VCT Day 3: Vivo Keyd & Fnatic cause upsets, Envy breeze past X10
An exciting Day 3 of VCT 2021 - VALORANT Champions 2021 comes to an end with Vivo Keyd Stars and Envy picking up opening wins in Group D and Fnatic being the first team to qualify for the tournament playoffs.
The day kicked off with Acend and Vivo Keyd Stars playing each other for the first time, and despite the Europeans sweeping Bind 13-3, they lost two hard-fought maps to the Brazilians who took the series 2-1.
Icebox started off as a back-and-forth affair, with Acend on the attack, but once the sides flipped, Vivo Keyd found their stride and strung together six rounds to pick up the map with Olavo "heat" Marcelo finishing it off in style.
Everything was pointing to a close last map on Breeze, and things did in fact start off very competitive in the first five rounds. However, Vivo Keyd were able to win key rounds that gave them an economic advantage, and meant that Acend were on the back foot for the rest of the half, which ended 8-4. Things got bad to worse when the Brazilians grabbed the pistol and anti-eco and then moved onto match point, from where it was only a matter of time before they closed out the map.
As expected, heat just could not be outdone and ended the match at the top of the scoreboard with a 1.19 rating and 57 kills. His unbelievable skill with Jett is a pleasure to watch for fans and neutrals alike.
The second match of the day was crucial to DRX and Fnatic’s lofty ambitions of going deep into the tournament. It began on Icebox and the map was nothing but the Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev show. The Jett was on his A-game and helped his team string together a decent lead in the first half, but the tables were turned by Vision Strikers, who ended it 6-6. The Europeans brought their heavy defender side aggression into the attacker side and managed to close the map out 13-10.
The story of Haven was somewhat similar to Icebox, both teams dealing blows and with the score 6-6 at half time, the map was completely up in the air. In the second half, the Koreans took the pistol and the anti-eco and were looking good, but Fnatic fought back with four rounds of their own. It was time for the Vision Strikers players to step up and they did, winning five rounds in a row to take the game to Fracture.
At this point both teams had warmed up into the game and the newest map to the pool, Fracture, could go either way. It certainly did go the way of Fnatic, as they were a storm that could not be weathered on attack. Led by Derke and Doma, the team grew up to a 9-3 advantage in the half, and while Vision Strikers were able to pick up a few consolation rounds, they could not prevent the inevitable, losing the map 6-13.
The day was capped off with an easy 2-0 win for Envy over X10 Esports, the last of the opening matches for Champions.
Since the Thai squad were going into the matchup as underdogs, they were hoping to win their map pick of Breeze. Things did start well for them after they won the pistol and the rounds after, but lost their footing once the full rifle rounds started. Envy were able to combo some rounds together and the teams went into the half as equals. The North Americans showed a much better attacking side, full of the creativity that Pujan "FNS" Mehta brings to the team, and were able to claim the map 13-8.
X10 Crit were up against the wall going into Ascent, but they made a good account for themselves in the first half, ending it only narrowly behind 5-7. But things got out of hand on their attacking side, even with Thanamethk "Crws" Mahatthananuyut performing impressively with a 1.34 rating, and they collapsed eventually at 13-7.
What did you think of these results? Let us know in the comments below!
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