VCT 2022: EMEA Stage 1 Group Stage Week 4 Recap

The fourth week of VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event went underway with three games after all the postponements. Acend and Team Liquid pulled out important wins over G2 Esports and OG LDN Utd with BBL Esports winning the Turkish derby against Papara SuperMassive.

BBL Esports vs SuperMassive Blaze

VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event

Papara SuperMassive

0

X

2

BBL Esports

Group B, Best of 3 - March 5, 2022 - 3:00PM

7

Split

13

10

Icebox

13

Papara SuperMassive

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Brave

1.09

225

34/34/5

0

1.00

67.0%

139.3

37%

63%

5

3

XiSTOU

1.00

227

32/31/9

+1

1.03

69.8%

158.8

26%

50%

5

5

Izzy

0.86

198

27/34/10

-7

0.79

74.8%

126.4

17%

36%

4

7

CyderX

0.80

182

26/32/10

-6

0.81

71.3%

132.6

30%

40%

2

3

Glovee

0.47

109

14/34/13

-20

0.41

60.4%

77.6

15%

22%

2

7

BBL Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

TURKO

1.42

235

38/17/22

+21

2.24

88.8%

146.7

44%

60%

3

2

QutionerX

1.29

280

41/32/10

+9

1.28

74.8%

179.4

22%

53%

9

8

AsLanM4shadoW

1.08

239

36/32/4

+4

1.13

79.8%

159.5

33%

70%

7

3

aimDLL

0.98

194

30/26/10

+4

1.15

74.8%

131.1

33%

33%

2

4

pAura

0.72

145

20/26/13

-6

0.77

74.8%

91.0

25%

80%

4

1

BBL’s pick, Split, was the opening map for the Turkish derby. Melih "pAura" Karaduran and his friends made a strong start to the competition by winning five rounds in a row but SuperMassive Blaze didn’t give up that easy. However, the superior side was BBL Esports in the first half as the team grabbed nine rounds to have a huge advantage in the second half. Just like the beginning of the competition, BBL won consecutive rounds to reach the 12-round mark. Despite Eren "Brave" Kasırga’s clutch efforts, BBL Esports won the last round and closed out the first map with a score of 13-7. The newest addition, Mehmet "TURKO" Özen had a massive performance, holding a 1.66 rating and 3.33 K/D. The notorious Sage player crowned his performance with an ace during the game.

Papara SuperMassive picked Icebox to even the series and force another game to get their first win of VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event. The first half went both ways and ended 7-5 in favor of SuperMassive Blaze. However, the second half was far from a head-to-head competition as BBL Esports showed supremacy from the start until the very end. TURKO was the star player of the map once again but this time BBL tried something new and let him play Sova while pAura had Sage in his hands. Their new comp worked perfectly especially in the second half. BBL Esports’ setups and movements were better than SMB on top of Ali Osman "AsLanM4shadoW" Balta and Doğukan "QutionerX" Dural’s individual contributions. They closed out the Turkish derby in two maps and got their first victory in the group stage.

Acend vs G2 Esports

VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event

Acend

2

X

1

G2 Esports

Group B, Best of 3 - March 5, 2022 - 5:40PM

7

Bind

13

13

Ascent

9

13

Split

5

Acend

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

cNed

1.37

282

60/40/13

+20

1.50

72.4%

177.9

22%

67%

12

6

starxo

1.10

194

43/39/25

+4

1.10

70.5%

118.6

19%

57%

4

3

zeek

1.07

231

46/50/20

-4

0.92

77.1%

141.9

16%

39%

7

11

BONECOLD

1.03

203

43/43/19

0

1.00

70.3%

125.7

36%

30%

3

7

kiles

0.60

125

26/43/15

-17

0.60

65.2%

89.5

25%

14%

1

6

G2 Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

nukkye

1.30

283

56/44/13

+12

1.27

69.7%

185.0

26%

41%

7

10

hoody

1.02

203

39/45/24

-6

0.87

74.8%

126.9

25%

73%

11

4

Meddo

0.98

190

44/39/11

+5

1.13

76.2%

128.4

32%

40%

2

3

m1xwell

0.97

209

44/48/10

-4

0.92

63.4%

135.1

26%

59%

10

7

AvovA

0.81

157

32/42/20

-10

0.76

69.5%

106.5

21%

50%

3

3

Acend made a great start to Bind with two consecutive rounds but G2 Esports sat behind the wheel after the third round. With Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek on Sage, Acend’s arsenal looked insufficient. G2 closed out the first half with a score of 8-4 and secured a massive advantage before the second half. Again, Acend was the superior side on pistols but G2’s Žygimantas "nukkye" Chmieliauskas had different plans. The Lithuanian player had a textbook Raze performance and even put on a show with a clutch move as seen below. Vladyslav "kiles" Shvets had a disappointing start to the series, holding a 0.34 rating and 0.29 K/D. G2 Esports closed out the first map, 13-7.

