Cloud9, XSET pick up wins and set up lower bracket clash at NA Stage 1 Challengers

Cloud9 knocked out Version1 in a close encounter, while XSET ran over Luminosity Gaming to send them packing in the VCT 2022 - North America - Stage 1 - Main Event playoffs lower bracket.

Luminosity Gaming vs XSET

VCT 2022 - North America - Stage 1 - Main Event

Luminosity Gaming

0

X

2

XSET

Lower Bracket Round 2 of 4, Best of 3 - March 24, 2022 - 8:00PM

5

Breeze

13

5

Ascent

13

Luminosity Gaming

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

mada

0.89

167

25/28/6

-3

0.89

52.8%

98.4

24%

43%

3

4

TiGG

0.80

180

18/31/16

-13

0.58

61.1%

127.7

24%

50%

2

2

dazzLe

0.78

181

20/27/10

-7

0.74

61.1%

128.1

27%

20%

1

4

moose⁠

0.69

164

20/30/4

-10

0.67

55.6%

102.7

29%

29%

2

5

Bdog

0.39

133

13/32/4

-19

0.41

38.9%

86.2

21%

29%

4

10

XSET

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Cryocells

1.78

330

47/19/2

+28

2.47

77.8%

190.4

19%

74%

14

5

zekken

1.73

306

41/18/18

+23

2.28

97.2%

190.1

20%

80%

4

1

AYRIN

0.96

178

19/22/23

-3

0.86

83.3%

119.8

9%

50%

1

1

dephh

0.94

173

22/19/10

+3

1.16

80.6%

114.7

31%

80%

4

1

BcJ

0.84

158

19/18/16

+1

1.06

77.8%

103.8

20%

33%

2

4

The first match of the day played out between a shaky Luminosity Gaming team and an XSET side in good form, and the latter took full advantage of their positive momentum en route to a swift 2-0 victory. Matthew "Cryocells" Panganiban and Zachary "zekken" Patrone drove their squad to victory, sharing a whopping 88 kills between them in just two maps.

The bloodbath began on XSET’s playground of Breeze, where they started on the attack. Luminosity were the ones to strike first, however, picking up the pistol on the back of a fundamentally solid B site retake, and followed it up with an anti-eco win as well. But with the rifles in hand now, XSET were able to take the A site with a heavy rush to get a round on the board. Still, they lost too many players on the post-plant and this fourth round was crucial for both team’s economies. When the stakes were high, as he does so many times, Cryocells was on hand to make a huge play from halls, finding four to take his team level. After that, other than a nail biting defuse from Adam "mada" Pampuch, it was smooth sailing for XSET who took a 8-4 lead at the half.

The second half was an even more one-sided affair for the side of XSET, as they never let go of the advantage they had from the pistol and strung four straight rounds to reach match point. Some good shots by Will "dazzLe" Loafman in the post-plant, who was the best player on Luminosity this map, kept their counterparts at bay. But it didn’t last long, as zekken completely shut down the B push next round and finished the map off in style with an ace at 13-5.

Luminosity Gaming had the tough task of bouncing back not just map wise, but also mentally on their pick of Ascent. It seemed like an ideal choice for the Toronto-based organization, considering XSET had lost on Ascent to OpTic Gaming earlier in the tournament. But XSET’s defense was more than capable, winning out the pistol in convincing fashion. Kaleb "moose⁠" Jayne came to Luminosity’s rescue, finding three kills to pull one back on a thrifty and then winning three of the next four rounds to make it 4-2. Perhaps they got a bit too comfortable, as XSET went on to catch them out with a Judge and Sheriff setup in B main to win a thrifty for themselves, and continued the momentum to a 7-5 lead at the break.

The second half was the perfect example of XSET’s dominance in the series. They made the B site their own time and time again on their attacker side and Luminosity just could not find a way to retake it. XSET put the cherry on the top in the final round, hitting A site late and wrapping up a flawless second half at 13-5 to take the series 2-0.

