The VALORANT Champions Tour EU Masters group stage has concluded, so it’s time for esports.com to take a look at what happened.
Contenders FunPlus Phoenix and Team Heretics -First Strike champions- qualified without losing a game, but the teams they battled didn’t make it easy for them.
Opening round scares
Heretics had a lot of trouble disposing of surprise attendee Ballista in their opening game of the VCT. Despite winning 2-0 they were pushed to the limit on Bind and Haven, with the latter going into overtime.
Ninjas in Pyjamas won 2-0 as well, putting ACEND (formerly known as Raise Your Edge) against Ballista in the elimination match of Group A. Just as the Polish team, ACEND fought back fiercely, only losing 11-13 and 12-14.
Once the opening round scares settled, Heretics and NiP faced each other in the winner’s match to determine the first team to go through to playoffs. This was the only game to go through all three maps. Heretics came out on top 2-1 at the end thanks to a monster performance from Žygimantas “nukkye” Chmieliauskas, who maintained a 205.5 ADR throughout the series. He contributed 15 first kills, and 65 kills in total, for a +21 rating.
Earlier in the tournament, ACEND managed to beat Ballista and eliminate the Polish team from the tournament, in a surprisingly dominant fashion. Ballista only collected 4 rounds in total over Icebox and Bind.
Surprise exits
This set up ACEND and Ninjas in Pyjamas in the decider match and a rematch of their opening round, with the last group A ticket for playoffs up for grabs. While the first game of the series was still a close-ish affair that was won by ACEND 13-9, NiP was blown out of the water on the second map. They lost Icebox, their own pick, 13-4 and left the VCT rather unceremoniously.
Also read: EU Masters: Heretics and FPX advance to playoffs
Icebox was the playground for Finnish player Santeri “BONECOLD” Sassi, who played Viper. Sassi managed 25 kills, only 9 deaths, and a whopping 219.5 ADR.
Group B was no stranger to surprise exits either. Alliance, the first team to qualify for VCT, left the tournament early after losses against Dfuseteam in their opening game, and Guild Esports in the elimination game. It’s back to the drawing board for Alliance, as they can’t be happy with their Masters run, despite the positive posts on Twitter.
That same Dfuseteam met FunPlus Phoenix in the winner’s match. FPX disposed of Guild Esports in their opening match up 2-1. Losing the first map 13-10, the European side led by Kyrylo “ANGE1” Karasov quickly righted their wrong by annihilating their Swedish opponents 13-4 and 13-2.
French cinderella story falls short
Dfuseteam, the surprise performer during this VCT took FPX all the way on Split and Ascend, but after 48 rounds of going back and forth, the French side looked at 0-2 and two 11-13 score lines, together with a ticket to the decider match, where Swedish Guild Esports awaited.
This matchup proved a close one as well, with two of the three maps going all 24 rounds. Dfuseteam took Split, Guild’s map pick 13-11, and a 1-0 series lead. The French team played solid, and all players took turns getting first kills.
Guild responded in kind. On Ascent, Dfuseteam’s map pick, Yacine “Yacine” Laghmari and Malkolm “bonkar” Rench accounted for 42 kills and 10 first kills.
This took the series Haven, where the teams would decide who would make it to playoffs, and who would be eliminated together with NiP, Ballista, and Alliance.
What a nailbiter this was! Guild finally broke Dfuseteam at 11-11, when Leo “Leo” Jannesson held the A site all on his own, acing his opponents. This set Guild up to take the third map 13-11, and the series 2-0.
The VALORANT Champions Tour continues later tonight with the semifinals. The grand finals are scheduled for tomorrow 5 PM.
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Image credit: ValorantEsports Twitter