Newcomers vs veterans: VALORANT Masters Santiago Swiss Stage predictions

The first global VCT event of the year, VALORANT Masters Santiago, is right around the corner, promising three weeks of high-tier gameplay and unpredictable outcomes.

Kicking off on February 28th, Masters Santiago’s Swiss Stage will see two teams from every VCT region (EMEA, Americas, Pacific and China) compete for one of the four coveted spots in the Playoffs bracket.

With an international trophy and $1m (~£740,000) in total prize money on the line, rookie teams will have to be resilient, while veterans look to defend growing legacies. Esports Insider breaks down the upcoming VALORANT Masters Santiago Swiss Stage, and which teams are most likely to make it out alive.

Triple VCT Americas 2025 champion G2 Esports is, perhaps surprisingly, heading to Chile as the region’s second seed.

Last year, G2 rose to new regional heights and established itself as the strongest team in VCT Americas by a large margin. However, despite Masters Santiago being the organisation’s eighth global VCT event, G2 has yet to lift an international trophy.

In 2025, the roster scored a second-place finish at Masters Bangkok, a fourth-place finish at Masters Toronto, and an early Playoffs elimination at Champions Paris.

For the 2026 VCT season, the team made a somewhat controversial roster move, replacing long-standing member Jonah ‘JonahP’ Pulice with Andrej ‘babybay’ Francist. Babybay had previously joined G2 as a stand-in for Nathan ‘leaf’ Orf and exceeded expectations thanks to his agent flexibility and high energy.

As the region’s shining star, G2 went into VCT Americas Kickoff with high expectations. However, already in its second match of the season, G2 suffered a 1-2 upset at the hands of FURIA, losing the region’s first seed at Masters Santiago.

Although the team now has to commence its Masters Santiago journey in the Swiss Stage, G2’s middle bracket run at Kickoff also showcased its ability diversify its playbook when necessary. As exposed by FURIA, G2’s signature methodical macro gameplay has become outdated in the new, fast-paced meta.

As a result, G2 decided to revamp its playstyle, including new team compositions and riskier gameplay to survive the middle bracket. With this newfound identity, the VCT veteran is more likely to succeed against the chaotic rookie teams at Masters Santiago, granting G2 another shot at international redemption.

VALORANT Masters Santiago, and particularly its Swiss Stage, could be considered one of the most difficult brackets to predict in VCT history.

This is because many rookie rosters across the four VCT Kickoff events have successfully leaned into their firepower and unique macro approaches to upset bigger names within the regions. Americas team FURIA dethroned G2 Esports, China’s All Gamers upset Bilibili Gaming and XLG Esports, and the new BBL Esports line-up brushed past EMEA giant Fnatic.

As a result, many of these big names are now headed to the Swiss Stage at Masters Santiago. Champions winners like NRG and EDward Gaming will clash with Masters Bangkok and Masters Toronto champions Paper Rex and T1, respectively, forming an incredibly stacked bracket.

Furthermore, some of the less consistent teams, such as Team Liquid and XLG Esports, have already proven to subvert expectations and will be looking to do the same in Santiago. With this in mind, almost every match in this Swiss Stage feels like a coin flip, making it nigh impossible for fans and analysts to predict which teams will advance to the Playoffs.

Despite being released during VCT OFF//SEASON, VALORANT’s Patch 11.08 was a major meta shift that became prominent in pro play during VCT Kickoff four months later. Many EMEA and Americas teams that had previously relied on slow and diligent macro gameplay, as well as double-initiator comps, were forced to do a complete strategy overhaul.

Patch 11.08 massively reduced agent utility whilst making staple sentinels, such as Killjoy, Vyse and Cypher, near unviable except for certain maps and niche playstyles.

With traditional sentinels less viable and flash-initiators already weak, a new fast-paced, gunplay-focused meta was born during Kickoff, dominated by double-controller and double-duelist team compositions. 

