Total Shorty Kills
TENSTAR, Giants, Alliance and Vitality stay alive in fight for VCT Masters Berlin
Naim "EnKay" Rosinski
07/24/2021
Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Stage 3 continues as the Closed Qualifier of Challengers 2 in Europe has come to a close. TENSTAR, Giants Gaming, Alliance and Team Vitality have stayed alive and qualified for the Main Event. From there only two teams will make the EMEA Challengers Playoffs. The stakes are high and the number of spots up-for-grabs for the next stage is dwindling. Let’s have a look at how the four surviving teams from Challengers 2 fared in the Closed Qualifier.
TENSTAR
The predominantly-British team is probably the biggest surprise qualifier out of all. The former Tarren Mill org-less team was picked up by the British organization exactly two months ago. It is fair to say that the players have made the org proud after their performance at this stage of VCT.
TENSTAR went on to best 19esports in the Upper Bracket Round 1 in a rather tight best-of-three (BO3) that went all the way. However, Split, the decider, was a walk in the park for TENSTAR as they finished things off with a smooth 13:5 to move on.
Team Queso was TENSTAR’s next rival as a rather strange matchup emerged. Despite the BO3 going all the way to map three, TENSTAR demolished their opponents on Split before getting bested on Breeze. Icebox was another one-sided destruction as TENSTAR sent Queso to the lower bracket after a 13:3 beating.
Jack “Br0die” Emmott and co. reached the Upper Bracket Round 3 where their final exam awaited. Team Heretics was the test and TENSTAR showed the VALORANT scene how it’s done. A tight 13:3 victory on Icebox propelled TENSTAR to an amazingly easy Breeze victory at a whopping 13:3 victory. This sent Team Heretics to the lower bracket while TENSTAR was through to the Main Event.
Giants Gaming
Yet another squad that was not the favorite to qualify from the upper bracket made it. The European, Spanish-owned medley with David “davidp” Prins as stand-in went the distance to get themselves into the Main Event the fastest way possible.
Giants started their journey by sweeping BIG under the rug with a clean 2-0. A more formidable opponent awaited in the Upper Bracket Round 2 as it was Team Vitality. Adolfo “Fit1nho” Gallego’s side went on to destroy Vitality on Split before all hell broke loose on Ascent. There, multiple overtimes finally saw Giants take the ticket to the Upper Bracket Round 3. That score amounted to a rarely-seen 17:15. Giants showed nerves of steel and deserved the win.
Alliance was the final side to stand on Giant Gaming’s fast-pass to the VCT Challengers 2 Main Event. It’s fair to say Alliance gave Giants the biggest fight in the Upper Bracket. Icebox saw Giants steal away another overtime, this time at 16:14. Despite not having an overtime, Bind was extremely close, yet it was Giants that edged it out in their favor at 13:11. This win saw the Spanish organization take the second spot in the Challengers 2 Main event. What’s more, Giants went through the upper bracket without dropping a single map.
Alliance
Alliance saw a smooth ride in the upper bracket of this VCT event until meeting Giants. Cream Real Betis was the first team to meet their demise as Enzo “Fearoth” Mestari’s side defeated the Spanish team 13:8 and 13:7 on Icebox and Bind respectively.
The brand new British Vexed Gaming roster was the next team on Alliance’ plate to overcome. A rather tight Icebox was taken forcefully by Alliance at first, though Bind was an absolute walk in the park for Niels “luckeRRR” Jasiek and co. as they took the map with a 13:4 score in their favor.
Alliance was sent to the lower bracket after failing to defeat Giants. There, they were pitted against BIG who made a dream comeback from Lower Bracker Round 1 to have qualification within their reach. However, Alliance shattered the dream comeback with a 13:9 score in their favor on both Icebox and Ascent. The 2-0 triumph saw them take the first spot from the lower bracket of the Closed Qualifier.
Team Vitality
Team Vitality were knocked down to the lower bracket after Giants dealt with them swiftly in the Round 2 of competition. Before that, however, the rather strong European VALORANT squad overcame WiLD MultiGaming, one of the true underdogs of this event. Though with rocky manner as the best-of-three went all the way to map three. In part, that could have been caused by Vitality playing with Mohamed “shalaby” Shalaby as newest member and having been only acquired on July 22.
In the lower bracket, Vitality was pitted against Wave Esports where they destroyed Wave 13:1 on Icebox and 13:5 on Split. Next in line was NIP. The reformed roster, now with Adam “ec1s” Eccles instead of Kevin “akukhoS” Droolans as in-game leader. The matchup was tight to say the least. A crazy Breeze war ended up going NIP’s way with a 17:15 victory. The next two maps would however see Vitality take the cake. A 13:11 Split victory led to a 13:10 win on Ascent to close out the series in favor of Vitality.
Team Heretics emerged as the final opponent before qualification for the VCT Challengers 2 Main Event in Europe. Both teams were among the favorites to make it into the Main Event so this matchup was a toss-up to say the least. However, Vitality dominated on Breeze with a huge lead of 13:2 to start off on the right foot. Icebox, despite being much closer, saw Vitality tighten their belts to secure the 2-0 sweep with a 13:9 triumph. This denied Team Heretics of getting into Masters Berlin.
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