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:

• FUT Esports vs. 100 Thieves
• Fnatic vs. FURIA

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" 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

FUT Esports

1

X

2

100 Thieves

Quarter Final, Best of 3 - February 26, 2023 - 5:00PM

13

Lotus

9

11

Haven

13

8

Icebox

13

FUT Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

qw1

1.33

278

67/56/8

+11

1.20

68.4%

165.9

22%

52%

12

11

qRaxs

1.23

233

54/46/26

+8

1.17

74.8%

161.3

26%

100%

5

0

MrFaliN

0.97

191

41/52/31

-11

0.79

68.5%

119.0

18%

44%

7

9

MOJJ

0.84

189

41/50/14

-9

0.82

62.5%

125.9

24%

40%

6

9

ATA KAPTAN

0.71

132

32/48/23

-16

0.67

70.3%

86.1

36%

0%

0

8

100 Thieves

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Asuna

1.32

231

54/47/42

+7

1.15

83.3%

140.6

23%

38%

6

10

Cryocells

1.21

247

56/50/23

+6

1.12

74.8%

154.6

20%

65%

11

6

bang

1.18

216

55/47/23

+8

1.17

82.1%

144.2

41%

56%

10

8

Derrek

1.12

212

45/47/35

-2

0.96

83.6%

151.8

25%

83%

5

1

stellar

0.89

175

42/44/19

-2

0.95

70.3%

116.9

16%

50%

5

5

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

Fnatic

2

X

0

FURIA

Quarter Final, Best of 3 - February 26, 2023 - 8:30PM

18

Haven

16

13

Ascent

9

Fnatic

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Leo

1.21

222

44/34/19

+10

1.29

78.3%

145.6

17%

100%

3

0

Derke

1.17

239

51/41/8

+10

1.24

67.1%

161.0

40%

50%

11

11

Chronicle

1.14

205

39/35/29

+4

1.11

76.7%

136.3

22%

50%

5

5

Boaster

1.05

187

31/41/28

-10

0.76

79.9%

104.0

13%

29%

4

10

Alfajer

1.01

208

37/37/19

0

1.00

84.4%

146.2

31%

71%

5

2

FURIA

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

mwzera

1.27

249

53/41/13

+12

1.29

70.1%

159.9

24%

38%

3

5

dgzin

1.03

205

43/40/11

+3

1.08

72.3%

133.7

23%

57%

12

9

ambitioN

0.86

187

34/41/15

-7

0.83

62.6%

118.1

30%

46%

6

7

mazin

0.74

150

28/42/20

-14

0.67

73.1%

89.8

39%

50%

4

4

khalil

0.72

144

30/38/10

-8

0.79

72.5%

94.3

27%

50%

3

3

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