The first Masters of 2024 begins on Thursday, March 14. It will offer eight teams from around the world an opportunity to advance in Champions qualification, as well as a share of the $500,000 USD prize pool.

Of the eight participants, three organizations will have a chance at joining FNATIC in an elite club of repeat international event winners. Another three orgs, Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius , Karmine Corp Karmine Corp Europe Rank #30 saadhak Matias Delipetro Avez Hazem Khaled Elite Efe Teber SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin marteen Martin Pátek , and Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) yoman Chae Young-moon (채영문) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) , will make their international debut at a non-invitational VCT event.

Format

The initial portion of the tournament will be played with an eight team Swiss-style format. In this system, teams play against other teams with the same win/loss record. All matches will be best-of-three. After three rounds, the top four teams, i.e. teams with two victories, will move on to playoffs.

The winner of each region's Kickoff event was awarded a top seed at Madrid. They were drawn against one of the four runners-up, ensuring that all opening matches are cross-regional. The initial matchups are as follows:

Swiss system Graphical representation of the Swiss stage. Image: Riot Games

Once a team has earned their second victory of the Swiss stage, they will qualify to playoffs. This stage of the event will feature a standard four-team double-elimination bracket. The teams that qualified without losing a series in the Swiss stage will be drawn against the two teams that had a 2-1 record.

Schedule

The opening games are as follows:

Swiss Stage

Round 1 - Thursday, March 14

Round 1 - Friday, March 15

Round 2 - Saturday, March 16

  • 8:00 AM PDT | 4:00 PM CET | March 17, 12:00 AM JST - TBD vs TBD
  • 11:00 AM PDT | 7:00 PM CET | March 17, 3:00 AM JST - TBD vs TBD

Round 2 - Sunday, March 17

  • 8:00 AM PDT | 4:00 PM CET | March 18, 12:00 AM JST - TBD vs TBD
  • 11:00 AM PDT | 7:00 PM CET | March 18, 3:00 AM JST - TBD vs TBD

Round 3 - Monday, March 18

  • 8:00 AM PDT | 4:00 PM CET | March 19, 12:00 AM JST - TBD vs TBD
  • 11:00 AM PDT | 7:00 PM CET | March 19, 3:00 AM JST - TBD vs TBD

Playoffs

Thursday, March 21

  • 8:00 AM PDT | 4:00 PM CET | March 22, 12:00 AM JST - Upper Semifinal: TBD vs TBD
  • 11:00 AM PDT | 7:00 PM CET | March 22, 3:00 AM JST - Upper Semifinal: TBD vs TBD

Friday, March 22

  • 8:00 AM PDT | 4:00 PM CET | March 23, 12:00 AM JST - Lower Round 1: TBD vs TBD
  • 11:00 AM PDT | 7:00 PM CET | March 23, 3:00 AM JST - Upper Final: TBD vs TBD

Lower Final (Bo5) - Saturday, March 23

  • 8:00 AM PDT | 4:00 PM CET | March 24, 12:00 AM JST - TBD vs TBD

Grand Final (Bo5) - Sunday, March 24

  • 9:00 AM PDT | 5:00 PM CET | March 25, 1:00 AM JST - TBD vs TBD

Broadcast

Masters Madrid will be broadcast on both official channels and watch party streams, with full details available shortly.

Streams

English Broadcast Talent

  • Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez (Host)
  • Chrissy Costanza (Host)
  • Mika “Mikafabs” Fabella (Host)
  • Salome Soe “Soe” Gschwind-Repp (Host)
  • Yinsu Collins (Host)
  • Mimi “aEvilcat” Wermcrantz (Analyst)
  • Beatriz “kaquka” Alonso (Analyst)
  • Brennon “Bren” Hook (Commentator)
  • Josh “Sideshow” Wilkinson (Commentator)
  • Michael “hypoc” Robins (Commentator)
  • Lauren “Pansy” Scott (Commentator)
  • Mitch “MitchMan” McBride (Commentator)
  • Tom “Tombizz” Bissmire (Commentator)
  • David “prius” Kuntz (Observer)
  • Heather “sapphiRe” Garozzo (Observer)
  • Alberto “Tiie” Chavez Benitez (Observer)
  • Nicholas “Yehty” Tesolin (Observer)

Drops and New Agent

By connecting their Valorant account with a Twitch or YouTube account, viewers can earn the “Ñ” title by watching a live match between March 14 and March 23. Additionally, watching the grand final live will award you the “VCT Push Up” playercard.

The new agent will be revealed at the event. Prior to the grand final, a showmatch will be played to showcase the character. Tune in March 24 at 4:00 PM CET to watch the preview.

Coverage

VLR.gg will continue VCT 2024 coverage in our event hub. Pick'ems for the first round are open until the beginning of the first match. Finally, stats and a live match ticker will be available throughout the tournament.