Total Shorty Kills
Team Heretics triumph at First Strike Europe against SUMN FC
Naim "EnKay" Rosinski
12/06/2020
After an intense best-of-five matchup against SUMN FC, Team Heretics have come out on top and are the champions of First Strike Europe Regional Finals in Valorant. After upsetting G2 in the semifinal, Heretics have come a long way, as they entered the tournament with an entirely different mindset than that of winning the whole event.
Heretics Take The Throne as Europe’s Best Valorant Team
Both teams came into the final after causing huge upsets in the semifinals. Heretics knocked out G2 Esports, while SUMN FC took care of Kirill “ANGE1″ Karasiow’s FunPlus Phoenix. The BO5 did not go the full distance, but gave fans enough to appreciate the strength each side represented with fantastic plays on each map.
Both sides kicked it off on Ascent, where Heretics wiped the floor with their opponents. SUMN FC looked helpless on both sides of the battlefield as Heretics played deathmatch, with Žygimantas “nukkye” Chmieliauskas coming out of the 13:1 victory with a K/D of 3.6 with 18 kills over 14 rounds. This was a map to be forgotten by Jake “Boaster” Howlett and co.
Icebox turned out to be SUMN’s own battlefield in return. The attacking half went completely their way after posting up seven rounds, making it 7:5 at the half, getting all rounds by eliminating the Heretics team. They followed this up on defense, picking up the pistol after a 3K by Domagoj “doma” Fancev, and closing out Icebox 13:7 in their favor.
Haven was up next, as we again saw complete domination from Heretics. On the defense, after taking the pistol, the Spanish organization kept retaking bombsites and defusing the Spike in time, leading to an impressive 9:3 half in their favor. SUMN failed to pick up the pistol after half switch, making them lose out on the first three rounds, leaving Heretics with one round to win to take the map. Boaster and co. got two more rounds before getting blown out by Christian “loWel” Garcia Antoran’s side 13:5.
Bind was up next, as it was do or die time for the SUMN boys. Heretics went off to get the early lead on Bind’s defense after a combined effort from loWel and nukkye to gurantee the frags on the pistol. This was followed by three rounds, including two masterclass retakes.
SUMN managed to put up four rounds on the board in the half but was lackluster for the most part. Heretics were getting close by grabbing the half 8:4. The side switch brought loWel and co. even closer, as they won the pistol again and the subsequent round. It was only then the SUMN boys woke up to put on a comeback effort. After bringing it within reach to 11:11, Heretics found their stride once more and a combined all-around team effort made them the champions at a 13:11 score.
- Ascent: Team Heretics 13:1 SUMN FC
- Icebox: Team Heretics 7:13 SUMN FC
- Haven: Team Heretics 13:5 SUMN FC
- Bind: Team Heretics 13:11 SUMN FC
Team Heretics are your First Strike Europe Regional Finals champions in Valorant. SUMN FC take the runner-up spot, after both sides showed immense fighting spirit to get this far.
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