Day two of the North American VCT Last Chance Qualifier saw the two final matchups of the upper quarterfinals take place. 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #6 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk pulled out a thriller win to advance, while Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #7 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong mitch Mitch Semago OXY Francis Hoang did the same in slightly shorter fashion.

NRG Esports vs 100 Thieves (100T 2-1)

Neither NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #1 FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold or 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #6 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk had seen tournament action since the Stage 2 Challengers Main Event. The two rosters played exactly two months ago in week four of the group stage of said event. 100 Thieves took home a resounding win in 2-0 fashion, only allowing NRG 13 total rounds across two maps.

The first two maps remained the same in the rematch, with Icebox kicking off the series as NRG's map pick. Back in June, 100T defeated NRG 13-9 to begin that series. The first half of map one was a back and forth affair as the teams reached a stalemate at 6-6. Asuna had a strong defense side for 100T, going off for 205 ADR and 325 ACS. eeiu countered with his own strong half, including a 4K to bring NRG to six rounds on attack.

eeiu as dependable as ever for NRG.

100 Thieves began the second half as they did the first one, taking home both the pistol and the following round. NRG answered with five straight rounds to give themselves an 11-8 lead. hazed propelled NRG forward with a 1v2 clutch in round 17 to prevent his team from losing against a weak buy. 100T responded to bring map one back to an 11-11 scoreline. The play of the map came from tex as he provided yet another jaw-dropping Icebox clip on Chamber to bring NRG to map point.

tex, Chamber, Icebox. Name a better combo.

The last round came down to a 1v1 gunfight between the two Sage players, Ethan and stellar . A frenzied NRG retake concluded in Ethan landing his shots on stellar and defusing the bomb. A thrilling map one came to an end in round 24 as NRG gained an edge in the series, winning on their map pick. The two Sovas, Derrek and eeiu, produced the highest ACS totals for their teams.

Map two brought the series to Bind. NRG was 1-4 on the map since April 1, whereas 100 Thieves held a 6-1 record on the map in the same timespan. Bind was also played as the second map back in June, with NRG managing just four rounds. Things again looked a bit dire for NRG to start off their defense, falling behind 7-3. Ethan ensured that NRG would turn in a respectable defensive half with a 3K in round 12, giving NRG five rounds.

Ethan uses his Skye utility to deny the plant.

The second half of map two began with yet another 100 Thieves pistol win, their fourth in four tries. The bonus round win for 100 Thieves elevated them to a 10-5 lead to try and push things out to a map three. Despite beginning the round with a majority of players on pistols, 100 Thieves forced Ethan into a 1v4 situation. Ethan got three nice frags, but it was Will who traded his teammates to secure the round for 100T. NRG converted a couple more rounds on attack, but 100T closed out Bind with a 13-7 scoreline. bang contributed to the finishing touches with an impressive 4K fighting from showers to bring 100T to map point. stellar also had a strong map, going 21-11 while also tallying four first bloods.

bang holds A site down.

Ascent was the deciding map three for this upper quarterfinal match. 100 Thieves held just a 2-4 record on Ascent since April, whilst NRG was 2-1. NRG managed to bring home their first pistol of the series to kick off the map. Yet again, the first half was brought to a 6-6 tie with neither team managing to string together more than three rounds. Both Chambers, Will and tex , provided a massive impact on the flow of the game with their positioning and usage of the Operator.

Just like yesterday's matches, this one was going down to the wire. NRG jumped out to a 10-7 lead, winning four of their first five rounds on attack. 100 Thieves answered with four of five of their own to bring the round count to 11-11, including a massive round from Will in round 22. After both Chambers found picks to begin the round, Will denied NRG entry from the A bombsite, gaining two more massive kills from his Operator. His teammate bang cleaned up the last two NRG members as they filtered into the site.

Will picks up three kills with his Operator.

That round had massive financial implications, restricting NRG from a full buy for the remaining two rounds. A Stinger rush from NRG was shut down in round 23, and their attack weaponry consisted of just two Vandals and a Tour de Force in the last round of the game. Despite a great fake call from hazed using his teams‘ Astra and Fade ultimates, 100 Thieves didn't bite. An entry kill from tex didn't deter bang from anchoring the A site and finding three frags to bring 100 Thieves the map and series win.

The series clinching round for 100 Thieves.

Every member for 100T went positive across the series except for one, and Will came up big when it mattered most.

The series continued what has been an extremely entertaining opening round for the Last Chance Qualifier. With the victory, 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #6 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk advances to the upper semifinals, where they face off against FaZe Clan FaZe Clan Inactive POISED Kevin Ngo mummAy Anthony DiPaolo TiGG Tanner Spanu BABYBAY Andrej Francisty supamen Phat Le in another rematch from Stage 2 on Sunday. NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #1 FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold 's tournament is not over yet, as they face off against Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #22 Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le on Sunday as well in lower round one.

