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VALORANT Masters London 2026 Swiss Stage Pick’Em Guide: Rewards, Predictions, and More
Right, it’s Pick’Ems time. VALORANT Masters London 2026 is just around the corner, and we have 12 teams coming into the second international event of the year.
Plenty of fresh faces, a couple of repeat offenders. In the Swiss Stage, 8 teams—meaning the 2nd and 3rd seeds from each of the 4 leagues—will face off first.
Let’s have a look:
Pick’Ems Open for Masters London Swiss Stage
The first of the two stages of Masters London is now open for the Pick’Em predictions. From May 27th to June 6th, you’ll have a window to put your picks in and guess which teams you think will make it through.
- Swiss Stage Pick’Em Deadline: May 27th – June 6th
- Playoffs Stage Pick’Em Deadline: June 11th – 12th
Pick’Ems Rewards
Simply participating in the Pick’Ems nets players a reward. But perform well, and further goodies await.
- All Participants: Everyone who makes at least one pick earns the "Bossman Title" title. It's yours just for showing up and locking in predictions.
- Top 50%: Land in the upper half of all participants, and you'll snag the "REF?!?” buddy. This gun buddy is likely a fun nod towards both England, where football is king, as well as the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
- Top 20%: Crack the top 20%, and you'll upgrade to the golden version of the REF?!?" buddy. It's the same design, but way flashier.
- Perfect Bracket: If you somehow nail every single prediction across both stages, you'll earn the ultra-rare "100%" title. Legendary flex, IF you can score a perfect.
How Masters London Pick’Ems Work
The Pick’Ems format for Masters London follows the same structure and formula. You predict which 4 of the 8 Swiss Stage teams will advance to Playoffs. The more teams you accurately predict to qualify, the more points you’ll earn.
Moreover, players will select 1 team to advance through the Swiss Stage with a perfect 2-0 record. Predicting that team correctly nets the player bonus points.
Opening Matchups Hit Hard
Bit of a dire series of matchups to kick off London. There are obvious favorites for each of the 4 opening matches, and it’s a bit hard to say otherwise for any of them.
Firstly, we have last year’s Champs, NRG. America’s 3rd seed is fooling no one; this roster still enters London as one of the favourites to win the entire event. Despite their domestic results, it’s all off the back of the respect they’ve earned since Paris and then Santiago earlier this year.
Vitality, the EMEA ‘superteam’, finally makes a berth internationally. While they’ve not shown enough domestically to garner faith they can win the entire event, they have enough veteran talent and firepower to make short work of most middle-pack teams in this stage.
FULL SENSE, if we take this roster as the reincarnation of the Talon lineup from the previous 2 years, they’ve made one international not named LOCK//IN where they got grouped. So, they don’t have the written pedigree of, say, an NRG or a PRX at this event. But domestically, they look genuinely incredible. A smaller PRX, some would say, one that in the form they showed, could make top 8/top 4 at this event.
Then there’s Leviatán. Meteoric improvement this past Stage 1 off the back of finally getting their full 5-man lineup, and they even gave G2, the perennial gatekeepers of the Americas trophy, a good run for their money in the finals.
Round 2 Mixes Things Around
Round 2 is where things get interesting in the bracket. Focusing on the teams that are (assumedly) 1-0: NRG, Team Vitality, FULL SENSE, and Leviatán. These 4 teams will have to play one another.
NRG is the most obvious name, we think, to go through cleanly. They didn’t look as good as they did in Kickoff, but we don’t think they have to be. Assuming the opening matchups go the way we think they will, NRG will face Leviatán in the second bout. Given the difference in international experience, NRG is favored to win the series.
Vitality vs FULL SENSE is the other expected 1-0 clash for qualification. The question mark for FULL SENSE would be how their playstyle matches up against international competition, game styles they’re not as practiced against.
For Vitality, their domestic form makes them a real threat to make Playoffs and their mental fortitude in the EMEA Grand Finals was on full display. We do give the edge to FULL SENSE in this matchup just because we think their ceiling is higher as of right now.
The Final 2 to Qualify
We're taking a bit of a leap here and saying the first 2 teams to be eliminated would be Global Esports and DRG. We think compared to what the other teams have shown domestically in Playoffs, these 2 teams are just a step below.
DRG have the misfortune of facing Vitality in Round 1, who should comfortably put them away. Losing that series puts them against FUT Esports. Tough call on that second match, but I’ll say FUT win that.
Similarly, XLG will play Global Esports in the Lower Bracket. XLG have shown more exciting things, and we have them as a dark horse to make Playoffs. This eliminates both DRG and GE from Masters London 0-2.
XLG face Vitality, and LEV face FUT for the final 2 spots. LEV beat FUT; we think LEV has shown more domestically. We're not fully convinced by FUT’s Playoffs run; we don’t think they were tested enough there despite their Group Stage performance. And then it gets interesting, because of the 4 ‘favored’ teams to make it out, we think one will stumble, and we suspect it’ll be Vitality.
With our bracket explained, the Strafe Pick'Em Predictions for VALORANT Masters London are as follows:
12 Contenders Arrive in London
Masters London will run from June 6th to the 21st across 2 stages: Swiss Stage and Playoffs. As with most Masters, with fewer teams in attendance compared to Champions, it can feel pretty top-heavy in the sense that Playoffs is where it starts to get interesting.
That said, there are several notable teams whose journey in London should be of great interest. Teams like Vitality and Global Esports, who come in with this feeling of lots to prove. Rosters like XLG, DRG, and FULL SENSE definitely feel like they should have achieved more by now.
As we ramp up for the start of the Swiss Stage, keep an eye out for more content from Strafe Esports as we rank every team heading into Masters London 2026.
Follow Strafe Esports for the latest VALORANT news, and our X account for the latest content and coverage. Also, stay tuned to Strafe's YouTube channel for exclusive interviews, press conferences, and more.
Featured Image Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
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