100 Thieves and Fnatic advance to semifinal qualifiers at VCT LOCK IN
Only four teams remain in the Omega bracket at VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN after an exciting day in Brazil. February 27 saw the following matches take place in Sao Paulo:
For more details on the VCT 2023, check out our VCT Hub.
100 Thieves outlast FUT
The public's picks were rather one-sided going into this matchup. Little did we know we were in for a surprise 3-map thriller to unfold as it all started on Lotus, pick of the Turkish FUT side. There, Konuralp "qw1" Şahin had a blast on Neon, accumulating 31 kills and 376 ACS over the course of 22 rounds. Despite a close first half, 100 Thieves had trouble taming the raging Neon as on attack, FUT proved to be simply too strong. This led to a 13-9 victory on their own map pick.
The series would be far from over as Haven came extremely close. A close first half with 100 Thieves on attack, saw Brenden "stellar" McGrath put up huge numbers on Cypher. The marginal lead at 7-5, saw the NA side take the first two rounds of the next half, but FUT retaliated by putting together 5 straight rounds. The Thieves finally woke up to close things out in their favor on defense with Peter "Asuna" Mazuryk coming alive on the KAY/O. 100 Thieves forced Icebox, the decider map, after winning out Haven 13-11.
Icebox saw a much more confident 100 Thieves from the very start. A solid beginning to their defense side was mainly made of phenomenal retakes. In fact, the NA team had 6 Spike defuses out of 8 to win their rounds in the half. The 8-4 half saw Sean "bang" Bezerra go off on Viper to widen the lead in the half. And yet, FUT were quick to retaliate on defense for the first three rounds. However, Matthew "Cryocells" Dylan Panganiban finally showed some teeth with Omen on Icebox's attack to seal the deal with a more comfy 13-8 victory.
100 Thieves enter the VCT LOCK IN semifinal qualifiers while FUT Esports are eliminated.
VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN - Quarter Final
FUT Esports
Fnatic survives FURIA 2-map thriller
This series delivered one of the best matches of the LOCK IN event thus far and the number of maps does not tell the whole story behind the match itself.
Fnatic decided to first take us with them to Haven. While FURIA managed to snag the pistol, the half belonged to Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev and company. Another incredible performance on attack on Jett, saw Fnatic take the half with comfort at 8-4. And yet, FURIA retaliated with even more anger as Leonardo "mwzera" Serrati led the charge on Skye. This eventually brought us an enormous overtime that is a rare sight in VALORANT. A tug-of-war emerged with neither side willing to let go with heroic clutches from either sides. Eventually, Fnatic managed to claw out two rounds straight to get the dub on their own map pick at a whopping 18-16 scoreline.
Ascent, map pick of FURIA, brought us another nail-biter. This time, the Brazilian side kicked off strong with an opening of 4-1 on their attack side. And yet, Fnatic would take the remaining rounds of the half with the face of Fnatic, Jake "Boaster" Howlett showing up big time for his side on Omen. A 4-8 half was not how FURIA imagined to be going into their own map pick so they caught up quickly on the defense side of their own with Douglas "dgzin" Silva coming in clutch often on Jett. Just when the BR side caught up, Fnatic started to drift away as Leo "Leo" Jannesson joined Boaster on the offensive to eventually close out the match at 13-9. Another spectacular map and many were disappointed not to see a decider map in this series.
Fnatic move on while FURIA are eliminated from LOCK IN.
VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN - Quarter Final
Fnatic
MVP
Following a phenomenal day of VALORANT action, our MVP of the day goes to Asuna from 100 Thieves.
Featured image credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
A former ESL teacher with a Master’s degree in English Studies that found his drive in esports. Merging a passion for the craft of writing with a never-ending need to out-aim others in the game of VALORANT and Counter-Strike.
Naim began his esports-writing and reporting journey at DailyEsports (now Upcomer), where he was a contributor for CS:GO. More and more enamored with esports, he quickly received a chance to attend IEM Katowice 2019 as press and managed to interview Cath, Lekr0, FalleN, and jkaem, his first dive into covering an event on-site.
With the release of VALORANT, Naim saw potential in Riot Games’ take on a 5v5 competitive shooter and joined Run It Back as a writer. After 3 months, he got promoted to a Managing Editor, managing a team of contributors and held regular brainstorming meetings to get content pumping for 3 years straight. In that time he attended Masters Berlin 2021, as well as VALORANT Champions 2022 as press on-site press.
Now, Naim is a Content Manager & Editor at THESPIKE. He keeps tabs on news, features, and evergreen content production, as well as contributing himself from time to time.
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