VCT NA Stage 1 Masters: Lower Round 2 and Upper Final
Brandon "Mothman" Moore
03/20/2021
The VCT NA Stage 1 Masters has been absolutely rolling. There have been some incredible performances, individually and on a team basis. It would not be NA Valorant without a few surprises, such as the domination of FaZe Clan and the early exit of Immortals. The first weekend of festivities consisted of the Quarterfinals, Lower Round 1, and the Upper Semifinals. The second weekend is underway and has started with some intense match ups.
Follow along for results of the VCT NA Stage 1 Masters Lower Round 2 and Upper Final.
VCT NA Stage 1 Masters
Lower Round 2
Gen.G Esports 2:0 100 Thieves
Ascent
Gen.G started the series as the attacking team. They immediately blasted their way through Catwalk to A Site. The Spike was planted and the retake was shut down. After a couple of technical pauses to get the stream overlay working, Gen.G continued pushing against 100 Thieves. Anthony “gMd” Guimond helped his team control the map early on. A 5v5 retake occurred, seeing Michael “MkaeL” De Luca snag a 3K. 100T used everything at their disposal, however, winning only their first round of Ascent. The following round saw another similar situation, but with Gen.G utilizing all of their firepower to prevent the retake. The Gen.G domination continued. gMd was on fire throughout the first half as it ended 9:3.
Gen.G started the second half right where they left off. gMd picked up a 3K as the 100 Thieves offensive push stagnated. Following that, the gMd show continued. Another 3K was his for the taking as Ascent reached map point. 100 Thieves were finally able to buy weapons after halftime, picking Gen.G apart. Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk and Ethan “Ethan” Arnold got the kills that counted, including a post-round wallbang by the latter to prevent an Operator save. This upped the momentum for 100T for a short while. A big Clutch by Joshua “steel” Nissan with the Operator kept it going. A 3K by Shawn “Shawn” O’Riley put an end to that as Gen.G won 12:6.
Icebox
Icebox started off rather hot. 100 Thieves quickly rushed from Mid to B, but Gen.G easily dispatched them. The second round went a little slower, but ended with the same result. An aggressive round by both teams followed and went in favor of 100 Thieves. 100T gave themselves their first lead of the series with a solid rotation to A and some great Operator kills by steel. Danny “huynh” Huynh single-handedly prevented an A push, allowing his team to retake B with ease once the 100T headed that way. The rounds were a bit back and forth until a wild 3K Clutch from Asuna ended that trend. 100 Thieves entered the second half with a 7:5 lead.
The first round after halftime looked very good for Gen.G, but an A Site retake and a 3K from Ethan extended the 100T margin. Ethan kept up the pressure, but Gen.G retaliated with a Thrifty and their sixth round of Icebox. Shawn rallied his team with a 3K as 100 Thieves aggressively pushed through Mid, closing the gap. Right after that round, Gen.G tied the map. The back and forth started again much as it did in the first half. An extremely close round that saw Spencer “Hiko” Martin become the last player standing went to Gen.G as the Spike detonated. A Clutch round and a 4K went to Asuna as he delayed a B push and Gen.G ran out of a time. The knives came out for huynh, forcing 100T to save and giving Gen.G series point. And just like that, Gen.G Esports eliminates 100 Thieves in the VCT NA Stage 1 Masters tournament.
Team Envy 2:0 Luminosity Gaming
Haven
The second eliminator match began with Luminosity Gaming on the offensive. The first round went very quick with a Flawless victory to LG. That same aggression followed to the second round as LG relentless attacked Team Envy. After getting some guns, Team Envy responded with a Flawless round of their own. The gun rounds stayed in Envy’s favor as Anthony “mummAy” DiPaolo snagged a 3K and forced time to stall out. That tied up Haven 2:2. Victor “food” Wong and Jake “kaboose” McDonald did what they do best, opening up the lead for Envy. Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond showed was he is made of with a 3K that contributed to a Thrifty round win. Team Envy didn’t hesitate to assert themselves throughout the rest of the half, however. The sides switched with a 9:4 Envy lead.
