XSET and DRX have fallen - Valorant Champions
The Valorant Champions is a tough competition in many ways. The best teams in the world are vying for the ultimate trophy, with the intensity of the matches in the VCT unmatched. So far, in three matches, XSET and DRX were undefeated DRX had even won the various matches without losing a single card. Nevertheless, as Sacy, evolving at LOUD, everyone is catchable. With his team, he defeated the Koreans of DRX. The XSET players had their first defeat against the AmericanOpTic Gaming.
Koreans lose to LOUD
DRX started the playoffs with a new victory, against FunPlus Phoenix. The latter allowed them to reach the semi-finals of the upper bracket. Undefeated since the beginning of the tournament, the roster finally fell. The Brazilian team LOUD had been particularly well prepared for this top match:
We watched a lot of their games. We studied them, we saw their schemes, we prepared some antistrats, and with that we knew a lot of things they were going to do.
aspas - LOUD player
This research work has finally paid off. If the lights were green at the beginning of the game, after the 4K of Less in round 2, they quickly turned red. The 3K of MaKo and Rb the next two rounds allowed DRX to equalise, and take the lead over Breeze. In the final period, the roster went on a seven-game winning streak and led by six points at the changeover. Unfortunately for them, the famous 9-3 curse hit home. After another pistol-round victory, the LOUDs were extremely effective. The tension increased when the Korean counter was down to eleven, but despite this, they did not give up. The team kept the ship afloat and achieved what is probably the best comeback of the tournament, at least for the time being. After more than an hour of play, the Brazilians took the lead with a final score of 13-11.
In their previous matches, DRX's victories have all followed the same pattern: a close first game, then a second game won without any real difficulties. This time, it was the LOUDs who took advantage of the "close win" buff. Of the first nine rounds played on Haven, the Brazilians came out on top eight times. We salute the 4K of Saadhak in round 2! After the changeover, the Koreans managed to take two more points, but ended up losing 6-13.
Yay and Chamber: a combo that works!
The second match of the day was between North American giants OpTic Gaming and XSET. Both teams came out of the group stage with two good wins each and then won their first playoff match. Their last meeting was on Copenhagen Masters, during which OpTic Gaming crushed XSET in the final of the top bracket.
If the XSET players were motivated to take their revenge, it was without counting on the efficiency of yay. Since the start of the Valorant Champions, the OpTic Gaming player has been shining with Chamber. Leading the KDA rankings in every match, he has reached 58 eliminations at the lowest level of his form. During the other battles, yay got no less than 60 kills. Thus, he finished the match against XSET with an impressive new KDA of 63/40/5.
However, OpTic Gaming had started off rather badly on Haven. At the changeover, the team was 8-4 down. The 4K of yay in the second round brought a renewed determination to his team, which conceded only one more round during the endgame. In the end, XSET lost 9-13.
Both teams then switched on Ascent. Again, OpTic Gaming quickly found itself in trouble. XSET won nine successive sets, and were leading 9-3 at the changeover. The famous curse almost struck again, as at the end of set 21, OpTic regained the lead. Despite their opponents' comeback, the XSET players held on to win the map 13-11.
So it was on Pearl that the victory was decided. This time, OpTic Gaming set the tone, showing great execution on Attack. For the first time in this match, the team led at the changeover. However, XSET quickly came back, and at the end of the 16th round the two teams were tied, 8-8. Buoyed by yay, OpTic Gaming remained focused and went on to win round after round. After almost an hour and twenty minutes of play, the match ended with a second victory,13-8, of OpTic Gaming.
The next two playoff matches are playoffs. They will be held today, starting at 4pm CEST. Four teams, FunPlus Phoenix, DRX, XSET and Fnatic will be playing for their survival in the tournament. If you want to follow these matches live, go to the Twitch channel of VALORANT. You can also take advantage of the watch party organised by HyP, directly on his personal channel.
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