Total Shorty Kills
APAC Last Chance Qualifiers – Day 4
David "Miles David" Josiah
10/15/2021
Just when you think that one team is gonna dominate in this VALORANT tournament, the notion is shattered. If anything, day 4 of the APAC Last Chance Qualifiers showed that no team in Asia is truly invincible. Southeast Asian representatives Paper Rex fell to Japanese team Northeption, the last Japanese representatives in the tournament. Meanwhile, DAMWON Kia continued their rampage through the lower bracket by decisively defeating Boom Esports and knocking them out of the Qualifiers. Finally, we had a banger of a match between F4Q and South Asian representatives Global Esports that resulted in the Koreans barely eking out a victory over their opponents in overtime.
The stakes are going even higher as we get further and further into the tournament. There’s only one slot at CHAMPIONS from this VALORANT APAC LCQ and teams are fighting tooth and nail in order to get it.
If you missed out on the other days of the tournament then check out our previous recaps!
And so without further ado, let’s take a quick look at what happened:
Paper Rex vs Northeption
- Icebox: Northeption win 14:12
- Ascent: Northeption win 13:11
What a series from Northeption edging out the win vs the sole Masters Berlin representatives from SEA. With both REJECT and FENNEL knocked out of the APAC LCQ yesterday, there weren’t too many people that had much hope for the last Japanese team. Despite this, Northeption really delivered. Again, star power carried the day. Seoldam is definitely a Jett main to look out for. His fragging ability is insane.
The way that the team won out on Icebox is pretty astounding. Paper Rex took their opponents through the ringer and were up 10:2 by the end of the first half. However, Northeption fought back and made the comeback of their lives by bringing the game to overtime and then closing it out. Tenta “ten” Asai and Meiy were right up there with Seoldam having high impact moments that ultimately brought Northeption the map win. The opposite almost happened on the next map with Northeption gaining the lead and Paper Rex mounting the comeback. Unfortunately for the SEA team, they just weren’t able to make it over the finish line.
While it’s definitely interesting to see Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto on more supportive agents, perhaps it’s time to unleash him on his signature Jett now that the team has been knocked down to the lower bracket.
Northeption will face off against FULL SENSE in the upper bracket final. Meanwhile Paper Rex will have to fight DAMWON Kia for their lives.
DAMWON Kia vs Boom Esports
- Bind: DAMWON Kia win 13:4
- Ascent: DAMWON Kia win 13:9
Despite being put in the lower bracket early in the tournament by Global Esports, DAMWON Kia are certainly looking like the best performing Korean team so far in the APAC LCQ. Their battle against Boom Esports really showcased their solid teamwork and fundamentals. Out of the three series that happened today, this one can be considered to be the most lopsided. While Boom did falter on the first map on Bind, they at least made Ascent a lot more competitive. However, DAMWON were simply the better team on the day and sadly for Boom, they’ve been knocked out.
Kim “t3xture” Na-ra is still DK’s star player but his teammates have really stepped up. In particular, Kang “iNTRO” Seung-gyun has been massive for the team with some high impact frags and brilliant site holds.
On the other side, Saibani “fl1pzjder” Rahmad had a real hard time finding any impact especially on the first map. His Raze when the team played on Bind was ineffective. His Jett did a lot more work on Ascent, but still, there was something that felt lacking with the team as a whole. It was still a very decent showing from them the SEA squad as a whole, but unfortunately their tournament run and year in the VALORANT Champions Tour has come to an end.
DK will go on to face Paper Rex in the next round of the lower bracket.
Global Esports vs F4Q
- Haven: Global Esports win 13:10
- Bind: F4Q win 13:9
- Split: F4Q win 16:14
This one VALORANT match was a nail biter. Both teams had their own stories going into this. F4Q were still licking their wounds from Berlin as they struggled to adapt to the meta. The Korean team came into this tournament determined to expand their skill set and they’ve been getting better and better. On the other side of the server, Global Esports weren’t just carrying their pride as a team, they were carrying the pride of their entire region. All this culminated in one of the most exciting matches we’ve had in this APAC Last Chance Qualifiers so far. One could almost feel the desperation of both teams as they clashed on the server and fought with their tournament lives on the line.
If anything, at least this tournament has put Ganesh “SkRossi” Gangadhar on the international map. He performed superbly throughout the series. This player definitely lived up to the hype given to him by the Indian community.
After two close maps between the two teams, the final deciding map went the distance going into a triple overtime to decide who would advance and who would be knocked out of the tournament. For F4Q’s part, they were one round away from getting eliminated. It was round twenty-six and they needed both a hero and a miracle at the same time.
IGL Yoo “fiveK” Sung-min took it upon himself to be the one that would bring F4Q back from the brink.
With all the pressure on his shoulders, the man delivered with the clutch of a lifetime. Global Esports were so close, but they unfortunately fumbled at the end. The momentum swung back in F4Q’s favor and in the last round, fiveK closed out the map and the series with a bullet to the side of SkRossi’s head.
Despite the loss, Global Esports can still hold their head up high. They did well as South Asia’s representatives and we hope to see more from them and the region next year. For now though, their year has come to an end.
F4Q will go on to face NUTURN in the next round of the lower bracket.
Aftermath
Things are coming ahead as we advance deeper into the week. It’s been a real competitive VALORANT tournament so far with no region really one-upping the other in terms of strength. We here at Runitback are going to continue providing coverage of the tournament everyday. Make sure to tune in because we’ll have more content coming your way very soon.
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