Qualifiers for VALORANT Masters Santiago 2026

From January 15 to February 15, four qualifiers will be held for the VALORANT Masters Santiago 2026 tournament, with a $1 million prize pool. Only 12 of the 48 qualifying teams will advance to the main tournament. Among the qualifiers are 2025 VALORANT World Champion NRG, as well as finalist fnatic and other top teams in the world.

Here we will review the full qualifying format and schedule, assess the favorites’ chances of qualifying for the tournament, and introduce the main bets and their odds.

12 teams will compete in each of the four qualifiers for the Masters Santiago 2026 tournament, with 3 teams advancing to the main tournament. There will be qualifiers for the Americas, China, Pacific, and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) regions, and the main VALORANT Masters Santiago tournament will be held in Chile from February 28 to March 15.

All four qualifying tournaments will use the same format: triple-elimination playoffs. Each team can lose twice and will be eliminated from the qualifiers after their third loss.

The qualifiers are divided into 3 brackets: upper, middle, and lower. In each qualifier, 4 esports teams skip the first round and enter the upper bracket quarterfinals. The other 8 teams start from the first round, after which the four losing teams drop to the middle bracket.

When teams lose in the middle bracket, they drop into the decisive lower bracket, where they can no longer lose. A loss in the lower bracket means elimination from the qualifier.

All matches are played to 2 map wins (BO3), and the final of each bracket is played to 5 map wins (BO5). The winners of each bracket (upper, middle, lower) will qualify for Masters Santiago 2026.

Before each match, the team selects one player to represent the team in Skirmish mode. Here, with character abilities disabled, players play 1 vs. 1 using only weapons. The player who wins 5 rounds first earns the right to choose the map first.

Dates for all four qualifiers:

The Americas qualifiers started the earliest, on January 15, but like most others, will continue until February 15. The qualifiers are taking place in Los Angeles, USA. A total of 12 teams are competing: 100 Thieves, Cloud9, Evil Geniuses, FURIA, KRU Esports, Leviatan, LOUD, MiBR, NRG, Sentinels, G2 Esports, and ENVY.

In this qualifier, attention should be paid to the G2 Esports team, which suffered a fiasco at the 2025 VALORANT World Championship, losing the first 2 playoff matches and dropping out of the title race. There will be no shortage of motivation to bounce back, so G2 can be considered one of the favorites in this qualifier.

The other team is NRG, which, unlike G2 Esports, won the VALORANT World Championship. The team’s lineup has remained unchanged, so there should be no significant problems in the qualifiers.

The Pacific qualifiers, featuring teams from Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Singapore, and the Philippines, will begin on January 22 and run through February 15. The tournament will be played in Seoul, South Korea.

The following teams will compete for 3 spots: DetonatioN FocusMe, DRX, FULL SENSE, Gen.G Esports, Global Esports, Paper Rex, Rec Regum Qeon, T1, Team Secret, ZETA DIVISION, VARREL, and Nongshim RedForce.

Esports bookmakers have identified one clear favorite in this selection – Paper Rex, which has been given odds of 1.33. Paper Rex lost to the finalist fnatic in the playoffs at the World Championship in October and was later eliminated by DRX.

DRX has odds of 1.72 to qualify for the Masters Santiago 2026. Another team worth mentioning is T1, but Gen.G Esports will also be in contention. Three tickets should be decided between these 4 teams.

All teams from Europe will compete in the European, Middle Eastern, and African qualifiers. The tournament runs from January 20 to February 15, with all matches held in Berlin.

The following teams will compete for spots in Masters Santiago 2026: fnatic, BBL Esports, FUT Esports, GIANTX, Gentle Mates, Karmine Corp, Natus Vincere, Team Liquid, Team Herectics, Team Vitality, PCIFIC Esports, and ULF Esports.

It would be a big surprise if fnatic failed to qualify for the main tournament, so this team is worth watching in the qualifiers. The top sports bookmakers odds are 1.40 for them to qualify. The other 2 teams that should go to the championship in Chile are Team Heretics and Team Vitality.

The Chinese qualifiers will begin on January 22 and end at the earliest on February 9. The tournament will take place in Guangzhou, and the following teams will compete in the qualifiers: All Gamers, EDward Gaming, Bilibili Gaming, JD Gaming, FunPlus Phoenix, Nova Esports, Titan Esports Club, Trace Esports, TYLOO, XLG Esports, Wolves Esports, and Dragon Ranger Gaming.

There are 2 favorites in the Chinese qualifiers: EDward Gaming and Bilibili Gaming. Both are given odds of 1.40. It would be a big surprise if at least one of them failed to qualify. The battle for the third spot is wide open – XLG Esports, Dragon Ranger Gaming, or FunPlus Phoenix should take the last place.

VALORANT has only a few top-level tournaments per year, so the teams are certainly not lacking motivation in the qualifiers. If they don’t make it to the Masters Santiago 2026, the next tournament of this level will only take place on June 6-21 in London, with qualifiers starting in March.

The maximum concentration of teams creates greater betting value – teams strive to show their best form right from the start of the qualifiers. Matches are relatively rare, and there are enough days to prepare for opponents, so unlike in Counter-Strike 2 qualifiers, the teams’ attitude here is on an entirely different level.

Although betting sites allow you to place long-term bets on who will make it to the main tournament, there is not much value in these bets, especially for the favorites – the odds are pretty low, so it is better to place bets on individual matches, which will often allow you to find more value.

All qualifying matches can be watched on Twitch and YouTube, and bets are available both before the matches start and on live betting platforms.

The main favorites in the qualifiers are G2 Esports, NRG, fnatic, EDward Gaming, and Bilibili Gaming.