In the first elimination match in front of the INSPIRE Arena crowd in South Korea, Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius beat Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #3 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid 2-1 to secure their spot in the lower finals at Champions 2024.

This match was a rematch of an early game at Masters Madrid, where Sentinels helped eliminate Team Heretics early on. The North American team eventually won the first international tournament of the year, but Sentinels weren't able to defeat Team Heretics at the biggest event of the year.

Sentinels picked Haven to start the series, leading Team Heretics to pick Icebox, which left Abyss as the potential third map.

Heretics decided to gamble with their team composition on Haven, picking Sage and Killjoy alongside a solo Gekko initiator. Picking attack side first, Heretics lost their pistol round and frequently focused on planting B. Sentinels converted their bonus, hitting key shots early on to prevent the Heretics B post-plants from working out. Yet, when Heretics won their first round on C site down 4-0, they won five rounds in a row and ended the half only down 7-5.

TenZ stepped up and got a 4K to win Sentinels their second pistol round on Haven. Despite not winning their bonus round, johnqt called a clean second half to finish the map 13-8 and start the series up 1-0. It was the star Omen from Sentinels that took over Haven, as TenZ ended the map with 29 kills, a 41% headshot percentage, and a 2.01 match rating.

Icebox had no big composition differences between the two teams aside from Heretics keeping MiniBoo on his signature Neon. The map started with a benjyfishy flank and a pistol round win for Heretics, but TenZ wasn't letting an agent swap onto KAY/O slow him down.

TenZ gets four crispy kills as KAY/O against Team Heretics.

Sentinels played retakes well, with each player having their moments sniping Heretics down. However, as soon as Sentinels hit six round wins, Heretics adjusted their tempo and won some clutches to keep the map within reach. Sentinels led 7-5 at halftime, just as they did on Haven.

Heretics won their second pistol round and secured their bonus to take their first lead in the series. Sentinels kept the rounds close, but Boo led Heretics to win Icebox 13-9, leaving Abyss as the decider for one of these team's Champions hopes.

It all came down to Abyss, with Sentinels making their Champions debut on the map. Heretics won their pistol round, and Boo kept his form up from Icebox to secure his team the bonus round. Sentinels took a needed timeout to get their first round win on Abyss, but RieNs caught fire as Sova to prevent any first-half comebacks. Heretics entered the half up 8-4, in control of the map.

Sentinels needed to win the final pistol of the series, and they did just that off of a zekken ace. There was a scent of a comeback in the air, but Heretics were quick to snuff it out off the back of RieNs. MiniBoo got a 4K to put Heretics up 11-6, and that round ended any chance of a comeback from Sentinels. Heretics defeated Sentinels 13-7 and won the series 2-1.

With this win, Team Heretics will face LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena aspas Erick Santos C0M Corbin Lee in the Champions 2024 lower finals for a chance to make the grand finals against EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 S1Mon Hsien Meng-Hsun (谢孟勋) ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) . Sentinels, the fourth seed from Americas, finished the tournament in fourth place.