Total Shorty Kills
VCT NA Stage 1 Masters: Lower Round 1
Brandon "Mothman" Moore
03/14/2021
The Quarterfinals of the VCT NA Stage 1 Masters even have completed. Day 1 saw Team Envy defeat Gen.G Esports and FaZe Clan go over XSET. The second day of action was a victorious one for Sentinels and 100 Thieves against Luminosity Gaming and Immortals, respectively. That set the scene for the first round of the Lower Bracket. Lower Round 1 played host to a couple of elimination matches. Gen.G Esports looked to send XSET packing while Immortals and Luminosity Gaming saw two teams primed to win the entire thing battle to just stay in it.
Read ahead as Run It Back brings the recap of VCT NA Stage 1 Masters and its Lower Bracket Round 1.
VCT NA Stage 1 Masters
Lower Round 1
Gen.G Esports 2:0 XSET
Ascent
Gen.G started on attack, immediately overwhelming XSET and only losing one player in the pistol round. After XSET were able to buy up, it was a different story. After a long technical pause, the action continued with XSET keeping up their domination in the gun rounds. Brendan “BcJ” Jensen pulled out the Odin, spraying Gen.G down. Jordan “AYRIN” He popped a 4K and extended the XSET lead. Anthony “gMd” Guimond then managed to get behind XSET and start his team on the right path for another round in their favor. AYRIN kept fragging, though, making any Gen.G momentum short lived. Bryce “PureR” Lovell joined in the fun with a 4K Operator spree. Danny “huynh” Huynh decided to finish the half on a good for Gen.G. He snagged a 4K with the Blade Storm and Operator, only for his Ace to be taken by his teammate Shawn “Shawn” O’Riley.
The second half started with a 7:5 score in favor of XSET. In a quick exchange, Matthew “Wedid” Suchan got bashed once with the fan melee weapon, but managed to get the kill for a 3K, only to be shut down by Shawn for his own 3K. Michael “MkaeL” De Luca swung out for a 4K and tied the round count. The teams then traded rounds back and forth, keeping it a tied game. Gen.G picked up the pace here, pushing hard to take the lead. Zander “thwifo” Kim came in huge with a 4K that would have been considered a Clutch round, but the time ran out and it went to Gen.G. Huynh went into match point with an Operator and a mission. A nasty Ace gave Gen.G the victory 13:8.
Haven
Haven started off with a couple incredibly quick rounds. Shawn and huynh started the fragging for Gen.G, giving them the 2:0 lead. Kenneth “koosta” Suen mowed down XSET with a Spectre 3K to push the lead even further. XSET was able to take a round, but the attacking game plan of Gen.G was spot on as they took at 6:1 lead. Another round went to XSET, although Gen.G were almost able to clutch it. That remained the theme of the first half. Gen.G would take some dominating rounds while XSET squeezed one out every so often. Halftime approached with a Gen.G lead at 9:3.
XSET needed a restart to their economy as sides switched. Becoming the attacker team did them good. They easily won the first two rounds of the second half. That streak was quickly ended as Gen.G defended the A Site very well. BcJ, with a solid 4K, made sure that Gen.G did not manage to string together any of their own rounds. A bit of a back and forth happened until koosta lined up a nice 3K, setting his team up for success. Huynh took down three while gMd picked off the last two to take Haven to series point. XSET hung on for a bit longer, though, pushing their rounds to 11. XSET were unable to force overtime, however, as a Flawless round victory ended the series 13:11.
Luminosity Gaming 2:1 Immortals
Split
This series began on Split as Luminosity looked to change their luck against Immortals. The pistol round saw plenty of traded kills, but a low HP Alex “aproto” Protopapas clutched it for LG. The second round was an absolute slaughtering of Immortals, giving Luminosity a two round lead before the true gun rounds. Being able to buy gave Immortals the energy they needed. Andrew “ShoT_UP” Orlowski started an aggressive round, giving his team the chance to tie it up. That continued with Rhett “Kehmicals” Lynch blasting his way through his opponents. IMT took seven in a row before LG put together a solid round for their third. The fourth came immediately after. A Flawless round followed, bringing it back to a 7:5 halftime score.
Immortals attacked aggressively from the get go in the second the half. Some kill trades occurred, but Luminosity were able to retake and close the gap even further. Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond went on the hunt after Immortals took B Site, shutting them down with a 3K. In an almost scripted moment, ShoT_UP punished LG with a 4K to take back the lead for his team. LG picked IMT apart in the next round, though, tying it up yet again. The next round looked grim for LG, but they persevered and gave themselves the lead. In a less than surprising turn of events, Immortals kept the map tied. A Thrifty round gave LG the lead once again as Bucky and Sheriff kills took over the feed, with aproto nagging a 3K. In a wild round, Kaleb “moose” Jayne got a crazy 3K, with two coming from his Showstopper. He tricked the last remaining IMT player to stop planting the Spike and time ran out. After those two momentous victories, LG were unable to maintain the lead. Immortals pushed and pushed as ShoT_UP took charge with 34 kills, winning 13:11.
Haven
Immortals started Haven on attack. Immediately, Kehmicals picked up a 3K and asserted his dominance. A Flawless round followed with another Kehmicals 3K. The first gun round went in favor of Luminosity. It was only a matter of time before LG tied it up and continued to shut down Immortals. moose flaunted a 3K in a slower round, giving LG the lead. None other than ShoT_UP took a forceful 3K to bring IMT back into it. Brady “thief” Dever found himself trapped on C Site, but managed a 4K to shrink the Immortals economy. He followed that up with a 3K to prevent an eco round B push. The likes of Nicholas “NaturE” Garrison and Noah “jcStani” Smith forced the map to a tie before halftime.
Luminosity found success in the pistol rounds throughout this series. While the beginning of Haven didn’t reflect that, the start of the second half most certainly did. YaBoiDre and thief kept the LG offensive plan intact. Luminosity turned Haven into their playground. As Immortals tried to fight back, but LG continued to attack with ruthless aggression. It wasn’t long before Luminosity was at match point, looking to force a trip to Bind. That is exactly what happened. Brenden “stellar” McGrath finished the map with an Ace to take it 13:9.
Bind
Bind started with LG attacking B Site. Immortals were very quick to respond and prevent any chance at an LG pistol round victory. The strange trend of one team winning the first two rounds and the other team waiting to perform well in the gun rounds continued. Immortals put a stop to that, only allowing Luminosity to take one round without any snowballing. That continued with all members of IMT playing their part. It wasn’t long until LG got back in the fight, however. They clawed their way to a tied game. Amgalan “Genghsta” Nemekhbayar took back the lead for IMT with a 3K defensive stand. A Flawless round from LG tied it back up and then another put them in front. The even battle between these two teams has been a theme since the start as the game entered halftime 6:6.
A 3K by stellar started the second half. LG continued to roll after the switch to defense. YaBoiDre took the teleporter over to B side, snagging a 3K as Luminosity reached their ninth round. The big play potential of Immortals seemed to have disappeared until ShoT_UP eliminated three LG players, setting NaturE up to stop the defuse. A mistaken TP stopped Kehmicals from putting the Showstopper to use as jcStani had a 3K in a round where LG still managed to win. A second 3K by jcStani attributed to a successful IMT attempt this time around. stellar found his own 3K again and took Bind to series point, however. IMT tried to bring it back, but a moose 3K shut them down and gave LG the win 13:10. That gave Luminosity Gaming their first victory ever against Immortals in Valorant, in the VCT NA Stage 1 Masters event of all places.
Stay tuned to Run It Back for more in depth coverage of as the Valorant Champions Tour continues throughout 2021!
