The end of the first Valorant Championship Tour Masters is soon approaching. VCT Masters Finals for Europe, CIS, North America and Korea are all expected to be played on the 21st of March.
Performance in the VCT masters is critical, with teams being awarded VCT circuit points based on standings. These VCT circuit points will later determine the teams to represent their region in the Valorant Champions event, the highest level of global competitive play. Given there are three Masters level events for each region, competition will be intense as teams claw their way to the next bracket.
Three regions have their finalists set or are one match away from doing so. Neither of the three regions saw huge upsets thus far, with the expected favorites all reaching the end stages of their Regional events.
Based on the size of the regions and viewership, Riot has also allocated a significant prize pool for each Masters event. The Masters victor for Europe, Korea and CIS will respectively get $60,000, $40,000 and $30,000 each.
Numerous Valorant betting sites will also embed these streams into their websites, enabling you to bet live on the VCT.
The finals of the Korean VCT Masters Stage 1 will be between Vision Strikers and Nuturn Gaming. Both teams started from Group A and have already faced off before. Vision Strikers have the advantage having taken down Nuturn Gaming 2-1 in the groups stage. However, while Nuturn are a newer team, they cannot be overlooked. Nuturn took a decisive 2-0 victory against Team MUYAHO, the top team in Group B. To stand a stronger chance, Nuturn will have to overcome their weakness in Icebox, a map they heavily dropped against Vision Strikers and one they had constantly avoided throughout the Masters event.
Vision Strikers has overwhelmingly low esports odds in this match. You can expect anything below 1.4x return even in exotic bets at most esports betting sites.
Despite Team Heretics leading Group A, their narrow win indicates a weaker showing compared to 2020. Acend on the other hand, despite forming at the start Masters and dropping their opening match, appear to be this event’s underdogs. Acend took a very decisive 2-0 win against Ballista Esports, showing their potential to vie for the top spot. Looking in Group B, FunPlus Phoenix are favoured to enter the finals having been able to carry their strong performance forward throughout the VCT masters. For the Finals, one cannot discount the possibility that NiP makes it through, especially after being the dual G2 Esports slayers in the Challengers stages.
There is a strong value bet to made on Acend in their match versus NiP. GG.BET gives 3.32x return on Acend beating NiP which is more then a fair bargain.
Gambit and forZe entered the VCT masters with high hopes placed on them. Both Gambit and forZe had dominated various B and C tier tournaments, with forZe also taking out first in the First Strike CIS event. Being the favourites of their respective groups, they are expected to enter the finals together for the 21st of March. While forZe have had more achievements in the past, Gambit are the Valorant betting favorite due to their astounding 52-22 round record in Group A.
In a head to head final, expect maps to be dropped both ways. This gives opportunities for live betting and making some decent profits.
In the end, there are eight individual regions playing out their Finals this weekend. You can expect a long super-broadcast at twitch.tv/VALORANT to entertain you as the first Valorant Masters are crowned.
Read next: Gambit looks to maintain Katowice form at ESL Pro League Season 13
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