All Gamers, XLG and EDG qualify for VALORANT Masters Santiago

With the conclusion of VCT China Kickoff 2026, All Gamers, XLG Esports and EDward Gaming (EDG) have qualified for VALORANT Masters Santiago.

From February 28th to March 15th, the Chinese representatives will face eight yet-to-be-determined teams from EMEA, Americas and Pacific at the first international VCT event of the year.

VCT China Kickoff 2026 took place from January 22nd until February 9th, featuring 10 partner teams and two rosters from the region’s VCT Ascension events.

Thanks to Kickoff’s new triple-elimination format, the competition crowns a winner for the Upper Bracket, Middle Bracket and Lower Bracket finals, resulting in three Masters Santiago slots per VCT region.

All Gamers was the first team to qualify for Masters Santiago, winning the event in its entirety. The organisation kicked off the season with an almost fully rebuilt roster, consisting of four Chinese players and Russian import Roman ‘f4ngeer’ Smirnov. 

Only Yang ‘Shr1mp’ Yong and in-game leader (IGL) Huang ‘K1ra’ Zhihao remain from All Gamers’ 2025 line-up.

Despite these major changes, All Gamers went on an impressive run in Kickoff’s Upper Bracket. The underdog first took down Nova Esports (2-0), followed by Bilibili Gaming (2-0) and Dragon Ranger Gaming (2-0), the latter of which represented the region at VALORANT Champions Paris last year.

A 3-2 victory over another Champions 2025 participant, XLG Esports, in the Upper Bracket Final awarded All Gamers with the region’s first seed at Masters Santiago.

XLG Esports first competed in China’s semi-franchised VALORANT circuit after winning the region’s Ascension tournament in 2024. Last year, the organisation automatically retained its tier-one privileges by placing higher at VALORANT Champions than fellow Ascention team Dragon Ranger Gaming.

For the 2026 season, XLG Esports signed former Wolves Esports player Liang ‘Lysoar’ Youhao and Taiwanese rookie Huang ‘WsLeo’ Ping-wei following the departure of Colin ‘coconut’ Chung and Ran ‘Viva’ Lifan.

The revamped roster had an excellent start at Kickoff, defeating Wolves Esports (2-0) and EDward Gaming (2-0). Despite its loss against All Gamers in the Upper Bracket Final, the Ascension team bounced back swiftly to take down Bilibili Gaming (3-2) in the Middle Bracket Final.

XLG Esports is now headed to Santiago, Chile, as VCT China’s second seed.

Following a mixed VCT 2025 season, the Chinese organisation made significant changes to its coaching staff. Most notably, EDG replaced its previous Head Coach Tang ‘Muggle’ Shijun with Shao ‘24K’ Yubo and former T1 Head Coach Yoon ‘Autumn’ Eu-teum.

The organisation also signed Wang ‘cb‘ Qingchuan to replace Zhang ‘Jieni7’ Juntai, who currently sits on EDG’s bench.

As one of the region’s representatives at Champions 2025, EDG started its VCT 2026 Kickoff run in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals, where it decisively defeated TYLOO (2-0). However, the roster was soon sent to the Lower Bracket following defeats to XLG Esports (0-2) and Bilibili Gaming (1-2).

From there, EDG won three consecutive matches against JD Gaming (2-1), TYLOO (2-1), and Dragon Ranger Gaming (2-1) to reach the Lower Bracket Final. The best-of-five (BO5) series today saw EDG swiftly take revenge against its previous Middle Bracket opponent Bilibili Gaming (3-1).

While EDG, All Gamers and XLG Esports have secured a spot at Masters Toronto, the other VCT regions, EMEA, Americas and Pacific, have yet to conclude their Kickoff events. By February 16th, all 12 Masters Santiago competitors will have been determined.