Total Shorty Kills
VCT NA Challengers 1 Main Event: Quarterfinals and Lower Round 1 Results
Brandon "Mothman" Moore
02/05/2021
VCT NA Challengers 1 Main Event
Quarterfinals
Immortals 2:1 XSET
The most competitive game of the VCT NA Challengers 1 Main Event Quarterfinals was the first game of the bracket. Immortals and XSET went as far as they could and then some. The contest started on Haven as XSET rolled with the Spike in hand. Immortals would finally get some rounds on the board, but end the half behind 7:5. Immortals pushed back on their attacking side, forcing overtime. Bryce “PureR” Lovell would give XSET the push they needed to finish things 15:13.
Ascent was a bit of a different story. Immortals started out as the attackers and immediately went to work. With the insane duo of Andrew “ShoT_UP” Orlowski and Rhett “Kehmicals” Lynch, Immortals was able to dominate and take sites with ease. XSET could not prevent an onslaught before switching sides. It started off promising, however, with two straight rounds for XSET after the half. Immortals shut it down, taking the next five straight and winning 13:6.
Going to the only map three of the day, the two teams battled it out on Bind. A similar situation played out in comparison to Haven. Overtime was inevitable. Immortals would defend just well enough to have a 7:5 lead at halftime. The second half saw the same role reversal as Haven, with XSET getting their seven rounds while Immortals snagged five. XSET took the first OT round, but three followed in favor of Immortals. A huge 37 kill effort by ShoT_UP gave IMT a hard fought 15:13 victory to advance.
Gen.G Esports 2:0 NRG
The second contest of the VCT NA Challengers 1 Main Event Quarterfinals saw Gen.G take on NRG. Bind was the first map. NRG started on defense and did not give any ground. They won six rounds straight to begin the series and would end the first half 8:4. Shawn “Shawn” O’Riley took Raze into the map and picked it up on defense. Gen.G won seven of their first defensive rounds, giving up two, then finishing with the two. A stellar comeback ended the map 13:10.
Map two was Haven. The score didn’t go any differently. NRG on attack tried to find flaws in the Gen.G defense. Gen.G would take several crucial rounds, however, causing the half to end tied at 6:6. This time, Shawn was joined by Danny “huynh” Huynh in taking the fight to the opposing team. As Gen.G attacked, NRG was only able to stop them a handful of times. In the 23rd round of Haven, Gen.G sent NRG out of the bracket with another 13:10 win.
Team Envy 2:0 Andbox
Team Envy would dominate in the best-of-three series. Icebox was the first map and it did not play out how Andbox would have liked. Team Envy was actually reeling after the first half. On defense, they only mustered up four rounds. As they switched to attack, however, Andbox was doomed from the start. Nine rounds with only one for Andbox in the middle pushed Team Envy to the finish line. Victor “food” Wong, Austin “crashies” Roberts, and Anthony “mummAy” DiPaolo all had 20 or more kills. That helped facilitate an incredible offensive comeback.
Onto map two, it was as if Andbox didn’t even show up to Bind. Here it would be Jake “kaboose” McDonald that would lead the charge for Team Envy. Two quick attacking rounds were won, followed by an Andbox round. Five more attacking rounds went to Envy before another would go to Andbox. Three more for Team Envy sent the map to halftime. Another three on defense and that was all she wrote. Team Envy advanced 13:2, never giving Andbox a chance.
Luminosity Gaming 2:0 Sentinels
Luminosity Gaming came to play against Sentinels in the VCT NA Challengers 1 Main Event Quarterfinals. The match up started with a couple of LG round wins. It was nearly all Sentinels for the remainder of the first half, though. Some incredible defense kept the score to a pretty hefty 9:3. LG was able to turn things around on defense, however. The second half score mirrored that of the first and Icebox went to overtime. The two OT rounds were nothing but LG, led by crazy plays from Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond and Brady “thief” Dever. Icebox ends 14:12.
Split started out with LG defending well. Sentinels would take a few attacking rounds. Then Luminosity finished off the first half with a clean record. Sides would switch at a solid LG 9:3. Michael “dapr” Gulino top fragged in both maps, but the remainder of Sentinels were not able to set up and assist him with shutting down LG. Sentinels took more defensive rounds than LG took attacking rounds, but just getting four was enough to close it out 13:9. This was a huge victory for the Luminosity Gaming squad.
Lower Round 1
XSET 2:0 NRG
The VCT NA Challengers 1 Main Event Quarterfinals was not the only action. This event has a lower bracket for teams to bounce back in. That is exactly what XSET did after falling just short against Immortals. Taking on NRG, the match up was close throughout the entirety. Haven saw a dominant attacking side for both teams that would nearly send XSET to another overtime map. Brendan “BcJ” Jensen unloaded as Sova and helped secure the handful of defensive rounds needed to win. Haven ended 13:11.
Bind saw XSET unable to avoid another overtime scenario. Defense was the name of the game here. Both teams only managed to gain four round wins as the attacking side. XSET started the map as the defenders and NRG responded after the switch. That pushed things to 12:12 and the race to win by two. Zander “thwifo” Kim and his Cypher joined the fragging party this time with PureR and BcJ. Two OT rounds was all Bind needed for it to go in XSET’s favor 14:12.
Sentinels 2:0 Andbox
After losing quite decisively to Luminosity Gaming, Sentinels was able to show up against Andbox. Starting out as the defenders on Ascent, Sentinels did quite well. Andbox would use the last few rounds of the half, however, to pick up the pace and tie things at 6:6. When Sentinels got their chance to attack, it was a nonstop assault. Andbox were able to take four scattered rounds, but with Shahzeeb “ShahZaM” Khan finally finding his groove, Sentinels closed it out 13:10.
Haven was another map that saw a Sentinels player get his groove back. Hunter “SicK” Mims loaded in as Phoenix and helped push his team to the finish line. As SEN started on attack, Andbox was having trouble finding a way to stop them. After a handful of rounds, however, Andbox was able to get some elimination victories and defuses. Tied up at the half, Sentinels was ready to relieve Andbox of their tournament duties. Five straight defensive rounds, one Andbox attack victory, and two more defensive rounds ended the day of NA Valorant. Sentinels advance to the Lower Round 2 13:7.
That does it for the VCT NA Challengers 1 Main Event Quarterfinals and Lower Round 1. The teams are preparing for the Upper Semfinals and Lower Round 2, where anything can happen.
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