.

In Challengers 2, NRG were bested by Andbox while ANDROID was still a part of that unit. Challengers 3 seemed like their moment to shine. They dominated the qualifier, making it to another Main Event. In the Upper Quarterfinals, NRG bested First Strike Champions 100 Thieves and sent them to the Lower Bracket. One would expect a bit of momentum from that victory. It was FaZe Clan and Gen.G who shut them down, however, preventing a Masters appearance.

T1

T1 may be the most talented North American Valorant team with the least to show for it thus far. Since the introduction of Valorant, T1 has tried everything to put together a winning team. Roster moves galore have taken place, most recently with the releases of Braxton “brax” Pierce and Keven “AZK” Larivière. That was sandwiched by two solid signings in the form of Timothy “autimatic” Ta and Rahul “curry” Nemani.

T1 made it to First Strike, losing to the eventual winners. Challengers 1 saw them dispatched by Andbox. Challengers 2 saw them suffer a loss even earlier in the event against Headshot Percentage, in a match that many saw as an easy win for T1. Finally, the team were able to make it through the Challengers 3 qualifier. The Main Event was not as kind to them. FaZe Clan and 100 Thieves forced them back to the drawing board.

Cloud9 Blue

Cloud9 is one of the most prominent esports organizations on the planet. The compiling of this team was the talk of NA Valorant for some time. With the likes of Josh “shinobi” Abastado and Tyson “TenZ” Ngo on the roster, C9 Blue was ready to ooze greatness. Those two aren’t on the roster any longer, but C9 made up for those losses with some really good signings. Nathan “leaf” Orf and Son “xeta” Seon-ho joined with Michael “poiz” Possis eventually coming on as the sixth member. The success just hasn’t been there, however.

In both Challengers 1 and 2, Cloud9 Blue were unable to make it past the Round of 16. They weren’t defeated by unknown teams, however. The losses came from eventual qualifiers Immortals and Gen.G. In Challengers 3, they made it one step further to the Quarterfinals. T1 is the team that dashed their chances for VCT Masters 1 North America. This roster has all the makings of a championship squad. Something, anything, needs to happen for them to reach that potential.

Stay tuned to Run It Back for coverage of the Valorant Champions Tour as the Stage 1 Masters events begin around the world!