Masters London 2026 Upsets: How Did Favorites G2 Crash Out in 7th-8th?

London was meant to be a showcase for the seeded teams. The first international VALORANT event the UK has ever hosted, a packed Copper Box Arena, eight VCT Points sitting there for the winner. Two days into the playoffs, the favorites are the ones getting buried.

G2 are gone. The team that knocked them out lost its very first match of the whole tournament. If you skipped the Swiss stage and the opening playoff days, the bracket flipped upside down while you were away.

How did tournament favorites G2 crash out so early?

Badly, and fast. G2 arrived as the Americas Stage 1 champions and a clear top seed. They left in 7th-8th, about the worst a first seed can manage at a Masters.

It happened in two hits:

• Xi Lai Gaming broke them first. In the Upper Quarterfinals on June 13, the Chinese side dropped the opening map, then took the next two to win 2-1. G2 had actually picked XLG as their own opponent in the playoff draw, and the pick backfired straight into the lower bracket.
• FUT Esports buried them the next day. The Turkish roster needed only two maps. They cruised Ascent 13:6, then held their nerve through overtime on Lotus to close it 15:13 and end G2’s run.

Regional champions two months ago. Out of London before the weekend. That is a brutal swing, and 35,000 USD is thin comfort for a roster with this much pedigree.

Was G2 the only big name to fall?

Not close. NRG went out in the Swiss stage and never reached the playoff bracket at all, finishing 9th-10th. Here is the cruel part. NRG opened the tournament by beating Xi Lai Gaming 2-0. They simply could not back it up, and the team they beat caught fire instead.

That is what makes this bracket so much fun. XLG lost their first match of the event, recovered through Swiss anyway, and then dumped the favorites out in the playoffs. The side that beat them is already watching from a hotel room.

Where does every team stand right now?

Stage reached	Teams	Prize
Still alive (Upper)	Xi Lai Gaming, EDward Gaming, Paper Rex, Team Vitality	TBD
Still alive (Lower)	Leviatán, FUT Esports (joined later by the two upper-semi losers)	TBD
7th-8th	G2 Esports, Team Heretics	35,000 USD
9th-10th	Global Esports, NRG	25,000 USD
11th-12th	Dragon Ranger Gaming, FULL SENSE	15,000 USD

Standings as of June 15. Positions shift as today’s matches finish.

Which Cinderella run should you actually watch?

Xi Lai Gaming, easily. A 0-2 opening loss to NRG could have ended their week early. Instead they clawed back through Swiss, drew the short straw as G2’s hand-picked quarterfinal opponent, and won anyway. China almost never runs this deep at a Western Masters, so this is the story with the most room left to grow.

Keep half an eye on Leviatán too. They ran into Paper Rex in the upper bracket and lost 0-2, slid to the lower side, and stayed alive with a 2-1 win over Team Heretics. Lower-bracket runs are exhausting. They have also ended in trophies before.

What is left to play for?

Both Upper Semifinals go today. Xi Lai Gaming meet EDward Gaming in an all-China clash at 15:00 BST, then Paper Rex face Team Vitality at 18:00 BST. Win and you are one step from the Grand Final. Lose and you drop into a lower bracket that already has Leviatán and FUT circling.

A few things to keep in your head:

• The money is serious. Masters London runs on a 1,000,000 USD pool, and the champion lifts 350,000 USD plus 8 VCT Points on June 21.
• People are watching. Paper Rex against Leviatán drew a peak of 652,277 viewers, per Esports Charts, the biggest audience of the event so far.
• This is a checkpoint, not the summit. London is the last global stop before Champions later this year, so those VCT Points carry real weight.

The top seed is already gone and an underdog is tearing through the upper half. The back end of this tournament belongs to nobody yet. You can follow every match, result and prize split on our live VCT Masters London 2026 hub, and we will keep our coverage current as the bracket settles.