Next up, G2 had an awful attacking side performance on their map of choice, Ascent. Despite losing the pistol round, Acend bounced back with an important win in the second round and stunned their opponent with a 4-round winning streak. Even though G2 was the superior side after the first half, Acend snatched an 8-2 win in the second half to close out the map in 22 rounds. G2’s Spanish star, Oscar Cañellas "m1xwell" Colocho, had a 20-kill Jett performance but cNed’s 23-kill yield on Jett was preferable.

Unlike the first two maps, the third map was much more one-sided as Acend looked dominant from the start to the end. Acend players looked more confident on Split as they started the competition strongly, winning six consecutive rounds. On the other side of the competition, G2 failed to keep their heads up after the Ascent loss and only won four rounds in the first half. Acend was scarier in the second half as they grabbed five rounds to close out the series in 18 rounds. Patryk "starxo" Kopczynski and Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek stepped up with 2.29 and 1.73 K/Ds, respectively. The Lithuanian star of G2, nukkye, tried everything in his arsenal but it wasn’t enough in the end. Acend won the series in three maps and grabbed their second victory.

Team Liquid vs LDN Utd

VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event

Team Liquid

2

X

0

OG LDN Utd

Group A, Best of 3 - March 6, 2022 - 4:00PM

13

Haven

8

13

Split

10

Team Liquid

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

ScreaM

1.18

234

37/25/11

+12

1.48

77.4%

151.4

39%

56%

5

4

Jamppi

1.17

241

40/28/2

+12

1.43

76.8%

144.0

26%

62%

8

5

Nivera

1.06

215

33/30/12

+3

1.10

61.0%

135.9

37%

43%

3

4

L1NK

1.01

177

27/25/19

+2

1.08

74.8%

121.9

24%

80%

4

1

soulcas

0.82

176

28/30/5

-2

0.93

72.3%

115.4

18%

60%

6

4

OG LDN Utd

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Destrian

0.96

201

31/33/10

-2

0.94

77.2%

140.3

28%

50%

2

2

feqew

0.95

220

32/32/5

0

1.00

68.5%

141.5

27%

69%

9

4

MOLSI

0.86

200

30/35/7

-5

0.86

68.3%

135.9

22%

21%

3

11

Boo

0.80

170

24/30/14

-6

0.80

61.8%

113.7

29%

43%

3

4

Dreamas

0.61

133

21/35/9

-14

0.60

66.4%

87.9

17%

17%

1

5

Due to postponements as covered, this game was the only Group A competition we have seen this week. The first half of the game was head-to-head as both teams benefited from each other’s mistakes. Team Liquid had a small lead in the first half with a score of 7-5 but it was time for them to execute their attacking plans in the second half. TL had a better performance in the second phase of Haven with Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom using KAY/O’s skill set to keep his team ahead in the competition. Team Liquid’s teamwork and executions were better in the end as they won the first map with a score of 13-8. OG LDN Utd’s Lukas "feqew" Petrauskas and Michał "MOLSI" Łącki had great performances despite the loss, grabbing 18 and 16 kills respectively.

After winning LDN Utd’s choice, Haven, it was time for Liquid to perform on their map pick, Split. LDN failed to defend bomb sites in the pistol round which opened TL a window to get as many rounds as possible on the attacking side. LDN Utd managed to set things right and ended the first half ahead, 7-5. However, it was Liquid’s time to defend, and thanks to Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom’s Sage and Elias "Jamppi" Olkkonen’s Breach, it was a lot easier for the European competitor. Despite winning the first two rounds of the second half, LDN couldn’t prevent TL’s 7-round winning streak which cost them the series. Liquid closed out the map after 23 rounds and secured their second win of the event.

The VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event thrill will continue on March 11 with OG LDN Utd’s test against M3 Champions.