Total Shorty Kills
VCT NA Challengers 3 Main Event: Day 2 Results
Brandon "Mothman" Moore
03/06/2021
The Upper Quarterfinals and Lower Round 1 of have finished. That first day of VCT NA Challengers 3 Main Event action was packed with six intense matches. It also saw Kooky Koalas and T1 take their exit from the tournament. On Day 2, the Upper Semifinals and the second round of the Lower Bracket took place. The contests were just as energetic and brutal as the day prior. The winner teams all secured their spot in the Masters event, but will not fight for seeding and that sweet, sweet prize money.
Read ahead as Run It Back recaps Day 2 of the VCT NA Challengers 3 Main Event.
VCT NA Challengers 3 Main Event
Upper Semifinals
Luminosity Gaming 2:0 TSM
Luminosity Gaming versus TSM was a battle of two powerhouse Valorant teams. Excluding those already in qualified for Stage 1 Masters, this is arguably North America’s finest. TSM started Ascent on an attacking rampage. The infiltrated the sites and took the fight to Luminosity. They netted them five straight rounds. LG turned on their monitors at that point, though, it seemed. Brady “thief” Dever unleased the power of Reyna, even on the supposed “nerf,” with 21 kills in the game. LG took six straight before TSM finished the half to tie it up. LG switched to the attacking side and went off. Four rounds were theirs before TSM snagged two. The next two rounds went back and forth before LG wrapped it up with a 13:9 victory.
Icebox is where Luminosity Gaming looked to send TSM down to the Lower Bracket. Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond and Alex “aproto” Protopapas made sure of it. Starting on attack, LG took the first two rounds. TSM kicked it into gear though, taking three straight. Luminosity had no problem winning three in a row of their own. The trend kept up with TSM gaining another three rounds in succession. The final round of the half went to LG, switching sides with a tie. LG showed their hunger to win this in the second half. They had zero problem taking seven rounds while TSM could only attack successfully once in the middle. YaBoiDre finished it off with some flair and a 3K. Luminosity sent TSM down to face 100 Thieves in the Lower Round with a 13:7 round count.
FaZe Clan 2:1 NRG
FaZe Clan came out swinging against NRG with Corey “corey” Nigra dominating. 23 kills were his for the taking on Bind. FaZe began on defense taking four quick rounds. NRG fought for their first, but FaZe retaliated with three more. The last four rounds then went two for NRG and two more for FaZe Clan to end the half. NRG really needed to shut down the FaZe Clan offense. FaZe started the second half hot with two fast victories. NRG responded with two, then FaZe with one, and then NRG appeared to start their push to the finish line. They took four straight defensive victories. The lead of FaZe Clan was too much to overcome, though, as one final round gave them the 13:9 Bind win.
Haven was a very close contest between FaZe Clan and NRG. Not one truly popped off for either team. Each competitor played their part and played it well. Defense was the name of the game on map two. FaZe Clan only gained two attacking rounds in the middle of a stellar 10 round first half for NRG. The opening round of the game saw Damian “daps” Steele clutch up a 1v3 and that started their momentum. Halftime came and FaZe Clan reset to begin their own defensive domination. They managed to defend successfully for eight rounds. Three scattered rounds went to NRG, however. That was all they needed, taking their last round in the 23rd of the map. NRG tied the series 13:10.
The third and final map of the series was Ascent. It was another close battle between FaZe and NRG. NRG started with two solid attacking rounds. FaZe Clan stopped them from gaining any more for quite some time. A Round 5 Ace from Andrej “babybay” Francisty, contributing to his 31 total kills, kept FaZe Clan rolling. They would take seven rounds straight and eight total on the half. NRG was ready to pick up the pace and shrink FaZe’s lead after halftime. Bradley “ANDROID” Fodor put together a 29 kill game for NRG, allowing them to close the gap a bit. They took six defensive rounds with FaZe only winning one during the spree. FaZe Clan decided to shift into a higher gear at that point. Four straight elimination victories closed out the series against NRG 13:10.
Lower Round 2
Gen.G Esports 2:0 NRG
Gen.G Esports taking on NRG is another surprising Lower Round match up. Starting on Ascent, the teams played a fairly even game. Neither team was able to take the lead and run with it in the first half. Round wins would go back and forth in spurts for both teams. Halftime would arrive and things were all tied up. ANDROID and Shawn “Shawn” O’Riley had 22 kills each, but Shawn‘s backup on Gen.G was more effective. While NRG took the first two rounds of the second half, they would only get one more in between seven successful defensive rounds for Gen.G. That was the end of Ascent 13:9.
Haven started off huge for NRG. They took two rounds with a three in a row response from Gen.G. Sam “s0m” Oh helped push NRG to four more rounds to take a solid lead. Gen.G fought back by taking two of the final three rounds before halftime. The second half saw things even up rather quickly. Danny “huynh” Huynh took charge after switching sides, tying things with two easy rounds. NRG took one back with Gen.G taking another of their own. NRG took the lead with a single round, but were unable to maintain it as huynh fragged out to make it 9:9. Gen.G was not satisfied with simply tying the rounds. They continued their aggressive offense and showed NRG the door in this VCT NA Challengers 3 Main Event. Gen.G will continue their Lower Bracket run after winning 13:10 and qualifying for Masters.
100 Thieves 2:0 TSM
It is crazy to think that either TSM or 100 Thieves will miss the first Masters tournament. That is the cold hard truth, however. The two teams battled it out to qualify and send the other packing. It started on Icebox, which lasted 34 minutes on the dot. Icebox is a map that TSM struggled with against LG and that carried over to the 100 Thieves match up. It was the Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk show here with 20 kills in a quick contest. That isn’t to discount the two 1v3 clutches from the Clutch Master himself, Spencer “Hiko” Martin. 100T took six straight rounds as the attacking team. TSM responded with a solid four in a row, but it was all 100T after that. Seven more rounds in a row, with five after halftime, went in their favor to end it in a brutal 13:4 stomping.
Map two was Ascent, the other map TSM fell to Luminosity on. It was a much tighter battle than Icebox. TSM started as the attacking team, taking two rounds. 100T had an answer for that with four of their own. From there, things were a bit back and forth. TSM took two rounds and 100T took one. That exact sequence happened once more to end the half. The sides switched with a tied game. 100T then started to rip TSM apart on offense. Naturally, Asuna started to decimate the TSM defensive strategy. While James “hazed” Cobb did the best he could to bring TSM back in it, 100T took seven of the eight second half rounds to win 13:7. The final round saw hazed quickly eliminate four 100T players, but Hiko remained and clutched the 1v4 to ruin TSM’s hopes of a Masters appearance.
Congratulations to Luminosity Gaming, FaZe Clan, 100 Thieves, and Gen.G Esports for making it to the first North American Masters tournament of the Valorant Champions Tour. Stay tuned to Run It Back for coverage of the VCT, the remainder of this Challengers 3 Main Event, breaking news, guides, and more!
