Red Bull Home Ground 2 — Team Liquid and Acend take both Home Grounds on their way to a Grand Final contest
Brandon "Mothman" Moore
11/06/2021
The Red Bull Home Ground 2 playoffs have been nothing but smooth. The Quarterfinals saw a clean sweep of every Home Ground map. Each one ended 2:0 leading into the Semifinals. Would those matches see more of the same or would we finally get to see a true best-of-five series?
Day 2 of the Red Bull Home Ground Main Event saw some exciting matchups:
VALORANT is always fun to watch, no matter the circumstance. It is even better when two up and coming teams are taking on two established icons of the scene. Read ahead to see how the Semifinals played out and check out our 2D Replays in the links just above.
Team Liquid vs. TENSTAR
- Ascent: Team Liquid 13:8 TENSTAR
- Icebox: Team Liquid 13:9 TENSTAR
Ascent
Ascent was the Red Bull Home Ground selection for Team Liquid. TENSTAR began on the Defense by taking the pistol rounds. Team Liquid were quick to fight back into it and things remained in their favor for a short while. That was until TENSTAR kicked it into gear and ended the first half up 7:5 after a big clutch by Jack “Br0die” Emmott.
The second half was a completely different story, however. TENSTAR only managed one round as Team Liquid pushed their way to victory. The likes of Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen and Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom refused to let off the pressure. The entire map saw those two players total 14 multikills, three being 4K rounds. A score of 13:8 sent the series to Icebox.
Icebox
The Home Ground for TENSTAR saw them fall just short once again. As they began on the attacking side, Team Liquid’s defensive strategy put a choke hold on any aggression TENSTAR tried to show on offense. Icebox was yet another showcase of Jamppi‘s incredible fragging ability as the first half put TL up with a solid 8:4 lead.
Things looked bleak for TENSTAR going into halftime. Team Liquid kicked off the second half with more dominance. Four straight put them to series point, but TENSTAR showed signs of life. Huge plays from Niko “polvi” Polvinen kept their dreams alive for five rounds more. Finally, Liquid were able to finish them off and head to the Red Bull Home Ground Grand Final after a 13:9 victory.
Giants Gaming vs. Acend
- Split: Acend 13:4 Giants Gaming
- Breeze: Acend 13:9 Giants Gaming
Split
Split was the choice of the Vodafone Giants. That didn’t matter much to Acend as their defense was on point during the first half. Patryk “starxo” Kopczyński went full Battle Sage alongside a chaotic Raze from Aleksander “zeek” Zygmunt to catch Giants Gaming off guard. An awesome 2v1 Clutch by Santeri “BONECOLD” Sassi ensured a 10:2 score at the half.
Not much changed as the sides switched. A 3K pistol round for Mehmet Yağız “cNed” İpek extended the already massive lead even further. Giants did their best to fight back with some strong buy rounds, but Acend were too far ahead for them to make a dent. Another solid round by BONECOLD netted him four and the map ended 13:4.
Breeze
The momentum rolled into Breeze. That was the expectation for Acend’s choice at Red Bull Home Ground in this Semifinals match up. As the attacking team, the pistol round was easily won. The Blade Storm was available for cNed in the third round of the map and helped him take down three members of Giants Gaming. Any rounds gathered by Giants were overshadowed by the incredible teamwork of Acend on their way to a 9:3 first half.
Well, Giants Gaming intended to prove that the 9:3 curse is real. The first two rounds after halftime went swiftly in their favor. Acend had other ideas, though, as starxo showed absolutely zero fear pushing into Giants’ setup and destroying three.
That play took them to double digits and no matter how hard Adolfo “Fit1nho” Gallego tried, his team was just too far behind once again. That narrative seemed to change, though, as Giants Gaming picked up the pace to close the gap after Acend reached series point. At 12:9, Acend made quick work of a fiery Giants team to sweep the Red Bull Home Ground series.
The Grand Final of these unique tournament will now see two teams that are representing EMEA at Champions. All eyes will be on Team Liquid vs. Acend as it could be a potential preview for Berlin a month from now.
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