Total Shorty Kills
VCT NA Challengers 2 Main Event — TSM is back and Rise impresses
Brandon "Mothman" Moore
08/02/2021
The Challengers Finals are set for North America. Eight teams went to war through the VCT NA Stage 3 Challengers 2 Main Event. Four brutal days of VALORANT saw just as many teams advanced to Challengers Finals, but only one could take this event’s number one seed. From the Upper Quarterfinals to the Grand Final, here are the results by each day for Challengers 2 Main Event.
Day One
Upper Quarterfinals
- TSM 2:1 Gen.G Esports
- T1 2:1 Version1
- Luminosity Gaming 2:1 Kansas City Pioneers
- Rise 2:0 FaZe Clan
TSM versus Gen.G will go down as a classic, like many of their contests beforehand. Map two, Split, ended in TSM’s favor 23:21 at just under an hour and a half. In hindsight, it makes perfect sense that the winner of this opening series went on to win the whole thing. The two series after that were equally impressive for all teams. It was the final match of the Upper Quarterfinals that shocked everyone. Rise swept FaZe Clan with a 13:2 romping followed by a close 13:11 victory.
Lower Round 1
- Gen.G Esports 2:1 Version1
- FaZe Clan 2:0 Kansas City Pioneers
After the marathon battle against TSM, the question was whether Gen.G would be fatigued or not. Another three map series was in their future against Version1. The NA reps for Iceland would miss out on Berlin as Gen.G escaped to the next round. FaZe Clan rebounded from their opening VCT NA Challengers 2 Main Event loss by taking out a KCP team who should be nothing but proud of how they performed.
Day Two
Upper Semifinals
- TSM 2:1 T1
- Luminosity Gaming 2:0 Rise
This is where the top teams of the VCT NA Challengers 2 Main Event really shined. T1 had been looking dangerous throughout all of Stage 3, but TSM’s execution was reminiscent of mid-to-late 2020. This series went the distance and all three maps were won heavily by the eventual victor. Rise was bound to fall at some point. That happened when they went toe to toe with LG. LG wasted no time in sending Rise to the Lower Bracket with their superstar squad.
Lower Round 2
- Rise 2:0 Gen.G Esports
- FaZe Clan 2:0 T1
Incredibly, Rise bounced back against Gen.G. If that team sticks together, they have a very bright future in NA VALORANT. With a 13:2 win on Ascent, they edged it out on Bind to sweep the series. The second series of Lower Round 2 was another sweep. FaZe Clan continued their run through the Lower Bracket by eliminating T1 in two very close 13:10 maps.
Day Three
Upper Final
- TSM 2:0 Luminosity Gaming
The TSM show continued as they toppled Luminosity Gaming. LG were sent down to to the Lower Final after TSM took Bind and Breeze, giving up only thirteen rounds to their opponents throughout the match. This match is where Sean “bang” Bezerra truly shined. He had dominating showings as Raze and Sage.
Lower Round 3
- FaZe Clan 2:1 Rise
Rise’s impressive VCT NA Stage 3 Challengers 2 Main Event ended to the one and only FaZe Clan. They pushed the once hottest team in NA to the limit, but FaZe overcame the up and coming Rise roster. The hunger is there for both of these teams, but one of them had to be eliminated here. It is no surprise that it was FaZe to advance, but the way Rise was playing, it wouldn’t have been much of a shock if they had beaten FaZe again.
Lower Round 1
- FaZe Clan 2:0 Luminosity Gaming
FaZe Clan were on a roll through the Lower Bracket. Luminosity Gaming were ready to put an end to that. If a single round went a different way, LG could have moved on instead of FaZe. Both Split and Breeze ended after an overtime period 14:12. Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond shined as we all knew he would, but Corey “corey” Nigra shined just a little brighter to propel FaZe to the Grand Final.
Day Four
Grand Final
- TSM 3:1 FaZe Clan
FaZe Clan’s momentum seemed unstoppable up until this point. The VCT NA Challengers 2 Main Event Grand Final was all but theirs for the taken after seeing how they toppled the best of the best in the Lower Bracket. TSM certainly had other ideas. Again, bang performed out of his mind to push TSM out front. The first map was a close one that went to FaZe, but the next three were all TSM. Only 14 rounds were given up by TSM between Split, Breeze, and Haven. It is safe to say TSM is back, especially if they get the job done in Challengers Finals.
The Challengers Final bracket is set. TSM, FaZe Clan, Luminosity Gaming, and Rise from Challengers 2 will join Sentinels, XSET, 100 Thieves, and Team Envy from Challengers 1.
Stay tuned to Run It Back for more VCT coverage, including a preview for the NA Challengers Finals!
