Top 5 Teams at Masters Toronto

Of the twelve teams about to compete at Masters Toronto, there are a handful that are the clear frontrunners to be gunning for the title. Here, in no particular order, we’ll look at the five most likely to lift the Master’s Toronto trophy on June 22nd.

G2 Esports

G2 have been the name on everyone’s lips since the start of the season and now enter their second global event of the year as one of the biggest favourites. Domestically, they’ve lost just a single series in VCT Americas in 2025 – and that 2-1 defeat to Sentinels in the Stage 1 upper bracket was swiftly avenged with their 3-1 revenge in the grand final.

The main blip on their record is the Masters Bangkok final loss to T1, though the 3-2 defeat was hardly a blowout. Of all the teams competing in Toronto, G2 is the one that has been the most consistent while also having arguably shown the highest ceiling. They are the favourites at the event.

Fnatic

After the number one favourite, G2, is a pack of top sides vying to be the one that upsets them to claim a global title, and Fnatic are no strangers to those.

Their rocky start to 2025 saw early elimination in EMEA Kickoff rule them out of Masters Bangkok, but a change in coaching staff ahead of Stage 1 has invigorated them. Their bracket run in EMEA was exemplary and saw them win back-to-back series against Team Heretics — then the region’s in-form team — without a single map loss.

In-game leader Jake “Boaster” Howlett has had a minor renaissance and is widely considered the world’s best in his role. He’ll be looking to lead the team to its third global title under his stewardship.

Rex Regum Qeon

Like a number of teams in VCT Pacific, RRQ went from a forgettable team in Kickoff to a top team in Stage 1. In the latter, they started by topping the easier of the league’s two groups, doing so only by overall map score as the tiebreaker, before reaching the grand final by the skin of their teeth in a 3-2 lower-bracket win against Paper Rex.

The grand final is where RRQ showed their full potential, taking down Korean powerhouse Gen.G — who had just beaten them in the upper-bracket — to become Pacific champions for the first time. Duelist Maksim “Jemkin” Batorov became a star during their run and is easily one of the top 5 players at Masters Toronto.

Gen.G

The first of our top five who are not entering Toronto as regional champions are Gen.G. While their Pacific Stage 1 grand final loss did knock them down a peg, they’ve still shown that they’ve got what it takes to compete against elite competition.

Like RRQ, Gen.G also started the season slowly. But having a roster with 3/5 of their 2024 lineup that won two Pacific titles, along with Masters Shanghai, meant that it always seemed likely that they would reemerge as a top team.

Their ramp-up during Stage 1 was slow, but inevitable. Starting 3-2 in the more difficult group was a solid start, at least solid enough to begin the playoffs in the upper bracket. But then they stormed their way through, going unbeaten throughout their run and only dropping two maps across their five series, with one of those coming in the best-of-five grand final.

Team Heretics

With the previous three teams having been placed in no discernible order, Team Heretics definitely sit just behind those. While Heretics’ play has shown a ceiling reminiscent of their 2024 form, the finals curse and Fnatic mental block are massive question marks.

Fnatic’s status as Heretics’ bogey team looked to have come to an end when they beat them to top Group Alpha in VCT EMEA Stage 1. At that point Team Heretics were unbeaten in the event and continued in that manner through to the upper-bracket final. That’s where things fell apart, losing twice to Fnatic in a matter of days and failing to claim a map across the two defeats. Their mental looked broken.

They continue to be a team with a question mark against them. They’re capable of playing elite VALORANT, and capable of winning a global event if they don’t continue slipping up when it counts. But, right now, it’s unclear if there’s any evidence to show that the slipups won’t keep coming.

Honourable mentions

XLG Esports

XLG are rather hard done by as their unique status as a regional champion that is not within our top five list. EDward Gaming’s struggles meant that no Chinese sides stood out as elite, and somewhat downplayed XLG’s achievements. Of those not in the top five, they are easily the side with the strongest argument that they actually do belong.

Sentinels

Sentinels have been G2’s biggest competition in VCT Americas and may have seen their stock undeservedly dip as a result of G2’s dominance. Were it not for G2, SEN may well have picked up two Americas titles already this season.