XSET en route to Copenhagen after an entertaining victory over FaZe

Countless attempts at disrupting FaZe’s momentum had been rendered futile but they did not give in. Although FaZe was far from being completely dominant on Defense, they closed out the map.

Breeze

Both teams then transitioned to Breeze, FaZe’s map pick and an opportunity to extend their lead in the Series to 2-0. But the #1 seed from Group A wasn’t going to surrender the opportunity to play at the 2nd International Valorant LAN of VCT 2022 without exerting every inch of effort they could muster.

Customary to FaZe’s tradition, they started the map with unmatched aggression taking five rounds to XSET’s two. Following this exchange, XSET improvised on their defensive strategies to account for the changes FaZe had introduced in their offense and the results became eminent as they were able to tie the score by halftime.

With XSET now on Attack, a familiar scene appeared before the audience. Just 24 hours ago, XSET faced defeat at the hands of OpTic on Breeze and it was their poor Offense that failed to provide them a fighting chance on the map. Today, however, XSET had come out guns blazing in the second half and the entire roster rallied behind Matthew "Cryocells" Panganiban, arguably one of the most talented players in the region, as he finished the half with 1.46 Rating and 283 ACS.

Icebox

With both, FaZe and XSET, at 1-1, the fans were now anticipating the intensity of the upcoming maps to heighten, and Icebox flawlessly delivered on these expectations. XSET initiated proceedings on Offense and Matthew "Cryocells" Panganiban stepped up to the challenge once more, except this time as a Chamber.

After taking an easy pistol round, FaZe were looking to construct one of their spectacular runs but XSET turned the tables in the blink of an eye and went on almost a 9 round rampage. FaZe was only able to take a total of three rounds before the second half began. A six-point advantage is significant leeway for error, but several teams have managed to prove that the scoreboard doesn’t necessarily dictate advantages in a momentum-based game.

FaZe started the half with a six-round streak, followed by a three-round streak that came after a two round hiatus. Despite being only a point away from closing out the map, the effort from Brendan "BcJ" Jensen and Zachary "zekken" Patrone made the task impossible and Overtime was forced. Only a handful of maps in the entire VCT 2022 - North America - Stage 2 - Main Event have proceeded to Overtime, and almost none have been as intense as the one on Icebox was.

Each team was able to outclass the other in the two Overtime periods that were conducted. With only one team being allowed to prevail, someone had to take the charge and risk being slightly more aggressive than usual. For XSET, more than one player chipped in and a combination of Cryocells, Dephh and Zekken helped secure their second map in the grueling series of the Lower Bracket Finals.

Ascent

Even though only four of the five maps were played, this matchup might be the longest one to ever take place in competitive Valorant due to the unforeseen power outage in the LAN center they were playing from. This issue took place after two rounds on Ascent where XSET were en route to establishing their momentum.

After two hours of waiting, power was finally restored, and the match resumed where it had left off. FaZe clan was able to take their first round back on Ascent but failed to capitalize in the subsequent rounds enabling XSET’s plan to post a significant lead by halftime.

XSET’s defense finished the half with a 9-3 score, a figure known to be cursed for the history of comebacks it has encountered. Fortunately, XSET was able to prevent FaZe from becoming a threat to their spot at Masters Copenhagen and closed out the map 13-4. The win resulted in a rematch between them and OpTic Gaming in Grand Finals tomorrow to decide NA’s #1 seed at the event.