VCT Toronto is G2’s to lose

It’s crunch time at Masters Toronto. Twelve teams have been whittled down to four, and of those, one entered as the clear tournament favourite. This is now G2’s to lose.

G2 Esports are Masters Toronto favourites

G2 have been the best team worldwide so far this year, no question. They’re the only side to have won both of their regional events, besting Americas rivals Sentinels in the Kickoff and Stage 1 finals. And between those, they finished second at Masters Bangkok after a five-map, overtime-laden slog against winners T1. Had G2 edged the final map, they’d currently be on course for a grand slam season.

It’s no surprise then that they were thought of as one of the top teams coming into Masters Toronto. For most, they were the outright strongest and clear favourites to win the whole thing.

What’s more, the majority of the other sides expected to make deep runs are already eliminated. Pacific winners Rex Regum Qeon were extremely underwhelming, with their forgettable run not helped by the fact that star Duelist Maksim “Jemkin” Batorov barely showed up at the tournament, only looking like his usual self during one map of his side’s 2-1 elimination-confirming loss to Fnatic.

Fellow Pacific hopefuls Gen.G were a side growing through the tournament, with wins against Paper Rex and Fnatic showing that they were a real force. But subsequent losses to Wolves and G2 saw them drop out, sparking an inquest into potential issues with emotional leadership and a lack of experience with some newer players.

From EMEA, Team Heretics performed so poorly and went out so early that their mere presence at the tournament will soon feel like a fever dream. That said, in hindsight, securing elimination through losses to Paper Rex and Wovles — both now in the upper bracket final — isn’t as devastating as it seemed at the time.

Arguably, the only other side that was expected to challenge at this tournament that isn’t yet eliminated is Fnatic. The EMEA champions had a rough start against the then-in-form Gen.G in their opening series. But they followed that up with two do-or-die wins against RRQ and Sentinels, the latter another team who many would’ve thought capable of a title charge.

G2 vs Fnatic, the two best teams left?

Wolves Esports, led by joyous IGL Pong “SiuFatBB” Ka-hei, have become overnight superstars in the VCT community, growing not only in confidence and presence with each win, but showing better and better performance each time.

Against them in the upper bracket final is Paper Rex, another team on a fairytale run. PRX looked miles off of even qualifying after their 0-3 start in VCT Pacific Stage 1, but have gone from strength to strength in the last two months and now find themselves with a great shot at claiming a first global title at their 11th attempt.

That said, of the four sides left, G2 and Fnatic are clearly the pair that were more highly rated before the tournament started. Having them face off now in the lower bracket, a scenario that’s occurred in part thanks to the so-called first-place curse, could easily be thought of as the deciding match for the tournament. The eventual winner will likely end up as tournament favourites out of the final three, granting them a clear route to silverware.

But G2 have clearly been a step above their two-time global-winning opponents in 2025. They’ve been dominant all year — a defeat to T1 their single, tragically timed blip. Should they defeat Fnatic, and they should, then the remaining opponents would, on paper, be lighter work. G2 have got a straight shot at winning Masters Toronto.