Total Shorty Kills
VCT Challengers 1 Europe Final: FPX destroy Guild in a short BO5
Naim "EnKay" Rosinski
04/09/2021
The grand final of Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Challengers 1 Europe is over. FunPlus Phoenix took on Guild Esports after defeating Opportunists and Guild in the semifinals respectively. Both teams have already qualified for the EMEA Challengers and will be representing Europe in the region as two places at the Masters in Reykjavik, Iceland are waiting. The final was solely to determine the seeding as well as who gets the bigger share of the prize pool.
Ascent
The grand finale action kicked off on Ascent. One of Europe’s best tactical teams, FPX, got to work quickly to pull ahead with four rounds. This was guaranteed by an initial 3k by the Cypher maestro, Dmitriy “dimasick” Matvienko. A 1v2 clutch and defuse by Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel finally put up Guild Esports up on the scoreboard. The rest of the half saw both teams trade blows with one-a-piece or two-a-piece rounds, amounting to a close 7:5 lead for FPX at the half.
The second half began once more with FPX building up pressure after a successful pistol and the follow-up round. In return, Guild finally managed to put together three rounds in a row to show that they’re still in this map. FPX retaliated with three of their own, reaching map point on Ascent. A joint 4k from Yacine “Yacine” Laghmari brought Guild a little closer. However, that would be it as a defensive stride from Kirill “ANGE1” Karasiow’s squad ended Ascent at a 13:9 lead. Tobias “ShadoW” Flodström saw a 25k performance on Astra on Ascent.
Icebox
The best-of-five series was far from over at this point as we were heading to Icebox. Starting out on defense, it was yet again FPX boys to take the pistol and the follow-up round after Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky switched on to get a 4k and clutch out a 1v1 to get the defuse in time. One-by-one round trades emerged until round six when FPX decided they wanted none of that anymore, pulling ahead with four straight rounds on defense. Guild managed to sweep two rounds after William “draken” Sundin got 5 kills over those two rounds to aid Guild. FPX grabbed the final round of the half to make it 8:4 in their favor.
Guild finally managed to grab the pistol, and it was on Icebox’ defense side. This, however, was beginning of the end as one man was about to pop off. Pontus “Zyppan” Eek absolutely demolished Guild on FPX’ attacking side. On Reyna, Zyppan went on to get an ace, a 4k, and two 2k kill rounds to become an absolute menace. This guaranteed FPX victory on Icebox at a crushing 13:5 lead. Zyppan got 33 kills over a span of 18 rounds, achieving an unbelievable ACS of 513. Big numbers.
Split
Split was a showcase of just how much FPX just wanted to close out this best-of-five series then and there. ANGE1‘s men got to work rapidly, with Zyppan clutching out the pistol in a 1v1 to deny Leo “Leo” Jannesson’s 3k. They followed the early success with another round. Guild bagged round 3, yet they wouldn’t see another point up on the scoreboard as FPX was just getting started. 7 rounds in a row for FPX was the story, as Zyppan was yet again the man to lead the way, this time on Raze. Guild managed to get in just one more round in the half, before FPX yet again shut down the half with a 10:2 lead.
Guild had a massive job ahead of them if they wanted to challenge FPX on Split. It was FPX, yet again, that got the pistol. Yet Guild somehow managed to pull off two straight rounds to show that they’re still in this. This was cut short rather quickly, however, as Shao clutched out the 1v1, denying the ace from draken, after he managed to kill ANGE1 twice in the round following a resurrection. FPX completely decimated Guild on map three, Split, with a 13:4 score.
Guild Esports, though defeated, will be joining FPX in the EMEA finals. FPX do however receive a higher seeding and a slightly higher prize following this grand victory at VCT Challengers 1 in Europe.
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