Cloud9 vs Shopify Rebellion (C9 2-0)

The second matchup brought another rematch from exactly a month ago, as Shopify Rebellion Shopify Rebellion Inactive v1c Victor Truong mada Adam Pampuch (then Luminosity) took on Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #7 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong mitch Mitch Semago OXY Francis Hoang in the last quarterfinal matchup of the LCQ. This was the roster's first official match under the Shopify Rebellion name.

In June, the SR roster took home a 2-0 victory over Cloud9 that eliminated Cloud9 from qualifying for playoffs. Two maps from that mapset carried over to today's match, with Ascent, the first map of the series, replacing Breeze. The only differential between the teams in agent selection was TiGG on Sage, and leaf on Neon.

Cloud9 came out swinging on defense, taking the first four rounds. moose helped bring things back to a 4-4 tie with two clutches. His post-plant 1v2 playing around his Omen smoke in round seven gave his squad a much-needed boost.

A rat or a moose?

Off the back of moose's play, Shopify Rebellion won six of the last eight rounds on attack to bring things to a 6-6 halftime score. The Neon pick for Cloud9 came through on attack, bringing a quickness that SR sometimes couldn't handle. The other Omen in the lobby provided his own theatrics, as vanity came in with a huge 4K to take round 19 and break the Shopify Rebellion economy. Vanity played around his own one-way smoke, spraying down the oncoming SR players.

Elite positioning from Vanity wins the round.

Vanity could do no wrong on map one, producing a 28/14/19 statline along with a 100% KAST. Cloud9 closed out seven of the last nine rounds to take the lead in the series.

While Ascent was C9's pick to start things off, Shopify Rebellion hoped to find comfort on their map pick of Fracture. SR entered the match 5-2 on Fracture since the start of April, and Cloud9 held a record of 3-3 on the map. Back in June, SR took Fracture over C9 13-11.

bdog wasn't going down without a fight, popping off for fourteen kills in the first six rounds to help give SR a 5-1 lead on their attack. Tower on B site was a bloodbath throughout the first half, with mada and dazzLe using their Neon and Breach utility to gain entry into the site quickly.

bdog used his Operator and Headhunter extremely well on Fracture

Despite the blistering start from SR, it wasn't too long until Cloud9 found themselves in the lead. A strong finish on defense combined with four straight wins to start the second half brought them to a 9-7 lead. The fast pace from C9 seemed to catch SR off guard at times. Just when it looked like things might be slipping away from Shopify Rebellion, bdog showed up yet again with a massive 4K with kills through curry 's Viper ultimate to secure the round.

Another bdog for your pleasure

A trio of retakes including bdog's 4K gave SR back the lead at 10-9. Not to be outdone, Xeppaa put together one of his own highlight-worthy rounds. Using the Fade ultimate to delay the SR retake, he bought time for vanity to give him a smoke to play off of. With the SR players falling into his lap, Xeppaa found three to close out his 4K.

Xeppaa turns sands into his domain

The C9 round 20 victory broke the economy for Shopify Rebellion. The end of Fracture turned into scrappy play after scrappy play as members of each team looked for ways to bring their team across the finish line. The C9 round 20 victory broke the economy for SR and resulted in a 12-10 lead for Cloud9.

The usually fast engagements seemed to slow down a bit for Cloud9 as the map dragged on. After a big round victory for SR, things were set for a 12-11 showdown to decide the series or force OT. C9 slowed things down and tried to reach the site but instead ran into a congregation of SR players, bringing the map into overtime.

Two defuses by C9 while moose was lining up Brimstone mollies, and two flawless OT defense rounds set the tone for the overtime rounds. Ultimately it took four overtimes for Cloud9 to separate themselves from Shopify Rebellion on Fracture.

The winning round from Cloud9

bdog dropped 40 kills and 211 ADR, but it wasn't enough. He went 14-6 on first duels across the two maps, and was 8-2 in regular Operator kills. Four members for Cloud9 went for 40+ kills across the series, with vanity leading the team with a 264 ACS.

Before the Cloud9-Shopify Rebellion game, each series had gone to map three. Each series did have at least one map go into OT, and ten of the 11 maps played were decided by three rounds or less.

Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #7 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong mitch Mitch Semago OXY Francis Hoang advances to play The Guard The Guard Inactive JonahP Jonah Pulice trent Trent Cairns neT Michael Bernet valyn Jacob Batio tex Ian Botsch in the upper semifinals, while Shopify Rebellion Shopify Rebellion Inactive v1c Victor Truong mada Adam Pampuch drops down to play Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #4 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid in the lowers.

Looking Ahead

Saturday, August 6 has one lower bracket match and one upper bracket match. Cloud9 and The Guard play for a spot in the winner's finals. Sentinels and Shopify Rebellion play to avoid elimination.