From the Challengers phase of VCT Brazil, eight teams have earned the right to compete in the Masters phase. Those eight teams are:

• Gamelanders
• Vorax
• FURIA Esports
• Team Vikings
• Imperial Esports
• Sharks Esports (formerly Squad5)
• paiN Gaming
• SLICK

This past weekend, VCT Brazil Masters kicked off with the battle of these eight teams to advance to the next round. Four are now left. Here’s what has happened so far and what will happen next.

The Story So Far

As mentioned already, this past weekend saw these eight teams duke it out. It’s a single elimination bracket, and each match is best of three, except for the grand finals where a best of five will determine the winner. The next round sees these four teams left:

• Gamelanders
• FURIA Esports
• paiN Gaming
• Team Vikings

The battles between the eight teams were quite heated! Only one of the opening matches was a 2:0 score line, and that was the Gamelanders vs. SLICK match. All the others were 2:1 score lines. Looking at the match breakdowns for each of the 2:1 matches reveals an interesting pattern. For two of these matches (FURIA vs. Imperial and Team Vikings vs. Sharks), one side would completely dominate the other in one map, then the opposing team would dominate them in the next map. This seems to indicate that these Brazilian teams have heavily favored maps.

What’s Next?

The semifinals of the VCT Brazil Masters series will take place tomorrow, March 20. The Top 2 teams will then proceed to Reykjavik, Iceland, to compete in the VCT Stage 2 Masters, taking place the week of May 24. 3rd and 4th place of the VCT Brazil Masters series will take home some prize money, but their runs will end there.

Whichever two teams make it past the VCT Brazil Masters gauntlet will have their work cut out for them. They’ll possibly need to improve their map pools if they want to stand a chance against the teams from the other regions. Of course, we here at Run it Back will be observing what’s next every step of the way.