Team Envy extended the deficit even further with a second half pistol round victory. The next round was just as one-sided. LG finally got their fifth round with another 3K by YaBoiDre. LG kept finding ways to win, bringing the round count closer and closer. The defensive stand of Luminosity Gaming seemed to be doing the trick. That was until Team Envy once again showed off their high speed, high powered offense. That brought Haven to match point. The final round of the map started off very slow. Team Envy committed to an A push as kaboose opened up some space with his utility and got a nasty Ace. Team Envy won 13:8.
Ascent
Ascent allowed Team Envy to maintain their momentum. The first round started off with some quick action, but slowed down and allowed Envy to plant the Spike and stall for the detonation. After another Envy round went by, Brady “thief” Dever shut them down with a 4K after a wild couple of defusal attempts, finally stopping a Spike detonation. That gave LG their first round. Their second soon followed, putting Luminosity’s economy back on track. Both teams traded some very close rounds at this point. LG finally pulled ahead with a Flawless victory. Brenden “stellar” McGrath made some great individual plays to extend the lead. Team Envy stopped the bleeding to finish the round with an LG lead of 8:4.
Austin “crashies” Roberts started the second half with a 3K and a fifth round for Envy. The next round saw more of the same for crashies. Another 3K prevented the Spike from being planted and brought Team Envy right back into things. Pujan “FNS” Mehta joined the 3K party, setting his team up for yet another round. It wasn’t long before the 8:8 tie became a reality instead of a dream for Team Envy. A wild 3K by food on B Site is, naturally, what gave Envy the lead. LG had a wonderful first half, but could not stop the Envy onslaught in the later rounds. Team Envy won 8 straight rounds before LG took their next. LG were able to push for their 10th round. Team Envy held on, however, defeating Luminosity Gaming 13:10.
Upper Final
Sentinels 2:0 FaZe Clan
Icebox
Icebox saw FaZe Clan start very aggressively, but Sentinels was prepared and took the pistol round. The second round went almost exactly the same as Hunter “SicK” Mims got a 3K. The economy of FaZe Clan was shut down early, giving Sentinels a solid lead. Michael “dapr” Gulino snagged a 3K of his own as bullets rained down on FaZe. Things looked good for FaZe Clan in the sixth round as Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty took down three Sentinels members. Time ran out before he could find the fourth or plant the Spike, though. As Andrej “babybay” Francisty got a 3K and FaZe got the Spike down, Tyson “TenZ” Ngo took three of his own on the retake to keep his opponents blanked. Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan showed everyone up with a 4K Operator round. Finally, FaZe Clan got their first round, on a Thrifty, by some great Corey “corey” Nigra Sheriff kills.
Some round trading occurred, taking it to the half 9:3. The first round after halftime was extremely chaotic near B Site and Yellow. Sentinels were able to take it after a big fight. Right after, Sentinels overwhelmed FaZe Clan again and pushed their round count to 11. A wonderful post-plant was held down by SicK to bring the first map of this highly anticipated series near its end. FaZe Clan picked up a huge round to stay alive with a sandwich style retake. Another round went to FaZe Clan, but the lead was just too much. A clutch attempt by babybay went unsuccessful as he fell in a TenZ 3K. Sentinels completed decimated FaZe Clan 13:5.
Haven
Sentinels continued their domination as the series moved on to Haven. The first two rounds were very blink-and-you’ll-miss-it. After acquiring guns, FaZe Clan took their first round with some solid defensive holds. A big 3K from corey halted a push from Sentinels and allowed FaZe to tie it up. Sentinels immediately took back the lead, however. A babybay 3K round in the midst of a Flawless victory put it to even again. SEN responded with their own Flawless. A 3K by Rawkus was complete with no time left to defuse. That started Sentinels on another roll. FaZe Clan was able to prevent too much of a lead, though. Halftime approached with a score line of 7:5.
SicK began the second half with a 3K after FaZe Clan showed some promise in the pistol round. Sentinels gave FaZe Clan absolutely zero room to breath here or in the entire series, honestly. It was not long before they took their 10th round and were ready to end FaZe’s Upper Bracket run. A Thrifty round win by FaZe’s corey with the Sheriff kept them alive a bit longer. Sentinels paid that no mind as a Flawless round pushed them closer to the finish line. Sentinels pushed FaZe Clan back against the wall and then pushed them through the wall. They have made it to the VCT NA Stage 1 Masters Grand Final with a 13:8 victory.
Stay tuned to Run It Back as the first VCT Masters tournaments wind down!
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