Total Shorty Kills
VCT NA Stage 1 Masters: Lower Round 3 and Lower Final
Brandon "Mothman" Moore
03/21/2021
The VCT NA Stage 1 Masters tournament is winding down. It has been a long two weeks of competitive Valorant. The Grand Final is set after a wild weekend. The Lower Round 3 and Lower Final contests have completed. Gen.G Esports looked to keep the upsets rolling by defeating Team Envy then going on to best FaZe Clan. Were they able to accomplish that feat?
Read ahead for the results of the VCT NA Stage 1 Masters Lower Round 3 and Lower Final.
VCT NA Stage 1 Masters
Lower Round 3
Gen.G Esports 2:1 Team Envy
Ascent
Ascent started with none other than Victor “food” Wong shutting down the Gen.G attack plan with a 3K. Another round, another 3K by food, getting his Run It Back Ultimate by the third. Team Envy was just smothering any fire that Gen.G tried to start. 4:0 started off the series. That streak would end as Gen.G finally put up their first round. Team Envy was able to put an Operator in the hands of Anthony “mummAy” DiPaolo. A 3K immediately responded to Gen.G taking a round. Jake “kaboose” McDonald got his own 3K with a Bucky, furthering Team Envy’s lead. The slaughter continued as the first half ended 10:2.
Envy quickly took A Site as the attacking team, but Gen.G managed to shut them down. Shawn “Shawn” O’Riley kept that up with a 3K before moving into the true gun rounds. A 3K Clutch by mummAy ended a round that should have been Gen.G’s to win. That returned the momentum to Envy as food racked up another 3K. Match point arrived. The final round of Ascent saw Envy rush to B Site. An action packed battle ended with the Spike down and Team Envy eliminating each player of Gen.G. The first map was a dominating 13:4 Envy victory.
Haven
Haven started no differently than Ascent did. Team Envy took the first two rounds to assert their dominance over Gen.G. Gen.G were able to stop that much earlier this time around. A great 3K effort by Kenneth “koosta” Suen almost gave Gen.G their second round, but food took him down as a part of his own 3K. The tie did come through as Gen.G overwhelmed B Site. Gen.G took their first lead of the series as both Danny “huynh” Huynh and kaboose take down three a piece with the latter being shut down before a fourth. Shawn led the charge into C, killing three, and putting Gen.G up by two. It wasn’t long until Team Envy brought it back, though. Gen.G put on a wild attacking round to end the half, leaving it tied 6:6.
Team Envy have looked incredibly strong throughout the series. That continued into the second half of Haven. They attacked relentlessly without giving Gen.G any room to breathe. Once the gun rounds arrived, Gen.G had an answer. An incredible 1v2 went in favor of Michael “MkaeL” De Luca. That tied the game at 8:8. Huynh delivered a 3K with the Operator in a Flawless round to take the lead. Gen.G kept it up, retaking well, and push past double digits against Envy. A 3K by MkaeL put Gen.G to map point. Team Envy fought back, but another great round by MkaeL, a 4K, sent the series to map three with a 13:10 ending.
Bind
Gen.G was ready to take the fight to Envy. The first two rounds went quickly in their favor. A great Clutch for huynh with the Blade Storm pushed Gen.G ahead in further in the first gun round. Gen.G just kept punishing Team Envy. They went up 5:0 incredibly fast. Gen.G looked to be a completely different beast coming into Bind. A Clutch and then a 3K by Anthony “gMd” Guimond pushed it to seven. Envy finally picked up their first round on a solid A site retake. Shawn with a 3K in a Flawless round pushed Gen.G to a 9:1 lead. Team Envy managed to make 9:3 just before halftime.
A crazy pistol round came down to the wire as Austin “crashies” Roberts was the last player standing with a sliver of health. A 3K by food gave Team Envy their fifth round. gMd shut down an A site rush to put Gen.G in double digits. Gen.G appeared unstoppable at this point, tanking the Envy economy and inching their way to the Lower Final. Another down to the wire round went to Gen.G as koosta made a big brain play at B. That took Bind to series point. Team Envy weren’t done yet, though, pushing their way to eight rounds. A retake by Gen.G, in a Thrifty round nonetheless, stopped the comeback. Gen.G versus FaZe Clan was set for the Lower Final as Bind ended 13:8.
Lower Final
FaZe Clan 2:0 Gen.G Esports
Ascent
The first round of Ascent saw Gen.G get an advantage, but Corey “corey” Nigra fought hard for a 1v4 Clutch. It was denied after three, however, giving Gen.G the early lead. Gen.G bought some guns in the second round and forced their way to B. A quick Flawless round went in their favor. Andrej “babybay” Francisty responded with a 4K to get FaZe Clan on the board. Gen.G kept the lead, but Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen popped a 4K to keep his team from falling too far behind. Another 4K from babybay completed an A site retake to close the gap even further. A Clutch by koosta refused to let FaZe Clan tie the rounds. Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty made the most of his time to shine, clutching the round to tie it 5:5. The next two rounds were taken one a piece, sending it to the second half 6:6.
The first round after halftime saw FaZe Clan kick it into gear, taking a very convincing pistol round. FaZe bought some guns and immediately mowed down the entirety of Gen.G. Rawkus got a 3K in a very slow and tense situation, extending the FaZe Clan lead. Gen.G managed to take a Flawless round to get their first since they switched sides. That set Gen.G up nicely for their eighth round of the map as huynh snagged a 3K. FaZe Clan threw everything they could at Gen.G to reach match point, however. A map ending Showstopper by corey put a huge exclamation point on the victory as Ascent ended 13:8.
Bind
FaZe Clan started Bind on attack. They took A site in the blink of an eye and planted the Spike. A 3K by Rawkus was not the round winner. Instead, huynh was given a Clutch after sticking the defuse with two FaZe players left. The second round saw a gMd 3K, but the Spike was unable to be defused, giving a Thrifty to FaZe. babybay did what he does best, taking it to Gen.G along with Rawkus. That gave quite FaZe quite the lead, but koosta popped a 3K to stop any bleeding before it could start. A gMd 3K brought Gen.G within one. Soon after, the map was tied. Unlike Ascent, the tie did not stay intact at halftime. FaZe Clan switched sides with a solid 8:4 lead.
Gen.G took the second half’s pistol round while only losing one player. The second round was more of the same from Gen.G. That brought them closer to FaZe Clan’s score. The fast pace continued, benefiting Gen.G. The map looked to be done early for Gen.G, but at this point, they managed to tie it 8:8. FaZe were finally able to take a second half victory, retaking their way to another lead. The momentum shifted immensely as FaZe Clan once again began to dominate. It wasn’t long before babybay and Marved put their foot on the necks of Gen.G, taking it to series point. A 1v3 for koosta was never going to happen. FaZe Clan is off to face Sentinels after a 13:9 win. The VCT NA Stage 1 Masters Grand Final is going to be insane.
Stay tuned to Run It Back as the VCT Stage 1 Masters event reaches the finish line!
