Gentle Mates wins the Grand Final against Mandatory - VCL France 2023 Split 2
It was the Split 2 Grand Final of the VCL France 2023 with a much-anticipated poster featuring Mandatory and Gentle Mates. The two teams met once again, as they did in Split 1, and the result was no different. At the end of an extremely close final in which both teams were able to shine, Gentle Mates wins. They became VCL champions for their second consecutive split and automatically qualified for the Ascension to qualify for VCT.
Final scores
Mandatory - Gentle Mates
M8 13 - Haven - 13 MDR
M8 13 - Fracture - 13 MDR
M8 9 - Lotus - 13 MDR
M8 9 - Bind - 13 MDR
M8 13 - Split - 7 MDR
Mandatory
| Players | K/D/A | ACS | |
    | HyP | 57/76/42 | 153 |
  | AKUMAAAAA | 70/80/42 | 180 |
  | Goaster | 84/87/23 | 223 |
  | TheBigFiz | 72/72/15 | 174 |
  | kAdavra | 85/58/34 | 203 |
Gentle Mates
| Players | K/D/A | ACS | |
 | TakaS | 88/76/15 | 226 |
 | beyAz | 61/72/41 | 154 |
| | logaNNNN | 96/74/19 | 236 |
 | nataNk | 70/81/36 | 186 |
| | Wailers | 58/66/36 | 150 |
Summary of the Final Mandatory vs Gentle Mates (Split 2)
Haven
M8 13 - 10 MDR
This grand final began on Haven with Mandatory on attack. Everything seemed to be going well for our players, who won the first 4 rounds extremely convincingly, but things changed when TakaS was able to buy some decent equipment. The Gentle Mates champion in command of Jett twirls from one crate to another, rarely touching the ground and stringing together some absolutely breathtaking individual moves. He dominates the exchanges and Mandatory can only win points if they manage to kill TakaS at the start of the round. Some of them are snatched by HyP which focuses on time rather than kills. Gentle Mates nevertheless won the first map by a score of 13 to 10.
Fracture
M8 13 - 10 MDR
On Fracture, TakaS was still putting on a show, but was more often caught out by the aggressiveness of Mandatory. The whole match was much more balanced, with each round going to one team or the other. On the Mandatory side, we could count on AKUMAAAAA and kAdavra to cleverly get around opponents. Whereas at Gentle Mates, zone control by nataNk and beyaz locked the players in perfectly. But in terms of pure technique, the Gentle Mates players were both better organised and much more solid in their cross-hair placement and duels.
Lotus
M8 9 - 13 MDR
With their backs against the wall, Mandatory had no choice. Forced to outdo themselves, the team was more incisive than ever. Playing on the defensive, they forced the confrontations and caught the Gentles Mates off guard on numerous occasions. Mandatory managed to win 7 rounds and win its defence phase while the M8s had still not taken any points. It was beyAz who managed to give his team the impetus they needed to get back into the game and win the last 5 rounds before the side change.
From the moment Mandatory was on the attack, the game was tighter than ever and each round was decided by a whisker. Just think of the round where TheBigFiz completes a quadruple, but is just a centimetre short of killing the Spike's defuser. Or this round where kAdavra puts the Spike down with just a fraction of a second to go. Goaster played his sniper perfectly, while his teammates took over the various smokes and gradually gained the upper hand. The final rounds remained tense, but Mandatory finally won their first map in this BO5 thanks to a series of fine eliminations of AKUMAAAAA.
Bind
M8 9 - 13 MDR
Mandatory's comeback continued at Bind. Despite defending a very disadvantageous position, the team managed to finish the side at 5-7. Goaster on Raze was a veritable automatic turret, perched on the various crates to eliminate several series of opponents. And that was just the beginning, as it was in Attack that Mandatory showed its full potential. The consistency of Fiz, the strategies of HyP, the impetuosity of AKUMAAAAA, the cold blood of Goaster and the technical mastery of kAdavra's all helped to win the rounds needed to regain the lead.
The Gentle Mates players were beginning to show signs of fatigue, but they were not to be denied. Wailers and logaNNNN gave our players more than a few scares. But their efforts were not enough. Mandatory won its second map by a score of 13-9.
Split
M8 13 - 7 MDR
So it would all come down to Split. The Gentle Mates opted for a double duelist composition, relying more on Attack than on Defence. It was therefore imperative to win as many rounds as possible during their defence, and things were looking good. Mandatory wins the first 5 rounds.
In Defence, it was hard to stop the duo logaNNNN and TakaS. LogaNNNN was a real wall in both defence and attack to counter the retakes. For his part, TakaS on his Jett drew all the attention to himself, leaving nataNk all the time in the world to kill off the Mandatory players who had their necks in the air. As the game progressed, Gentle Mates increased their lead. Far from underestimating the Mandatorys, they played their slowest and most methodical game to date, even when the hammers were in economy.
Despite a few Mandatory surges, it was the Gentle Mates who managed to win this final map. The Gentle Mates are therefore the VCL France champions for the second time in a row, and have earned their place in the Ascension tournament, where they may yet reach the VCT.
All is not lost for Mandatory in the race for the European stage, as they have still qualified for the Ascension Access Tournament on 22nd June 2023.
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