VCT Champions Match Day 8 Viewers Guide - Quarter Finals

After top-tier NA teams, Envy and Sentinels, faced upsets from underdogs X10 and KRU esports, the final event in the Valorant Champions Tour has become interesting than ever. With half the teams being eliminated, VCT 2021 - VALORANT Champions 2021 has transitioned into playoff stages starting with four quarter-finals scheduled for today and tomorrow. The remaining teams are of the following regions:

North America – Cloud9 EMEA – Acend, Team Liquid, M3 Champions, Fnatic SEA – Team Secret, X10 Esports LATAM - KRÜ Esports

Match 1 Acend vs Team Secret: at 6:00 PM CET / 9:00 AM PST

The SEA representatives toppled the Brazilian Team Vikings on consecutive maps with a 13:6 and 13:7 score respectively. An honorable mention to Jayvee "DubsteP" Paguirigan, the series MVP, who led the team with his incredible utility usage with Jett finishing the game with 28 kills, 432 ACS, and a 2.0 rating.

Acend after having a rocky start with Vivo Keyd managed to retain their dominance in the matchup against Envy starting off with an easy 13:8 on Ascent, Envy’s pick. In contrast, Acend had to encounter greater resistance on Bind as Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker successfully breeched their defense several times. However, his efforts were rendered futile as Acend closed Bind on 13:11 executing a perfect sweep and securing a spot in the finals.

From a review of both teams’ so far, it is difficult to predict which team will emerge as a semi-finalist. Although, Acend has greater experience at LAN events and a considerable reputation playing against the biggest teams in both international and regional event, Team Secret shouldn’t be underestimates, especially after the recent upsets against NA. That being said, watching this matchup will be worth every minute of your time.

Head-to-head:

The two teams have not matched up against each other but we can be sure of a good match and to the wire with Team Secret’s lower bracket run and their close game against Gambit in their opening match.

Players to watch:

Aleksander "zeek" Zygmunt has been the stand out player for Acend so far in the tournament with a 1.22 rating, 80.60% KAST and 228 ACS. Kevin "Dispenser" Depio Te is currently in form for the Filipino team with a 1.20 rating, 77.10% KAST and 222.30 ACS.

Map picks:

Team Secret have a diverse map pool with their picks in the tournament being Bind, Ascent and Haven. On the other hand, Acend has consistently picked Bind throughout the tournament. So the resulting map veto should be interesting.

Agents:

Acend:

• Vladyslav "kiles" Shvets – Cypher, Viper, Killjoy
• Patryk "starxo" Kopczynski – Viper, Skye, Sage, Astra
• Santeri "BONECOLD" Sassi – Sova, Brimstone, Kay/O, Omen
• Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek – Jett, Sage
• Aleksander "zeek" Zygmunt – Raze, Sova, Reyna

Team Secret:

• Jessie "JessieVash" Cucyo - Sova, Sage, Skye
• Jayvee "DubsteP" Paguirigan - Jett, Reyna, Raze
• Riley "witz" Go - Breach, Skye, Reyna
• Jim "BORKUM" Timbreza - Astra, Omen, Viper
• Kevin "Dispenser" Depio Te - Killjoy, Cypher, Viper

Match 2 Team Liquid vs Cloud9 Blue: at 9:00 PM CET / 12:00 PM PST]

Cloud9 Blue, who made the Champions from the LCQ at the 11th hour, is ironically the only NA team left in the entire tournament. Despite starting the tournament with a loss against FNATIC, they redeemed themselves with an easy sweep against the APAC representatives followed by intense, nail-biting series against Vision Strikers, the celebrated Korean team. The series went the distance with a 13:10 win on Ascent, an unfortunate 9:13 on Split, and a relieving 13:11 score to close off Breeze and earn a quarter-finals position.

Team Liquid, on the other hand, has had a comparatively relaxing time at Champions with a relatively uncontested win against KRU esports and a hard-earned victory against Sentinels. The series featured an exchange of mind-blowing plays and strategies from both sides, as well as a 13:2 loss on Bind for Team Liquid. Till the last few rounds on Split, the decider map, NA fans were at the edge of their seats hoping for a final comeback but Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom with a stunning 1.53 rating and 321 ACS gunned down their hopes (literally). His performance allowed Team Liquid to close the map with a 13:10 score and become the #1 seed of Group B with automatic qualifying privileges to the quarter-finals.

Although both teams are in great form, Team Liquid’s performance in the event so far cannot be overlooked as they are, to the dismay of NA fans, favorites in the scheduled matchup.

Head-to-head:

Similar to the initial matchup, both teams haven’t engaged in a head-to-head since this is Cloud9 Blue’s first international event in Valorant.

Players to watch:

Dom "soulcas" Sulcas has calmly went about his business and is the highest rated player for Liquid with a 1.12 rating, 74.40% KAST and 212.40 ACS. Nathan "leaf" Orf really stepped up for C9 in their lower bracket run to playoffs with a 1.17 rating, 68% KAST and 250 ACS.

Map picks:

Cloud9 Blue has opted for three distinct map picks in their matchups so far including Split, Breeze, and Ascent. Team Liquid has gone with similar picks, except for Split. So, in this matchup as well, there can’t be any definite predictions for the final map picks that will emerge.

Agents:

Team Liquid:

• Travis "L1NK" Mendoza Breach, Astra, Cypher
• Dom "soulcas" Sulcas Raze, Reyna, Skye
• Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom Reyna, Jett, Sage
• Elias "Jamppi" Olkkonen Omen, Jett, Astra
• Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom Viper, Killjoy

Cloud9 Blue:

• Mitch "mitch" Semago - Cypher, Killjoy, Viper
• Nathan "leaf" Orf - Jett, Raze, Skye
• Son "xeta" Seon-ho - Sova, Breach, Skye
• Erick "Xeppaa" Bach - KAY/O, Raze, Reyna
• Anthony "vanity" Malaspina - Viper, Astra, Omen

You can catch these matches at the VALORANT official stream.