M80 defeat MXS to become first North America Ascension Team
After a close 2-0 victory against MXS, Canadian team M80 have guaranteed themselves a spot in this year’s 2024 Champions Tour Americas: Ascension alongside 7 other of the best teams in the region
The yearly Ascension tournaments present a golden opportunity for teams to rise through the tier two system and become a franchised team in the Valorant Champions Tour. Upon conclusion of the Ascension tournament, the winning team will become the twelfth and final team in the tier one Valorant system.
M80 continued to permaban Bind in their series against MXS and opted to pick their comfort map Lotus. Starting on the attacking side, M80 started slow, partially because of their unconventional triple sentinel team composition, including NiSMO on Deadlock. After losing pistol, M80 trailed 3-7 but back to back clutch rounds by neT near the end brought the scoreline to a closer 5-7 at the half.
https://www.twitch.tv/valorant_northamerica/clip/PoisedRacyGrassGivePLZ-cNQf3JqXkvTXi9Hi
https://clips.twitch.tv/GentleLuckyRhinocerosCorgiDerp-2HoCaaKVglajntFU
On the defensive side, M80’s team composition could really shine, winning them 8 rounds in a row. The defensive utility was too much for MXS to handle and M80 easily closed out the map with a 13-9 victory. Despite the win, the team overall went negative in kills with NiSMO being the only person with a positive K/D ratio.
With a win under their belt going into MXS’s pick of Icebox, M80 managed to win their first pistol round of the series, going up 2-0 on the map. MXS kept it close to the half though, relying on Mada’s Reyna to win a couple of rounds.
https://www.twitch.tv/valorant_northamerica/clip/RoundCrackyDurianMVGame-a_K23px7wjZ7k6J-
Undeterred, M80 pulled ahead off the back of the shining star of this map, Zander, to take the score to 11-6 in their favor. With their backs against a wall, MXS rose to the occasion and again tied things up and sent the map to overtime off the back of a fantastic retake against three ultimates from M80.
https://www.twitch.tv/valorant_northamerica/clip/GoodCuriousLobsterNotATK-OKqxh4R2eQlFJIHC
This effort would be in vain though, as M80 handedly won the next two rounds, punching their ticket to the Americas Ascension tournament with a 14-12 win. Zander was especially good in this match, going 40/32/15 and doing much of the heavy lifting on Icebox with a statline of 27/14/8.
Not all is lost for MXS though, as they play TSM tomorrow at 4:00PM PST for the chance to join M80 as the North American representatives next month.