The Swiss Stage of Valorant Masters London is reaching crunch time as the final round of the Swiss Stage begins on Wednesday.
The competition has already said goodbye to two of its teams, as Dragon Ranger Gaming and Full Sense fell out of playoff contention after defeats in the Swiss lower bracket.
The final round of Swiss follows a dramatic two days of purely regional matchups, which saw Vitality and Leviatán progress to the playoffs, with XLG and Global Esports eliminating their regional rivals, Dragon Ranger Gaming and Full Sense, to survive in the competition.
Valorant Champions winners fight for their life at Valorant Masters London
NRG may be Valorant Champions 2025 winners, but they have never taken the easy road to acclaim. The roster has not set the world alight domestically, struggling to keep pace with G2 in VCT Americas.
However, the leadership of Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold has always pulled them out of bad positions internationally, with the clutch formats of international competitions forcing innovation and strong understandings of meta, something which the IGL has always delivered on.
Still, a FUT roster that ran Vitality close will not exactly be the draw NRG were hoping for when it comes to playoff qualification. The Turkish roster seems truly connected in the server, something NRG has at times lacked despite their overall superiority.
In the other matchup, XLG takes on Global Esports in what will be a rivalry across Asia’s Chinese and Pacific regions. Kale ‘Autumn’ Dunne and Patrick ‘PatMen’ Mendoza both have plenty of experience against XLG, with FunPlus Phoenix and PRX, respectively, giving the match that bit more spice.
For XLG, a win here would excoriate the pain of their Masters Santiago last-place finish. For Global Esports, it would be the continuation of an incredible rise that has seen the organization go from a last-placed VCT Pacific team in 2025 to one of the region’s contenders.
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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