BBL Esports are crowned the First Strike Turkey winners after a tough route

The VALORANT esports community, and even professional players, were looking forward to the First Strike Turkey Regional Final. The region’s unique playing style and promising VALORANT talent made the tournament unmissable to anyone passionate about the tactical shooter’s competitive scene.

BBL Esports came out victorious in the end, following impressive performances in several matches and taking down any competition that stood in their way with individual talent sparkling in certain moments to get them over the edge.

There were several storylines coming into this tournament and teams to take note of, especially the #1 seed, Oxygen Esports. The organization is known for their strong performances after winning the First Strike Turkey: Open Qualifier #1 with FUT Esports finishing 2nd at the time. Meanwhile, HaZe Clan disbanded following their disappointing result in the tournament, looking to rebuild the core of their team to bounce back.

It is worth noting Turkey is the only major region to utilize the double-bracket elimination bracket, giving teams who lose a match during their quest to be crowned champions another chance to give it their all. We have seen it being implemented in smaller regions as well, including the likes of the First Strike ESL Thailand Championship 2020 and the First Strike Malaysia and Singpore Regional Final.

Quarterfinals

The First Strike Turkey Regional Final kicked off with eight teams playing a best-of-3 in the tournament’s upper bracket, with all matches ending in 2-0 for Oxygen Esports, BBL Esports, Sangal Esports, and FUT Esports to see them progress to the semifinals.

On the other hand, following their defeats, Haze Clan, Mod-Z, Anatolia Esports, and Beşiktaş Esports moved to the lower bracket to play against each other for a chance at redemption. Mod-Z and Anatolia Esports won their matches 2-0 against Haze Clan and Beşiktaş Esports respectively.

During this round, Orçun "farewell" Köroğlu managed to get an impressive 297 ACS during his team’s match against Beşiktaş Esports, with Toprak "lauress" Kaynak putting up a strong 272 ACS to support his teammate.

İbrahim Temizel "mag0o" Temizel and Berk "Rip" Tepe achieved a 278 ACS and 279 ACS respectively in their matches. Rip put up 42 kills and 4 assists across Bind and Ascent against Anatolia Esports, while mag0o got 6 triple kills in Futbolist’s vicory in the upper quarterfinal against Beşiktaş Esports.

Semifinals

The upper bracket semifinals saw both matches going the distance to all three maps to determine the winner. The first match between BBL Esports and Oxygen Esports saw the latter coming out victorious after failing to win the first map, Icebox, in a close 13-10 fight. The team went on to take Bind and Ascent with convincing 13-4 scorelines in both maps.

Sangal Esports, and FUT Esports were up next, with Futbolist progressing to the upper bracket final. Sangal Esports took an early edge over their opponents by winning Bind 14-12 after going to overtime. However, similar to the previous match, Futbolist came back to win Ascent and Split with 13-7 in both maps. Once again, İbrahim Temizel "mag0o" Temizel took the spotlight with 297 ACS, 21 first bloods, 15 double kills, and 6 triple kills.

The first lower bracket semifinals put up Mod-Z against Sangal Esports, with the former taking the victory over their Turkish colleagues. Mod-Z managed to win 2-1, following strong displays on Haven and Split, while losing Ascent to Sangal Esports halfway through the series.

Oxygen Esports and Anatolia Esports saw the set go the distance to all three matches, and offer an entertaining reverse-sweep done by Oxygen Esports following Anatolia Esports’ victory on Bind. Ascent and Split ended with 13-11 and 13-10 scorelines in favor of the winner, showing just how close the match up was. Mehmet "TURKO" Özen put up 61 kills, with 3 triples kills, and 15 double kills.

Finals

The upper bracket final saw BBL Esports win 2-0 over FUT Esports and proceed to the Grand Final. Batuhan "russ" Malgac put up 283 ACS playing Jett and Sage, two agents with distinct playing styles. He managed to finish the series with a 1.83 K/D, 166 ADR, and clutching 2 1v1s.

On the other side of the bracket, Oxygen Esports received Futbolist in the lower bracket final to determine the second participant of the tournament’s Grand Final. The latter came out victorious after a 2-0 scoreline, pitting them against BBL Esports to crown the winner of the tournament.

BBL Esports went into the series with a map advantage considering their upper bracket run, and backed it up with two quick victories on Haven and Split with 13-10 and 13-10 respectively. Ali Osman "AsLanM4shadoW" Balta was the shining light in the final with his 254 ACS, 1 quadra kill, and dealing 157 average damage per round.

First Strike Turkey Regional Final

BBL Esports

3

X

0

FUT Esports

Grand Final, Best of 5 - December 6, 2020 - 12:20PM

13

Haven

10

13

Split

10

BBL Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

legoo

0.00

233

38/32/12

+6

1.19

0.0%

160.8

20%

38%

3

5

russ

0.00

218

37/35/3

+2

1.06

0.0%

128.9

24%

50%

8

8

AsLanM4shadoW

0.00

254

40/33/9

+7

1.21

0.0%

158.0

31%

63%

5

3

kero

0.00

172

29/33/17

-4

0.88

0.0%

99.2

29%

67%

4

2

aimDLL

0.00

244

38/30/17

+8

1.27

0.0%

158.2

33%

75%

6

2

FUT Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

mag0o

0.00

252

42/37/8

+5

1.14

0.0%

159.5

20%

55%

6

5

sterben

0.00

207

32/36/13

-4

0.89

0.0%

139.2

30%

33%

4

8

marqnue

0.00

124

19/38/9

-19

0.50

0.0%

85.2

23%

50%

2

2

SasuKe

0.00

208

35/35/13

0

1.00

0.0%

135.0

23%

22%

2

7

MOJJ

0.00

221

35/36/13

-1

0.97

0.0%

140.7

30%

60%

6

4