G2 Esports and Team Liquid advance to Lower Bracket Semi Finals, M3C and Guild are out

G2 Esports and Team Liquid managed to upset M3 Champions and Guild Esports in the VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event Lower Bracket Quarter Finals. The European teams are going to meet each other in the Lower Bracket Semi Finals but farewell to M3 Champions and Guild Esports as they are out of the tournament.

M3 Champions vs G2 Esports

Just like their past three picks, G2 Esports’s opening map choice was Icebox once again. The European team feels comfortable on Icebox and they execute their strategies pretty well. It is possible saying that Icebox has been G2’s strongest side during VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event. On the attacking side, Johan "Meddo" Renbjörk Lundborg stepped up unexpectedly and grabbed 15 kills as well as 3 first bloods. The Swedish star usually steps back and lets his teammates get kills while helping them with his utilities but this time it was his time to shine. G2 Esports secured an important advantage in the first half, 7-5. Bogdan "sheydos" Naumov’s great form continued and he also got big help from his teammate, Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov. The Russian duo secured 24 kills combined but it wasn’t enough to keep their team ahead at the end of the first half. G2 made a great start to the second half and won two rounds in a row to increase the lead. M3 Champions tried keeping their hopes alive by winning back-to-back rounds in the second half but G2’s Icebox strategies were almost perfect as always. The European representative closed out the first map in 21 rounds and got the advantage in the series. Auni "AvovA" Chahade stepped up in the second half with Viper in his hands, confirming 12 kills and holding a 1.49 rating to contribute to the win. The Danish player had 20 kills at the end of the game and a 1.67 K/D. M3C’s Nikita "d3ffo" Sudakov had a disappointing Jett performance with only 5 kills and a 0.29 K/D. He failed to pick up a single entry frag which could have helped the Russian side on both sides.

It was M3 Champions’ turn to pick their best map, which is Bind. Just as G2’s Icebox, Bind is the Russian team’s strongest side. Normally, we are used to seeing M3 Champions demolish their opponents on the attacking side. This time, G2 Esports studied their lesson pretty well as they managed to grab six rounds on the defending side. The Russian duelist, d3ffo, had a better performance in the first half of the action as he finished the first twelve rounds with 12 kills and a 1.22 K/D. Rather than M3C’s performance, G2’s great defense was the most important factor of the first half. Johan "Meddo" Renbjörk Lundborg had another clutch performance with 10 kills and a 1.30 rating. Besides, G2’s Spanish star Oscar Cañellas "m1xwell" Colocho’s notorious Chamber worked pretty well for them. The Russian team failed to match G2 in terms of defense during the second half. Despite sheydos’ insane efforts with 15 kills, G2 Esports won the second map with a score of 13-10 to advance in the tournament.

VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event

M3 Champions

0

X

2

G2 Esports

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

8

Icebox

13

10

Bind

13

M3 Champions

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

sheydos

1.26

242

40/29/11

+11

1.38

70.1%

156.3

41%

38%

3

5

Chronicle

1.00

216

31/34/13

-3

0.91

65.5%

140.8

26%

55%

6

5

Redgar

0.77

183

24/37/12

-13

0.65

65.9%

125.6

30%

36%

4

7

nAts

0.69

142

20/30/12

-10

0.67

70.3%

92.3

31%

50%

2

2

d3ffo

0.58

125

19/33/8

-14

0.58

63.6%

90.3

14%

0%

0

10

G2 Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

AvovA

1.30

236

36/27/21

+9

1.33

86.5%

154.4

26%

88%

7

1

Meddo

1.14

217

35/25/13

+10

1.40

82.0%

142.2

25%

86%

6

1

m1xwell

1.08

232

36/29/6

+7

1.24

72.9%

149.6

24%

53%

8

7

hoody

0.91

161

28/26/9

+2

1.08

75.1%

107.7

36%

78%

7

2

nukkye

0.89

188

26/27/16

-1

0.96

72.5%

137.1

16%

20%

1

4

**Team Liquid vs Guild Esports

Guild Esports picked Breeze as the series-opener in the second game of VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event Upper Bracket Quarter Finals. As expected, Team Liquid had the lead in the first half, defending both bomb sites against Guild Esports’ attacking strategies. The Bonrlitom brothers, Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom and Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom, put together a total of 28 kills in the first half to prevent Guild’s attacks. Nivera held a monstrous 3.75 K/D and 3 first bloods to carry his team on his shoulders with Chamber in his hands. On the other side, Russel "Russ" Mendes had the best statistics with 9 kills and a 0.89 rating. Even though everyone knew that Guild’s job was going to be hard during the first half, the European team had better performances before, and they looked lost in some moments. GLD managed to step up their gameplay and execute better strategies on the defending side but it was Team Liquid’s day as they closed out the first map with a score of 13-11. It was a close matchup but TL’s moves were better generally and they were always one step ahead. It was mainly because of their chemistry and individual superiority.

TL’s choice was Ascent for the second map of the series. Travis "L1NK" Mendoza and Elias "Jamppi" Olkkonen had wonderful performances in the first half. The Team Liquid-duo secured 26 kills combined and L1NK held a 2.6 K/D to secure eight rounds for his team. The Finnish star, Jamppi, grabbed 5 first bloods on the attacking side to open up bomb sites for his teammates. Team Liquid players used their utilities perfectly in the first half on top of their individual performances. Guild’s Leo "Leo" Jannesson was the only player with a positive score at the end of the first half. GLD made a great start to the second half by winning three rounds in a row and everyone thought they were going to come back and force another in the series. However, Team Liquid got the momentum and won rounds after rounds, mainly thanks to ScreaM and Jamppi’s individual performances. TL closed out the series after 21 rounds and advanced to the next stage in the tournament.

VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event

Team Liquid

2

X

0

Guild Esports

Lower Bracket Round 2 of 4, Best of 3 - March 24, 2022 - 5:20PM

13

Breeze

11

13

Ascent

8

Team Liquid

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

ScreaM

1.37

266

43/29/14

+14

1.48

75.6%

174.1

34%

75%

6

2

Nivera

1.17

236

41/23/2

+18

1.78

75.9%

154.2

27%

70%

7

3

L1NK

1.09

191

32/25/19

+7

1.28

82.1%

122.7

33%

33%

1

2

Jamppi

1.09

226

34/29/13

+5

1.17

75.9%

142.0

29%

53%

10

9

soulcas

0.69

130

17/30/20

-13

0.57

71.7%

85.6

20%

67%

4

2

Guild Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Leo

1.02

196

31/31/16

0

1.00

73.5%

137.2

32%

56%

5

4

Russ

0.88

183

30/35/7

-5

0.86

63.7%

116.4

29%

100%

4

0

trexx

0.88

184

27/31/15

-4

0.87

59.8%

122.1

16%

18%

2

9

koldamenta

0.74

151

23/36/15

-13

0.64

61.6%

106.0

28%

25%

2

6

Sayf

0.66

152

25/34/8

-9

0.74

54.5%

100.7

18%

36%

5

9

Lower Bracket Semi Finals

• G2 Esports vs Team Liquid 4:00 PM CET / 8:00 AM PST on 3/25

Upper Bracket Final

• Fnatic vs FunPlus Phoenix 7:00 PM CET / 11:00 AM PST on 3/25

The loser of the Upper Bracket Final will face the Lower Bracket Semi Finals winner in the Loser Bracket Final. This means either Fnatic or FunPlus Phoenix will have a second chance to reach the Grand Final. All the games will be streamed live on the official VALORANT Twitch channel and you can find more information about the tournament on the events page.