Team Heretics topple Leviátan, advance to Champions 2024 grand final

Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius sealed their place in the grand finals of Champions 2024, reaching their second international grand final of the year after a dominant 3-1 victory over LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena aspas Erick Santos C0M Corbin Lee .

The best-of-five series was played out on Icebox, Sunset, Abyss, and Lotus. Icebox and Abyss were Leviátan's map picks, while Sunset and Lotus were Team Heretics' picks.

Team Heretics won Icebox 13-7, Team Heretics won Sunset 15-13, Leviátan won Abyss 13-7, and Team Heretics won Lotus 13-3.

The last time these two teams met was in the upper semifinals, which resulted in a 2-0 Leviátan victory. Both maps of that match were tight, separated by five total rounds, and this series proved to be a close one until the fateful fourth map.

Icebox, Leviátan's go-to map pick in the last four matches, produced four overtime wins for the Americas Stage 2 champions. They went back to the well on Saturday, but could not find the success they had previously.

Despite winning five rounds in their attack half, more than their three against EDward Gaming the day before, it was Leviátan's defending half that struggled against Team Heretics.

Fueled by MiniBoo , who finished with a server-high 19 kills on the map, Team Heretics handed Leviátan their first loss on Icebox since the Americas Stage 2 upper finals.

Team Heretics entered halftime after securing eight attacking rounds. It felt like they carried their momentum from the first map into Sunset, but as the teams switched sides, it was evident that the map had an attacking tilt in this match. Leviátan claimed eight of the next ten rounds, reaching map point, but Team Heretics won two to force overtime.

In the second set of overtime rounds, Leviátan had little to no trouble getting onto a benjyfishy -defended A site, but with the spike planted, Team Heretics executed a five-man retake that dropped just one player and secured them a second map.

MiniBoo again shined with 22 kills, seven of them being a map-high in first kills, while initiator player RieNs had a game-leading 25 kills.

Leviátan heated up, and began hitting their shots in the second half of Sunset, but now needed an emphatic reverse-sweep for any chance at lifting the Champions trophy.

Map three was Abyss, a map that both teams played the day before. Leviátan lost their three-map upper final on Abyss, while Team Heretics won their three-map lower semifinal on it.

Leviátan ran into a brick wall on their attacking half against EDG, and it was more of the same against Team Heretics. They finished the half down 7-5, and needed a fiery start to their defense.

Well-coordinated retakes, highlighted by the layers of utility from players like Mazino , arguably VCT's best Harbor player, made for strong retakes, giving Team Heretics a hard time holding site post-plant. Mazino even managed a defuse to tie up the map, a moment that Team Heretics' in-game leader Boo was milliseconds away from stopping.

It's hard to mention Leviátan's success without touching on the flanks of C0M , one of two remaining former Champions winners, alongside teammate aspas . One of those trademark flanks helped his team secure the first of a four-round streak to take Abyss.

On Lotus, Team Heretics left Leviátan clawing for answers. On several occasions, an incorrect gamble stack stranded their opponents. Their attack half was dominant, resulting in an 11-1 halftime score. In the first half, Team Heretics had five rounds in which at least four players survived to the end.

Leviátan clinched the must-win pistol and anti-eco rounds, but the bonus round was the true test of whether or not they could come back to win. The bonus round resulted in Team Heretics surviving four players and bringing themselves to match point, where they continued to dominate.

Team Heretics' RieNs finished with a server-high 1.22 rating and 68 kills, continuing his potential rookie of the year campaign. Leviátan was top-fragged by tex , who finished with 57 kills.

“We were all our own worst enemy today,” Leviátan head coach Itopata said. “We just shut down completely. I think today, out of all the days it could happen, was probably the worst possible time.”

Five first-time champions will be crowned. aspas and C0M previously won Champions with LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #1 pANcada Bryan Luna saadhak Matias Delipetro Less Felipe de Loyola tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira and Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #21 Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le Apoth Vincent Le jawgemo Alexander Mor , respectively, but with the loss will end their campaign to become two-time champions.

Leviátan finished their Champions campaign third and will end their 2024 VCT season having lifted the Americas Stage 2 trophy.

After avenging themselves against Leviátan, Team Heretics will move to play 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) in the grand final. The two teams met in the playoffs of Masters Shanghai, which resulted in a 2-0 victory for the European team.

Seoul will be Team Heretics' third grand final this year after Shanghai and EMEA Stage 1. Sunday's best-of-five grand final will take place at INSPIRE Arena at 4 p.m. KST.