VCT Masters Reykjavik: Dates, format, Fnatic’s Derke out, more
It has been reported that VCT Masters Reykjavík, VALORANT’s first major LAN event of 2022 will be held starting from April 10 until April 24. The tournament will see 12 teams competing in VALORANT’s first international event of 2022.
The competition, held in Reykjavík, Iceland, is expected to begin with a group stage format, with eight teams beings split into two double-elimination groups, which in turn, will comprise four teams. All matches in the group stages are a best-of-three series. The top two teams of each group will be entitled to a spot in the playoffs as low seeds. Four high-seed teams will then be seeded against them.
This makes the playoffs see eight teams competing in a double-elimination bracket setup with a best-of-three format, except for the Lower bracket Final and Grand Final, which will be played in a best-of-five format.
The winner of VCT Masters Reykjavík will be rewarded 750 circuit points, which is a significant increase from last year’s 400 circuit points awarded to the winners of VCT Masters Reykjavik 2021, Sentinels.
Fnatic’s Derke out
It has been reported that Fnatic’s Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev will not be participating in the competition despite his team having secured a spot in Reykjavík. Esports reporter Arran “Halo” Spake reported that he was ruled out of the competition due to a positive COVID-19 test.
“VALORANT Sources: Fnatic’s Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev will not be playing for the team at Masters Reykjavík after being ruled out due to illness,” Halo said on Twitter.
According to his sources, Fnatic has yet to announce a replacement for Derke.
“Multiple sources confirmed Fnatic are currently in the process of looking for a replacement. This is on top of Fnatic suspending Brave,” Halo continued.
The news came only one day after Fnatic suspended Andrey “BraveAF” Gorchakov from its roster due to his support for Russia amid the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Fnatic has replaced BraveAF with Enzo “Fearoth” Mestari. That being said, BraveAF would not fly to Iceland anyway due to travel restrictions placed on Russian passport holders.
Fearoth joins Fnatic on loan
As has been mentioned above, Alliance’s Fearoth has been hired by Fnatic on loan to replace BraveAF for the VCT Stage 1 Masters event in Iceland. Despite having Tom “otom” Hart in their arsenal as a substitute player, Fnatic said Fearoth was a more suitable replacement for BraveAF. Otom was signed earlier in March.
“I think we have found a great replacement in Enzo, who has proven over the last 18 months in Valorant that he is one of the best Sovas in the region,” Fnatic senior team director Colin “CoJo” Johnson said in a statement.
“He has been consistently playing at a top-level and led Alliance to some really impressive performances especially in the last few months as their IGL and captain in the Polaris VRL. We believe he will slot in pretty easily and add a lot of value going into Iceland.”
Team Liquid replace FunPlus Phoenix
BraveAF and Derke are not the only players that had to cancel their flight to Iceland. Even worse, the whole FunPlus Phoenix team has had their seats taken by Team Liquid. It was announced that FunPlus Phoenix was disqualified due to travel restrictions in Ukraine and Russia as well as Iceland’s COVID-19 regulations.
“Travel restrictions in Ukraine and Russia, as well as existing COVID-19 regulations, continue to create numerous challenges for international travel,” Riot announced on social media. “Over the past few weeks, our events, competitive operations, and mobility teams worked to find solutions to ensure the FunPlus Phoenix roster could attend Masters Reykjavík.
“Unfortunately, and through no fault of their own, FunPlus Phoenix will not be able to field a complete roster in Reykjavík. ”
Riot then added that “Team Liquid will be invited to participate at Masters Reykjavik as representatives of the EMEA region. This will ensure that all three EMEA slots are occupied by teams from the region”.
