NA Challengers Stage 1 Main Event - Week 2 Group B Recap

Pittsburgh Knights vs. Sentinels

The inaugural matchup of Group B this weekend was perhaps the most entertaining, especially since the high and mighty Sentinels had to play in the decider map once again, a sight that was elusive to them for the majority of VCT 2021. Pittsburgh Knights showed the winners of VCT 2021 - Stage 2 - Masters Reykjavík and participants of VCT 2021 - VALORANT Champions 2021 that they were a force to be reckoned with when they defeated them on Ascent 15-13.

Ascent being the Knights’ map pick meant they had the edge in battle, but it wasn’t as one-sided a battle as it might seem on paper. The Knights took four back-to-back rounds out of the gate. Before they could do more damage, however, Sentinels took charge of the momentum and started a six-round streak of their own. After a couple of rounds to the Knight, the half ended at an equal score to both teams. Since the map went to overtime, both teams did end up scoring the same number of rounds in the second half as well. Sentinels came extremely close to winning the map as they had a three-point lead on round 19. The Knights turned the tables and were able to reach 12 before Sentinels could, which made the latter force overtime. The first overtime wasn’t enough to pick a winner, so the map proceeded to double overtime where the Knights were finally able to restrict Sentinel from winning the map.

Being veterans of the game, Sentinels realized the importance of the second map on the matchup. After evaluating the caliber of the Knight’s performance in the first map, it was important to come up with a counterstrategy and they managed to so effectively as demonstrated by their performance on Bind. From the pistol round, Sentinels gradually started stacking up points on the scoreboard and they managed to keep the lead throughout the entire map with the first half ending at 9-3 to Sentinels and the map at 13-5.

Rise vs. Version1

Saturday’s matchup wasn’t nearly as exciting as Friday’s but it was still worth watching. Rise, which has managed to defeat OpTic Gaming last week, had significantly high morale going into this matchup and so did Version1 after taking down the Pittsburgh Knights in a clean sweep.

Although Breeze was Rise’s map pick, it didn’t seem to cause any trouble for Version1 who were in control since the pistol round of the first half. Dropping only a couple of rounds, they embarked on a nine-round streak which ended just before halftime with the scoreboard at 9-3 to Version1. Rise now had the chance to show off their offensive strategies and they did so for the first few rounds, but Version1 put an end to their hopes early and finished the map with a 13-6 score.

NRG Esports vs. OpTic Gaming

OpTic Gaming, previously known as Envy, faced defeat against Rise last week, a shock to many Valorant fans in the NA scene. In order to regain their position in the Group B leaderboards, OpTic Gaming desperately needed a win in this matchup and so did NRG Esports after losing to Sentinels last week.

Proceedings commenced on Icebox, which was NRG’s pick but from the start itself, OpTic Gaming had control over the matchup’s momentum. Their formidable defense was no match for NRG’s attack strategies. By round 9 of the initial half, the scoreboard read 8-1 to OpTic. NRG managed to bounce back in the upcoming rounds and take consecutive rounds reducing OpTic’s lead to 8-6. However, they couldn’t maintain their performance in the upcoming rounds and were defeated by OpTic, who finished the map at a 13-7 score.