VALORANT Masters Santiago hit a snag when they had to redraw the matchups for Swiss Stage. Here's what commissioner Leo Faria had to say.
Leo Faria, Global Head of VALORANT Esports, announced that the matchup draws for the 1-0 and 0-1 pools of the Swiss Stage at VALORANT Masters Santiago will be redone. Here’s why it had to happen and how the teams reacted.
VALORANT Masters Santiago redraw
The initial draw was done on stage after the final Swiss Stage 0-0 match. This resulted in the following draws:
| 1-0 | 0-1 |
|---|---|
| PRX vs M8 | EDG vs G2 |
| NRG vs TL | T1 vs XLG |
Several hours after the stage draw was done, Leo Faria went on X to announce that they would redo it.
So why did they have to redo the draw? This is because, for both the 1-0 and 0-1 matchups, the second team drawn was placed in the first match, instead of the second.
Above is a screengrab from the broadcast. Paper Rex was drawn first, and they were placed in the correct spot. However, Gentle Mates were drawn second, and should have gone in the match that isn’t against PRX.
This is according to the official rulebook.
The same error happened for the 0-1 matches.
At around 12:30 am local time in Chile, the new draws were announced:
| 1-0 | 0-1 |
|---|---|
| PRX vs NRG | EDG vs T1 |
| M8 vs TL | G2 vs XLG |
The fans noted that the new draws contained a regional matchup – something generally unsatisfying, especially this early into an international event. Needless to say, the reception was negative, but fans weren’t the only ones unhappy with the new matchups.
Nobody was happy after the redraw.
Since Faria announced it late in the evening in Chile, precious prep time for the teams has already been used.
Team Liquid’s Dominykas “MiniBoo” Lukaševičius was also not happy with the uncomfortable circumstances they were put in. Even more, his coach, Daniel “yaotziN” Roczniak, found out about the coach gathering via the post.
The quotes on Leo Faria’s post echoed similar sentiments from fans and players alike. Some said that since the first draw was random anyway, competitive integrity could have been preserved.
Faria was responding to some of these concerns, including one from Paper Rex coach Ashton “Wendler” Wendler. “It’s the right thing to do. We can’t move forward with the tournament knowing the match ups are wrong,” said Faria.
“It shouldn’t have happened and it took us too long to address it,” he continued in a different post. He apologized to the teams and thanked them for being “good sports.”
The redraw did give us Paper Rex vs. NRG, much to the delight (or heartbreak) of Pujan “FNS” Mehta.
Round 2 of Swiss Stage in Masters Santiago will begin with the 1-0 matches first on March 2, followed by the 0-1 matches on March 3.