Cloud9 vs Version1

VCT 2022 - North America - Stage 1 - Main Event

Cloud9

2

X

1

Version1

Lower Bracket Round 2 of 4, Best of 3 - March 24, 2022 - 11:00PM

10

Breeze

13

13

Ascent

10

13

Fracture

7

Cloud9

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

xeta

1.20

225

54/40/19

+14

1.35

77.8%

149.1

22%

60%

3

2

leaf

1.13

233

53/52/14

+1

1.02

74.1%

153.1

25%

78%

18

5

vanity

1.13

209

46/43/31

+3

1.07

84.1%

124.4

18%

64%

9

5

mitch

1.11

212

49/44/23

+5

1.11

79.3%

134.5

19%

57%

4

3

Xeppaa

1.04

210

46/52/31

-6

0.88

75.9%

138.0

17%

29%

5

12

Version1

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Zellsis

1.18

229

50/50/33

0

1.00

80.3%

144.0

16%

36%

4

7

Zander

1.15

238

55/49/15

+6

1.12

69.9%

146.7

30%

50%

6

6

wippie

0.94

195

47/50/14

-3

0.94

65.6%

137.0

20%

33%

4

8

penny

0.92

191

43/50/15

-7

0.86

77.4%

125.7

19%

55%

11

9

effys

0.83

161

36/49/25

-13

0.73

69.7%

106.6

24%

18%

2

9

The clash between two giants in Cloud9 and Version1 played out very differently than the match prior. Anthony "vanity" Malaspina and co. had to reach deep into the playbook as they picked up a narrow 2-1 victory and set up a next round clash against XSET.

Breeze was the first map on the list, with Version1 starting on the attack. It was somewhat of a half of two halves, beginning with Version1 stringing together six rounds in a row on the back of a pistol win and some great executes and post-plants on the B site. Cloud9 then flipped the tables with a flawless A site retake and vanity’s two incredible high-impact rounds drove them forward to a level 6-6 half.

The second half began at a similarly high octane tempo, with Cloud9 racing to a 9-6 lead, the highlight of which was Son "xeta" Seon-ho’s 1v3 clutch. With Version1 on a light buy and things looking dire, young in-game leader Alexander "Zander" Dituri pounced on Cloud9’s mistake and pulled a round back. That was what the squad rallied behind, as they proceeded to take a vice grip over the A site on defense with every player making a contribution. While Cloud9 managed to steal one round on a thrifty, Version1 won every remaining round to seal Breeze 13-10.

Shaken after the loss of their own map pick, Cloud9 had to answer back on the defensive side of Ascent. They started off well with a rapid A site retake to win the pistol and then the following anti eco, but could not convert the bonus as Version1 stacked four players in Boathouse on the post-plant to deny any advances. The Zander-led side made good use of Astra’s Cosmic Divide to take sites and rose to a 5-4 lead, but Xeppaa’s KAY/O continued to shine as he helped Cloud9 regain their footing with solid holds in Tree as they took a 7-5 lead.

The back and forth continued in the second half as Cloud9 came out swinging to take the pistol and anti-eco for a 9-5 lead. At 9-6, however, Loic "effys" Sauvageau had his time to shine as he found two on the B site anchor to foil the attacking side. But A was where the real action unfolded over the next few rounds, both teams brawling it out with leaf putting up multikills and effys just barely holding off vanity on the retake. Cloud9 ended up being the benefactors, moving up to a 12-9 lead. But Version1 weren’t going down without a fight, winning the following round and in a strong 3v1 situation on the retake, xeta came to the rescue once again, holding all three off with the Hunter’s Fury and securing the map 13-10 for his team.

The series went down the line to Fracture, where Version1 started on the defense. Cloud9 took an early lead, going up 4-0 following a pistol round and bonus round win. They even looked on track to pick up the fifth, being in a favorable 5v2 situation, but Zander had other ideas as he clutched the round with four kills. Version1 grabbed two more rounds of their own and came back to within one round of their opponents, but a really good Arcade setup by xeta gave control back to Cloud9. In the end, despite some of Zander’s heroics, Cloud9 remained in control of the half at 7-5.

The last half of this grueling series was unfortunately not as competitive as Version1 would have liked. They hit the A site again and again and managed to get the plant down, but vanity had their number as Cloud9 were able to retake consistently. They moved up to a dominant 11-5 lead but penny and Zellsis were the spoilers, keeping Version1 alive at 7-12. They looked on course to win yet another round, in a 2v2 against Cloud9’s pistols, but incredible patience and timing by vanity saw them lose the thrifty and Cloud9 took the map 13-7 and the series 2-1.

The following are the matches for today:

OpTic Gaming vs The Guard at 9:00 PM CET / 1:00 PM PST in the Upper Bracket Final

XSET vs Cloud9 at 12:00 AM CET / 4:00 PM PST in the Lower Bracket Round 3/4

The winner of the Upper Bracket Final will book their ticket to Masters Reykjavik, while the loser will face off against the winner of the Lower Bracket Round 3/4 to be the second team to make it to Iceland.