The VCT Pacific region, however, has always leaned into the firepower of individuals and the chaos of fast set strategies. For example, teams like Paper Rex and T1 had used double-duelist comps way before it became meta. After years of criticism regarding Pacific’s macro methodology and discipline, the region’s signature playstyle is now being adopted by the rest of the VCT world.

The three Pacific representatives at Masters Santiago, Nonghsim RedForce, T1 and Paper Rex, have the potential to dominate in the new global meta.

Interestingly, another region that could benefit from the 2026 meta shift is China. Chinese teams like All Gamers and EDward Gaming might just be able to offset subpar macro fundamentals with outstanding individual talent to upset otherwise favoured opponents.

The Swiss Stage at VALORANT Masters Santiago will take place from February 28th until March 4th, featuring eight VCT teams:

The top four emerging teams will then advance to the Playoffs to meet the four regional first seeds, BBL Esports, FURIA, Nongshim RedForce and All Gamers.

So, which teams will walk away from the Swiss Stage victorious?

EMEA Ascension team Gentle Mates will start its Swiss Stage journey with a favourable match-up against Chinese representative EDward Gaming (EDG).

Since lifting the VALORANT Champions trophy two years ago, EDG has struggled to find a worthy replacement for former member Hsieh ‘S1Mon’ Meng-hsun and adjust to the new Yoru meta.

Meanwhile, Gentle Mates fields the deadly duelist duo of Taranvir ‘bipo’ Singh and Martin ‘marteen’ Pátek, which receives supportive firepower from the roster’s high-fragging controller/flex players Patrik ‘Minny’ Hušek and Conner ‘GLYPH’ Garcia.

Gentle Mates’ biggest weakness is that its relatively young roster, led by an inexperienced in-game leader (IGL) in Patryk ‘starxo’ Kopczyński, is more susceptible to mental pressure. But as long as starxo’s straightforward calling style won’t be tested by enemy IGLs, the French team could emerge from the Swiss Stage undefeated.

Day two at Masters Santiago will kick off with an iconic international match-up between Americas representative G2 Esports and Pacific’s Paper Rex. These two teams have faced off against each other across countless VCT global events, with Paper Rex taking the victory most of the time.

Whilst this match-up is historically labelled as a clash of playstyles, this time around, G2 will likely stick to its recently adopted fast-paced look. The Americas roster has also utilised some of Paper Rex’s Phoenix team compositions, which should give Paper Rex a slight edge in the upcoming battle.

On the flipside, G2’s opponent has had a slow start to the VCT 2026 season, having to polish its decision-making to barely survive in the lower bracket at Pacific Kickoff. Moreover, Paper Rex has yet to unlock the full potential of its new signing, Adrian ‘invy’ Reyes.

Although either G2 or Paper Rex will inevitably suffer a loss at the very beginning of their Masters Santiago run, both rosters are still considered favourites to secure a Playoffs spot.

In comparison, reigning VALORANT Champion and Americas’ third seed NRG has already been punished for playing off-meta comps. Without its biggest hypeman Sam ‘s0m’ Oh, it will be difficult — albeit not impossible — for NRG to survive such a stacked Swiss Stage.

Similar to other legacy organisations across VCT, T1 had some trouble finding its footing at Kickoff. In addition to the massive meta shift, the Korean team also had to adjust to its new coaching staff, as well as Byeon ‘Munchkin’ Sang-beom becoming T1’s new IGL.

Its most recent regional performances, though, gave a glimpse into T1’s incredible high skill ceiling. In particular, Ham ‘iZu’ Woo-Joo impressed the VCT crowd with deadly precision in his new Yoru role. Fellow duelist player Yu ‘BuZz’ Byung-chul also has the firepower to take over games for the team.

Unless its first Swiss Stage opponent, Team Liquid, can break T1’s mental and pull off another miracle like in the VCT EMEA Kickoff match versus Fnatic, T1 should be set up for victory, and only one more win away from Playoffs qualification.

To find out which Swiss Stage teams ascend to the Playoffs at VALORANT Masters Santiago, fans can tune into the event’s official Twitch and YouTube broadcasts.