Total Shorty Kills
VCT NA Challengers 1 Main Event: Semifinals and Lower Round 2 Results
Brandon "Mothman" Moore
02/06/2021
The Semifinals and Lower Round 2 are complete. The VCT NA Challengers 1 Main Event is quickly making its way through the bracket toward the Grand Final. The Quarterfinals and Lower Round 1 saw a handful of exciting games and a few surprises when it came to outcomes. While the Semifinals was not as shocking, many would still consider them to be small upsets.
Regardless, the action will continue and Run It Back has the results. Day by day, the VCT NA Challengers 1 Main Event showcases some incredible competitive Valorant and should not be missed.
VCT NA Challengers 1 Main Event
Semifinals
Immortals 2:0 Gen.G Esports
Immortals continues to show how far they have come since First Strike. On the first map, Bind, Gen.G had no chance. There weren’t even enough rounds for someone to pass the 20 kill marker. Noah “jcStani” Smith came closest with 18 as he led Immortals to a dominating victory. On defense Immortals successfully defended six rounds in a row. Gen.G would take one and then two more later on to finish the first half 9:3. As IMT switched to attack, they dealt out a quick four rounds to end it 13:3.
Map two took the series to Ascent. This map was much closer than Bind, but Immortals still took charge eventually. Gen.G did well as the attacking side. They had a decent lead of 7:5 going into halftime. Immortals then showed their aggressiveness on attack. Nothing stopped Immortals from controlling the game. Six straight rounds went to Immortals until Gen.G was able to pull out another. Gen.G tried to get their economy straightened up and take five in a row of their own to force overtime. Andrew “ShoT_UP” Orlowski was having none of that, ending a stellar performance with a 4K and taking the 13:8 victory.
Luminosity Gaming 2:0 Team Envy
Luminosity Gaming just keeps sweeping the supposed best teams in North American Valorant. the match began with LG’s map pick of Ascent. The games have been extremely close, but LG just does not give up. As the attacking team, they started off incredibly. Five rounds straight would end up being a bit for naught. Team Envy was able to push back and only be down at the half 7:5. That two round lead was enough, though. LG defended through 11 rounds, winning six and ended the map 13:10. To no one’s surprise, Brady “thief” Dever delivered in some huge moments.
Moving to Team Envy’s pick of Bind, LG was ready to put it away. The LG stars of this contest were Kaleb “moose” Jayne and Alex “aproto” Protopapas. Team Envy attacked well, almost mirroring the first round of Ascent. The half ended with a tie of 6:6. Luminosity got their turn to attack and proved how well they can pressure opposing defenses. Only four rounds were taken by Envy as seven went to LG. That was all it took to send Team Envy to the Lower Bracket with another 13:10 round count.
Lower Round 2
XSET 2:1 Team Envy
Neither XSET or Team Envy would go down without a fight in this one. Bind was a bit back and forth at first. Team Envy was able to pull ahead on defense, however. They would end the half at a respectable 8:4. A similar situation unfolded in the second half. The rounds were never a blowout in a certain team’s favor. Instead, 8:4 was this half’s score and things went to overtime. Jordan “AYRIN” He, Brendan “BcJ” Jensen, and Austin “crashies” Roberts all had 27 kills. The three XSET players’ performances was the difference making as two overtime rounds is all that was needed. XSET won 14:12.
On Split, Team Envy looked to bounce back. They did exactly that and with a vengeance. As Skye, crashies topped the leaderboard with 20 kills and only eight deaths. That helped Team Envy push XSET hard on attack. Team Envy took all seven of their first half rounds with XSET only getting one in between. After that, however, XSET finished off the half unscathed. Six straight defensive rounds went in Team Envy’s favor once the sides switched and that forced a map three 13:5.
Ascent continues to prove itself as an attacker sided locale. XSET would replicate Envy’s first half on Split. Seven attacking rounds were won with only a single round victory for Team Envy in between. Team Envy then closed the half out with the remaining rounds in their favor. Bryce “PureR” Lovell kicked things into fifth gear on this map with 25 kills. That halted a comeback attempt by Team Envy as the attackers. After defeating TSM in the open qualifier, XSET has gone on to defeat Team Envy as well with an Ascent win of 13:10.
Sentinels 2:1 Gen.G Esports
The final series of the VCT NA Challengers 1 Main Event Lower Round 2 saw Gen.G Esports and Sentinels in a tight contest. Starting on Icebox, Sentinels wasted no time in putting up rounds. Gen.G would then find their footing, only allowing one more round to the attacking team. The first half ended 7:5 with Gen.G ahead. Gen.G would keep a hold of that lead as Sentinels would grab a handful of rounds here and there. The aggressive attack of Gen.G was enough to end things 13:9.
Haven would be an even closer affair as Sentinels took Gen.G’s map pick. The rounds for both teams came in scattered clusters during the first half. It proved to be no one’s game at that point. The sides switched with a 6:6 score on the map. More scattered rounds came from both Gen.G and Sentinels. Gen.G went up 11:10, but Sentinels would not be stopped there. On the back of a 25 kill Michael “dapr” Gulino effort, Sentinels would finish the map with three straight round wins and a 13:10 victory.
It wouldn’t be the last series of the day if it didn’t go to the third map. Ascent was the battlefield and both teams came to play. Gen.G started as the attackers, taking the first two rounds. The rounds then went three for Sentinels, three for Gen.G, then three more for Sentinels. The final round of the first half went to Gen.G. A tied halftime score saw the two teams push each other to their limits. The back and forth of multiple rounds strung together continued until Sentinels began to pull ahead. They fought hard and kept their tournament dreams alive 13:9.
The Upper Final, Lower Round 3, and Lower Final are on its way. Immortals takes on Luminosity and XSET battles Gen.G. The loser of the former faces the winner of the latter in the Lower Final. There is plenty more NA Valorant coming.
Stay tuned to Run It Back for continuous coverage of the Valorant Champions Tour!
