With 100 Thieves and Team Heretics winning their respective Regional Finals in the first ever First Strike tournaments, a big shift might be coming in the rankings and invites for future tournaments. With some of the usual suspects falling early, there is even more reason to watch upcoming events and possibly expect more upsets.
In Europe Team Heretics really showed their worth in the First Strike Europe Regional Final by first taking out possible title contender Team Liquid. Some would say this was an upset, yet they were able to pull through against G2 Esports as well to get a spot in the Grand Final. The Grand Final itself was interesting as the pre-tournament favourites were already out and some incredibly talented and hard working players showed their skill at the highest stage of European Valorant.
They played the final against SUMN FC, a team which is currently without an organization. With a 3-1 score in maps and a thrilling 13-11 in the last map, the teams really put on a good show. However Heretics was a bit too strong for SUMN FC on SUMNs second map pick and was also able to deal with the long technical break at the end, keeping their focus and closing it out straight after.
With the First Strike North America Regional Finals, it was a battle of former Counter-Strike players. TSM took on 100 Thieves in an incredibly close best-of-five finals, yet with 100 Thieves taking the first map pick of TSM, they were able to not let it go all the way to a fifth map. This win was possibly assisted by them picking attack first, which is an especially odd pick on Split. Just like in Europe, 100 Thieves closed out their final in a 3-1 map score, showing they are the team to beat for 2021.
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