Total Shorty Kills
VCT EMEA Challengers: Oxygen and FPX get eliminated
Naim "EnKay" Rosinski
08/14/2021
VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA Challengers Playoffs is in full swing by now. August 14 saw the first two teams get knocked out from the event. With that, their hopes and dreams of making it to Masters Berlin, crushed. The day saw two Upper Bracket Round 2 matchups, followed up by two Lower Bracket Round 1 matches. From there, two teams have been knocked out.
The day saw the following matchups:
Upper Bracket Round 2:
- SuperMassive Blaze vs FunPlus Phoenix
- G2 Esports vs Oxygen Esports
Lower Bracket Round 1:
- Team Liquid vs Oxygen Esports
- FunPlus Phoenix vs forZe
Upper Bracket Round 2
SuperMassive Blaze vs FunPlus Phoenix
Ascent
Kirill “ANGE1” Karasiow’s FPX side were pitted against the hot SuperMassive Blaze Turkish side. Action kicked off on Ascent where Melih “pAura” Karaduran went on to amount a healthy lead of 8:4 at the half as Baran “Izzy” Yilmaz was popping off on Jett, getting himself 17 frags.
The second half opened with Blaze getting the pistol and the anti-eco before FPX got their first round on defense. This did not halt Blaze’s plans to finish off Ascent early as Izzy led his team to an eventual 13:6 victory on the back of a 3k on round 19. FPX simply struggled to hold their ground on Ascent.
Split
Split turned out to be a much tighter affair, though both halves did not point towards that happening. FPX chained together 10 rounds straight in the first half on defense. Luckily, Blaze managed to bring home the two last rounds in order to make it 10:2. A difficult situation, yet a doable comeback.
The second half saw an unimaginable performance from the Turkish side. FPX’s defense was stellar. Though Blaze raised the bar even higher. A phenomenal 11-round streak which led to Blaze’s victory happened. FPX failed to put up a single round on their attacking side, ultimately leading to their demise in the series. Split went to SuperMassive Blaze with a 13:10 lead.
FunPlus Phoenix was dropped to the Lower Bracket while SuperMassive Blaze advanced to the Upper Bracket Round 3.
G2 Esports vs Oxygen Esports
Icebox
Another European vs Turkish matchup. Icebox emerged as the first map and G2 simply wiped the floor with their opponents. A defensive effort from Cista “keloqz” Wassim on Jett led G2 to a 11:1 lead at the half as Oxygen only managed to put up 1 on attack.
G2 carried over their mojo to the attacking side as Jose Luis “koldamenta” Aranguren Herrero got a 4k on the pistol. Oxygen retaliated with one round on defense, yet that was all she wrote as G2 finished off Icebox at crushing 13:2 scoreline.
Breeze
While Icebox was a one-sided affair, Breeze saw a one-sided matchup, yet on each team’s defensive side. G2 kicked it off on Breeze in similar style to their Icebox; straight domination. The first 11 rounds of the matchup landed on their side of the scoreboard. Oxygen put up one round on the board last second before side switch, making it 11:1.
It was finally the Turkish team’s time to show some teeth. With their backs against the wall, Oxygen made it all square on Breeze with 10 straight rounds, making the map a draw at 11:11. mixwell‘s 2k finally brought G2 a round on attack, yet that was retaliated with a joint 4k from m1tez and toronto to force overtime. There, a 3k 1v2 clutch by mixwell saw G2 take the round on defense before AvovA‘s 4k guaranteed G2 the overtime victory at 14:12.
G2 Esports will face SuperMassive Blaze in the Upper Bracket Round 3. Oxygen Esports were dropped to the Lower Bracket.
Lower Bracket Round 1
Team Liquid vs Oxygen Esports
Haven
Team Liquid wanted to quickly get this game behind them as Oxygen were a lackluster opponent in the matchup. Starting off on Haven’s attack, Liquid’s Travis “L1NK” Mendoza opened up the pistol with a 4k to get his side rolling. The anti-eco went Liquid’s way before Oxygen finally retaliated with one round. The rest of the matchup would end up being Oxygen’s demise as Liquid denied any opportunity for the Turkish side to get going.
An 11:1 half for Liquid propelled Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom’s side to clean 13:1 victory after two site retakes on defense were the final nail in the coffin for Oxygen on Haven.
Breeze
Similarly to Haven, Liquid wasted no time in getting past Oxygen in the Lower Bracket. This time starting out on defense, Liquid put up four rounds before Oxygen took one back. Yet Liquid put together four more to extend their lead to 8. toronto‘s 3k brought Oxygen their second round of the half, yet it was Liquid that had the final say by getting the last two rounds to make it 10:2 at half time.
On attack, Jamppi‘s 3k gave Liquid the pistol before Oxygen won the follow-up round. This would be the end, however, as Liquid snagged the last two rounds to win Breeze with another smooth victory of 13:3.
Oxygen Esports have been eliminated from VCT EMEA Challengers Finals while Team Liquid battle on in the Lower Bracket.
FunPlus Phoenix vs forZe
Icebox
The final matchup of the day saw FPX fight for survival against the CIS squad, forZe. Starting out on Icebox, it was FPX that was quick to dominate the opening map. forZe, however, was faster on the trigger as they got the first two rounds up on the board. FPX retaliated with three on buy rounds. A close matchup emerged with both teams traded blows until the end, when FPX put together three rounds to pull ahead at 8:4.
ANGE1‘s side rode the wave from there on defense. A successful retake saw FPX not drop a map from then onwards. This led to a smooth victory for FPX on Icebox at 13:4 as forZe struggled on the opening map.
Bind
Nobody expected what ensued on Bind. The CIS side looked much better on the map as they’re attack was stellar. A 1v1 clutch by suygetsu on the pistol brought forZe their first round. FPX was quick to counter as they won the first rifle round. 1-by-1 round trades led straight into forZe putting together four straight rounds before FPX ran away with two. It was the CIS side who had the final say in the half with zeddy‘s 3k 1v2 clutch to put them up 8:4.
The second half turned the match upside down. FPX got off to a solid start with the first two rounds going their way. forZe rtaliated with one before both sides traded two rounds each. The extremely tight half continued as finally we got another overtime in the tournament at 12:12.
This recapping the overtime would simply be too much of a drag as the match is a must watch for all VALORANT enthusiasts. We recommend watching a VOD of this Bind map as it was intense. All we’ll do is say that forZe finally edged out FPX at a whopping 24:22 scoreline.
Split
The decider of the series emerged to be Split. Despite FPX’s pistol win on Split’s defense side, forZe got to work on attack to menace their opponents for five straight rounds. A joint 4k from ShadoW and Zyppan brought FPX their second round, but forZe just got two more in return. Finally, FPX managed to string together two rounds, yet forZe had the final say in the half after a joint ace effort from Coffee and zeddy. This put up forZe at 8:4 in the half.
FunPlus Phoenix got to work on attack by squaring up the score with four straight rounds. It was looking like FPX would pull yet another comeback victory. This was far from the truth, however. The CIS squad pulled their pants up and went on to put together five straight rounds guaranteeing them the victory at 13:8. This was far from the expected result on Split.
FunPlus Phoenix are eliminated from the EMEA Challengers Playoffs while forZe fight on in the Lower Bracket of the event.
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