VCT Masters Shanghai proved to be one of the largest and most important events in VALORANT esports. It ended earlier this year with an astonishing amount of viewership and exciting action — but more importantly, it provided us with data and results that will help us predict what may happen at upcoming events.
Deep dive into the details of VCT Masters Shanghai with Abios. We have put together a guide with in-depth esports and betting data on the most used weapons, most popular markets and more.
VCT Masters Shanghai Date & Location
VCT Masters Shanghai ended on June 9th. The large LAN event brought all of the top teams to the VCT CN Arena & Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China.
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This was a massive deal for the VALORANT community, both fans and competitors alike. 2024 was the first year that VALORANT was allowed in China, with top teams from China being given an opportunity to join the circuit and fans having a lot more to root for.
VCT Masters Shanghai Winners & Prize Pool
The massive tournament ended with Gen.G taking home $350,000 and earning their first international title after beating Team Heretics 3-2.
This was the first time the two teams faced off and it was an intense five-map battle. It started on Breeze, where Gen.G surprised Team Heretics with a fake through mid to B, with Munchkin getting four kills. Heretics tried to make a comeback but Gen.G win 13-6.
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Icebox was next, with the teams both going 9-9. But Heretics pulled ahead with a defuse when only .06 seconds were left on the clock. This put Heretics at 13 and Gen.G at 9, tying the series. Heretics looked quite strong going into the third map, where Wo0t dominated with Jett. He ended up getting 23 kills, leading the lobby and helping get the W on Ascent.
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Gen.G turned things around and tied up the series on Lotus. t3xture stood out for his incredible mechanics, showing off on both Jett and Raze. They ended up taking Lotus 13-4, bringing the finals to the fifth map.
The series ended on Split. Gen.G was quite aggressive on this map, with t3xture racking up an incredible amount of kills. Split ended 13-3, heavily favoring Gen.G. It was a one-sided map that led Gen.G right to victory.
| 1st | $350,000 USD | Gen.G (South Korea) | 3 points |
| 2nd | $200,000 USD | Team Heretics (Europe) | |
| 3rd | $125,000 USD | G2 Esports (US) | |
| 4th | $75,000 USD | 100 Thieves (US) |
VCT Masters Shanghai Viewership
VCT Masters Shanghai had a pretty healthy viewership, although it’s nowhere near the turnout for Madrid earlier this year. The peak viewership was 914,000, compared to 1.6 million during Madrid. The average viewership was 340,000.
Live vs. Pre-Match Betting
There are two main types of betting in esports. You can either bet before the match begins, making decisions based on past match outcomes and the team’s history, or you can make live betting, where you are betting based on what you see unfold in front of you. At VCT Masters Shanghai, most bettors preferred to bet during the matches.
A big reason that VALORANT fans may prefer to bet during the match rather than before is that this title’s esports scene is newer. Counter-Strike has a longer history with teams that have more tournament results and matchups to study. In VALORANT, it may feel safer to make decisions based on what you can see happening right in front of you. This was explored a bit more in our Madrid betting analysis.
| Live | 58% |
| Pre-match | 42% |
Top Betting Offers
VALORANT fans had a few different betting offers to choose from as matches unfolded. The most popular bet offer was, of course, the match winner. This is simply betting on who you think will come out the winner. Other popular betting offers included map handicap and total kills, which makes sense since VCT Masters Shanghai was full of talented players who were wracking up insane amounts of headshots.
| Top bet offers | % of turnover |
| Match Winner | 73.35% |
| Map Handicap | 9.77% |
| Total Kills | 7.65% |
| Round Handicap | 4.07% |
| Round Winner | 1.25% |
Top Weapons
When it comes to betting on VALORANT matches, you can make better-informed decisions when you look deeper into each team’s decisions going into the map or round. There are certain weapon choices, for example, that have a better chance of getting headshots than others. You should also pay attention to which pro is wielding the weapon since some specialize in certain weapon types or have more experience with one over another. But here are the best-performing weapons at VCT Shanghai Masters.
| Top weapons by kills | Kills |
| Vandal | 8538 |
| Phantom | 2808 |
| Ghost | 1222 |
| Sheriff | 1048 |
| Guardian | 678 |
Top Abilities
Similar to weapons, some VALORANT agents are more meta than others. Every pro has their favourite agent or two that they specialize in. Raze’s kit is very damage-focused, which explains why her kit is at the top in terms of kills. Here were the best-performing abilities by kills at VCT Shanghai Masters.
| Top abilities by kills | Kills | Agent |
| Showstopper | 110 | Raze |
| Paint Shells | 80 | Raze |
| Blast Pack | 26 | Raze |
| Hunter’s Fury | 24 | Sova |
| FRAG/MENT | 16 | KAY/O |
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