Valorant Masters Santiago is sort of upon us, as the perfect international Valorant groups head to the Chilean capital to duke it out on the first Masters occasion of 2026. With Decide’Ems now reside, listed below are our solutions for the perfect picks to make it out of the Swiss Stage.
The primary occasion of the season can all the time be difficult to gauge absolutely in any esport. Groups are nonetheless pretty recent, there have been sure balancing modifications, and whereas there may be information to go off, you may by no means really guess what’s going to occur.
That’s what makes these Decide’Ems much more thrilling. So, listed below are our picks for the Swiss stage of Valorant Masters Santiago.
Undefeated: T1 (2-0)
Our precedence choose for the workforce to go undefeated within the Swiss Stage is Korean facet T1. They seemed very robust within the Pacific Kickoff, taking second seed and beating fellow Swiss Stage workforce Paper Rex on their run.
Not solely that, however a positive opening spherical fixture in opposition to Crew Liquid is bound to set them off on the suitable foot, although an upset there may very well be big.
Light Mates (2-0)
Light Mates have a tough opening-round matchup in opposition to EDward Gaming, who can definitely be checked out as darkish horses to do some harm right here.
Nevertheless, M8 made brief work of a lot of the EMEA Kickoff bracket earlier than dropping out to BBL Esports, with Martin “Marteen” Pátek specifically standing out with some big performs and usually acting at an elite stage throughout the match. EDward Gaming could wrestle to comprise him of their opening match, but when they will and get the victory, they really feel an excellent exterior choose to get via Swiss.
G2 (2-1)
G2 have arguably essentially the most even opening spherical within the occasion, dealing with a Paper Rex workforce which have carried out effectively in Pacific and mix for an excellent matchup.
This fixture might actually go both approach, however G2 because the #2 Americas seed ought to simply have the sting to take down their Pacific opponents. If not, we’re not too frightened about them both approach, as they need to be able to beating nearly anyone within the Swiss spherical.
Paper Rex (2-1)
Whether or not they beat G2 or not, we see Paper Rex getting via to Playoffs. There could also be an upset as soon as both workforce goes to 0-1, or the 1-1 spherical, however each are just too good to not be there.
Whichever approach this matchup goes, we predict each groups attending to Playoffs.
In fact, as with every match, you may by no means really guess precisely how issues will play out. Reigning world champions NRG might catch fireplace, whereas EDward Gaming might pull off the wins wanted to indicate out on the worldwide stage.
It doesn’t matter what occurs, with Valorant heading to South America for the primary time, you may assure a enjoyable occasion with some improbable twists and turns.
