Bilibili Gaming defeats NRG at Valorant Champions 2023
On the third day of the Valorant Champions 2023, Bilibili Gaming took its first steps in a competition bringing together teams from all over the world. And the least we can say is that the Chinese hit the nail on the head! Firstly, because they beat the third best team in the NA region, namely NRG EsportsThey also gave China their first victory in the opening match of an international LAN.
Unexpected defeat for Lotus
"I don't know how we lost, to be honest. We won the two pistol-rounds and accumulated 21 first bloods (...) I don't know how that could have happened".. The words ofardiis at the post-match conference sums up the general impression of the Lotus confrontation, the first card in this match.
As the NRG Esports player mentioned, the data was rather in their favour. Especially as the American team won the first five rounds, including the bonus round. The ace of s0m in the second round put them in good spirits for the rest of the game. However, they lost out to the Chinese challengers from Bilibili Gaming.
Although the team still has no explanation for the defeat, ChetThe coach did mention, however, that the post-planting phases could be one of the areas to be reworked. "We let a few post-plants through, so I'm not really sure what happened".. In addition, NSF added that the team had not managed to capitalise on its eliminations or simply to conclude "(...) but we weren't able to capitalise on the kills on many occasions"..
Errors on the part of NRG Esports are definitely not to blame for this defeat. However, Bilibili Gaming had just as much to do with the result. After a difficult start, and once the machine was up and running, the game became very different. Initially 5-0 down, the Chinese were only two points behind at the changeover. In attack, they revealed their full potential. The individual actions of Biank, Knight or the Yosemite and whzy They were able to reduce the deficit and even force extra time. In the end, this first card ended in victory on the wire, 14 to 12from Bilibili Gaming.
Whyz makes a killing on Split
After that somewhat lunar victory over Lotus, Whyz, Biank, Knight, yosemite and rin win Split. While they had a complicated first few rounds on the previous card, that was not the case this time around. On the contrary, Bilibili Gaming largely dominated the early part of the first half. Even though they had lost the pistol-round, they emerged victorious from the second set and went on to win four times. NRG still scored a few points before the changeover, but were still trailing 8-4 when they went to defence.
The Chinese are just as good at attackingThey even managed to win the first three legs. The Americans tried to get back into the race, but unfortunately the four extra points were not enough. Bilibili Gaming proved one last time that it has what it takes to take the A site, and closed out the match in style with a score of 13 to 8.
Here, it was more the style of play that explained the Chinese victory than the American mistakes. On Split, Bilibili Gaming was extremely aggressiveBoth in defence and attack. This way of playing may have come as a surprise to the NRG Esports players, as they so aptly put it Whyz when asked about its Judge-based gameplay "Maybe they weren't expecting us to have this kind of strategy. I have the impression that the opposition were a bit disorganised and perhaps didn't prepare very well for that.
He is the man of the match. The Chinese duellist finishes the card with the best statistics - a rating of 1.74, an ACS of 396, a KD of over 2, five triple kills, three double eliminations and even a magnificent quadrakill.
The Valorant Champions Tour is definitely open to Chinese teams an interesting choice for the international sports scene. Not only are we seeing new ways of approaching FPS and the different maps, but we're also discovering some high-potential players, like ZmjjKK aka KangKangEDG's star player, who impressed at the Tokyo Masters.
NRG Esports can still escape early elimination. To do so, s0m, crashies, ardiis, Victor and FiNESSE will have to defeat one of the best Japanese teams, namely ZETA Division.
For their part, Bilibili Gaming could write their name in Valorant esport history for a second time, if they manage to beat the giant Fnatic in his next match of the tournament. This eagerly-awaited encounter will take place on the following dates 10 August. To follow this duel live, go to VALORANT's Twitch channel from 3.00 am CEST.
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