VALORANT Masters London 2026 Preview

VALORANT Masters London 2026 is an S-Tier tournament taking place from June 6 to 21, with 12 teams participating. The tournament is held in London at Copper Box Arena, which holds 7,500 spectators.

Paper Rex is considered the main tournament favorite, with odds of 3.00 given for its victory. The main challengers to Paper Rex are G2 Esports and Team Heretics.

Here, we take a detailed look at the tournament format, teams and schedule, and share our predictions.

VALORANT Masters London 2026 takes place from June 6 to 21. The total tournament prize pool is $1,000,000, with $350,000 going to the winner. In total, 12 teams compete in the tournament, of which 4 received a direct place in the playoffs.

The tournament starts with the Swiss Stage, which takes place from June 6 to 10. This is where the teams that finished second and third in the International Leagues play. All matches are played in BO3 format, and the four highest-placed teams will qualify for the playoffs.

The Masters London 2026 playoffs will take place from June 12 to 21. In total, 8 teams will compete, and a Double-Elimination bracket will be used. This means teams can lose once and still reach the Grand Final by winning the Lower Bracket Final.

In the playoffs, all matches are played as BO3, except for the Lower Bracket Final and Grand Final. These two matches will be played in BO5 format.

Four International League winners have places in the playoffs: G2 Esports, EDward Gaming, Team Heretics and Paper Rex.

The other eight teams taking part in the tournament are: Leviatan, NRG, XLG Esports, Dragon Ranger Gaming, Team Vitality, FUT Esports, FULL SENSE and Global Esports.

In total, 60 players compete in the esports tournament. The United States and China each have 8 players, while Turkey has 7. Russia and Thailand each have 5 players, Taiwan, Brazil and Philippines each have 3, and Finland, Lithuania and the United Kingdom each have 2. Another 11 countries have one player each.

At VALORANT Masters London 2026, Paper Rex is named as the main favorite. This team played at VALORANT Masters Santiago 2026, where it lost in the final against Nongshim RedForce. Trustable online bookmakers give Paper Rex the shortest odds to win Masters London, at around 3.00 to 4.00. Other tournament favorites:

• G2 Esports
• Team Heretics
• Team Vitality
• NRG Esports

G2 and Heretics have places in the playoffs, while Vitality and NRG started the tournament from the Swiss Stage. Tournament wins for these two teams would be a surprise, but they can certainly compete for the final.

Looking at Masters Santiago 2026, Paper Rex beat G2 Esports in the Lower Bracket Semifinal, and Paper Rex then beat NRG in the Lower Bracket Final. The same teams are also considered among the favorites at Masters London.

Team Heretics is the only one that did not play at Masters Santiago, and the London tournament is the first event of this level for the team in the 2026 season.

Masters London 2026 is one of the biggest VALORANT tournaments of the 2026 season. So far this year, only Masters Santiago 2026 has taken place, the Esports World Cup 2026 will be played in July, and VALORANT Champions 2026 will begin in September.

Unlike Counter-Strike 2, where S-Tier tournaments take place every month, VALORANT teams have much more time for training and tournament preparation.

Bookmakers have prepared a standard betting market for Masters London 2026: Who Will Win, To Reach Final, H2H and Finals MVP. We have selected several bets that appear to offer the strongest value.

Bookmakers give favorite Paper Rex the shortest odds, but there is still enough value to choose this team to win.

Paper Rex stands out for its longevity. “d4v41” and “f0rsakeN” have been playing together on the team since February 2021. “something” joined at the end of March 2023, exactly one year later “Jinggg” arrived, and “invy” joined at the end of 2025.

The players who have been playing together for many years have won more than one title. Masters Santiago ended with a loss in the final, while the team won Masters Toronto 2025. In its own region, Paper Rex dominates, having won VCT 2024: Pacific Stage 1, VCT 2025: Pacific Stage 2 and VCT 2026: Pacific Stage 1.

The team has two players who are given the shortest odds for the Finals MVP award:

The shortest odds are partly because Paper Rex is the main favorite, but they also reflect the level of the players. Another Paper Rex player, Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto, is also fifth in the odds list.

The main challenger to Paper Rex at Masters London 2026 is G2 Esports. The teams met at Masters Santiago 2026, where Paper Rex won the Lower Bracket Semifinal 2:1. G2 dropped into the Lower Bracket after losing to tournament winner NS RedForce, which is not at Masters London 2026.

G2 Esports has similarities with Paper Rex because the core here has also been playing together for a very long time. Three players have been together on the team since the end of 2023. “jawgemo” joined in October 2024, while “babybay” arrived at the end of 2025 and is named among the favorites to win Finals MVP.

At VCT 2026: Americas Stage 1, G2 Esports beat NRG, who are playing in this tournament. In the Upper Bracket Final, G2 lost 1:2 against Leviatan, but took revenge in the final 3:2. It was not easy against NRG either, where the win also came 3:2.

Team Heretics is also worth watching, but the team made changes only two months ago. “Koshmaras” joined at the start of April, and although the others have been playing together for more than 2 years, the new player can unbalance the game.

VALORANT Masters London 2026 began on June 6 and will continue until June 21. The first stage takes place from June 6 to 10, while the playoffs run from June 12 to 21.

The Masters London 2026 schedule is not intense, with only a few matches played per day, so the tournament lasts two weeks. Full VALORANT Masters London schedule:

VALORANT Masters London 2026 is one of the few S-Tier tournaments. In total, 12 teams are playing, but several main esports teams can be singled out as those that will fight for a place in the final. Paper Rex, G2 Esports, Heretics and Vitality are the teams to watch.

Because VALORANT tournaments take place quite rarely, major surprises are not common. Before the playoffs, one or two unexpected results can be found, but once the decisive matches begin, the favorites usually meet in the final. That is what is expected in this tournament as well, where Paper Rex and G2 Esports are predicted to meet in the final.

Esports bookmakers have prepared a wide betting market for VALORANT Masters London 2026. It is possible to bet on individual matches as well as long-term tournament markets. When looking for valuable Masters London 2026 picks, attention should be paid to the following aspects:

• The Swiss Stage is the stage where surprises can be expected, but there are fewer of them in VALORANT tournaments than in Counter-Strike 2, where S-Tier tournaments take place every month.
• Team Heretics arrives at the tournament with a new player. “Koshmaras” joined in April, so some imbalance may be felt, although the other players have been playing together for more than two years.
• Paper Rex shows very stable results in VALORANT Masters tournaments, so it is no surprise that the team is considered a favorite. This team can be trusted in the playoffs.
• Four teams already have places in the playoffs, so they will start the tournament without any warm-up. Team Heretics and Team Vitality should qualify for the playoffs after the Swiss Stage, so these teams need to be watched in the opening matches, as they will already be warmed up and can pose a serious challenge to the main favorites.