A close three map series ends with
T1
T1
Korea
Rank #3
Sayaplayer
Ha Jeong-woo (하정우)
Rossy
Daniel Abedrabbo
Carpe
Lee Jae-hyeok (이재혁)
iZu
Ham Woo-ju (함우주)
xccurate
Kevin Susanto
advancing to the AfreecaTV Valorant League playoffs. Their opponents,
Team Liquid
Team Liquid
Europe
Rank #15
Jamppi
Elias Olkkonen
nAts
Ayaz Akhmetshin
Enzo
Enzo Mestari
Mistic
James Orfila
Keiko
Georgio Sanassy
, will play later tonight against either
EDward Gaming
EDward Gaming
China
Rank #1
ZmjjKK
Zheng Yongkang (郑永康)
nobody
Wang Senxu (王森旭)
Muggle
Tang Shijun (唐时俊)
CHICHOO
Wan Shunji (万顺治)
Smoggy
Zhang Zhao (张钊)
Haodong
Guo Haodong (郭浩东)
/
Fancy United Esports
Fancy United Esports
Asia-Pacific
Rank #8
YESicaN
Đinh Đình Đạt
Kishi
Ngô Trường Huy
Crus
Lư Tiến Huy
f1cio
Hoàng Ngọc Sơn
gin
Phan Văn Gin
to continue their stay at the event.
This is the first time in the organizations' history that they play each other, despite participating in all international VCT events this year and being among the first orgs to enter Valorant back in 2020.
Both teams are the sole remaining representatives for their region at the event, with Liquid being the only European team invited and
DRX
DRX
Korea
Rank #2
stax
Kim Gu-taek (김구택)
BuZz
Yu Byung-chul (유병철)
MaKo
Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관)
Foxy9
Jung Jae-sung (정재성)
BeYN
Kang Ha-bin (강하빈)
, the other Korean team featured, losing yesterday to
Paper Rex
Paper Rex
Asia-Pacific
Rank #1
mindfreak
Aaron Leonhart
Jinggg
Wang Jing Jie
f0rsakeN
Jason Susanto
d4v41
Khalish Rusyaidee
something
Ilya Petrov
in the Group A decider.
The match started off on Lotus, which both teams had played on in their previous matches. T1's offense secured them an early lead, but Liquid managed to string together a round win streak to end the half 7-5. The Korean team answered in turn, a streak of their own secured map point. For the next three rounds, Team Liquid stopped the bleed and were able to send the map to overtime.
Keiko 's Raze nets him an ace
A pair of aces kept the match going, but Liquid closed out their map pick 16-14. Keiko in particular salvaged a sub-par regulation period with nine overtime kills, his own ace, and a clutch in the final round.
The tide turned on Breeze, however, as T1 took their map 13-9. Their double-duelist, double-controller composition was too much to handle for Liquid. iZu and Sayaplayer had a combined 6-1 first kills/first deaths on their attack half. The rest of the team helped with the cleanup, of course, closing out rounds thanks to clutches, lurks, and trading.
Rossy caps off a thrifty win with a clutch
After half time, Rossy and xccurate completely shut down Liquid's attack. Finding 10 kills apiece, xccurate held the line with 4 first eliminations, while Rossy contributed with 4 assists and a 100% KAST.
The series continued to the decider, Ascent. Jamppi single-handedly took control of the first half, scoring an incredible 22 eliminations (five first kills), a 2.15 rating, and 506 ACS. His heroics didn't yield the results that Liquid would have wanted, as T1 winning the pistol round and Sayaplayer putting up a respectable performance of his own kept the score close at 7-5.
Team Liquid then won their third pistol of the series, countered by T1 taking the next two rounds. A triple kill from Mistic extended Liquid's lead and forced their opponent on a weak buy for round 17.
Initially, the European squad was exploring the map, probing T1's setup to avoid any potential trap plays or stacks. Once confirmed, their opponent's presence on A convinced Liquid to regroup and overwhelm the lone player on the other side of the map.
Carpe eliminates five
With nothing more than a Sheriff, Carpe was able to hold Liquid's push by himself. Two rounds later, Rossy got his own ace. T1 went on to close out the map 13-10.
The victory means T1 advances to playoffs, while Liquid will have to win another series later tonight. The Korean team will next play Paper Rex, meaning xccurate will face off against his brother,
f0rsakeN
. Whichever team qualifies from Group B will meet
Sentinels
Sentinels
North America
Rank #4
TenZ
Tyson Ngo
Zellsis
Jordan Montemurro
zekken
Zachary Patrone
johnqt
Mohamed Amine Ouarid
Sacy
Gustavo Rossi
in the other semifinal.
“We're doing pretty good,” Carpe said in the post-match interview. “I'm sure we're going to surprise people with how much we can do.”