G2 Esports defeat ZETA DIVISION, LOUD claim narrow win over Team Liquid in opening playoff matches - Masters Reykjavik Day 5

The top ranked teams from EMEA and Brazil proved their elite status today at VCT 2022 - Stage 1 - Masters Reykjavík, picking up wins against ZETA DIVISION and Team Liquid to continue onwards to the Upper Bracket semi finals.

VCT 2022 - Stage 1 - Masters Reykjavík

G2 Esports

2

X

0

ZETA DIVISION

Upper Bracket Quarter Final, Best of 3 - April 14, 2022 - 5:00PM

13

Split

7

13

Bind

10

G2 Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

hoody

1.49

288

43/31/17

+12

1.39

77.0%

176.0

31%

60%

6

4

m1xwell

1.34

262

43/28/8

+15

1.54

79.5%

160.3

17%

64%

7

4

nukkye

1.02

236

30/33/17

-3

0.91

83.2%

167.3

15%

36%

5

9

AvovA

0.84

168

25/31/10

-6

0.81

68.3%

110.0

42%

40%

2

3

Meddo

0.57

122

19/28/6

-9

0.68

65.4%

87.6

27%

0%

0

4

ZETA DIVISION

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Dep

1.32

254

36/31/22

+5

1.16

69.5%

164.0

29%

70%

7

3

ten

1.13

258

37/36/7

+1

1.03

76.3%

168.7

30%

65%

13

7

Laz

1.03

204

32/29/9

+3

1.10

72.0%

145.4

33%

25%

1

3

SugarZ3ro

0.85

171

25/31/11

-6

0.81

72.0%

106.7

28%

43%

3

4

crow

0.66

138

21/33/8

-12

0.64

77.0%

95.2

30%

0%

0

3

The playoffs were inaugurated by G2 Esports as they claimed a solid 2-0 win over a dangerous ZETA DIVISION. The result sends the top European seed into the Upper Bracket semi final while the Japanese representatives now have a tough Lower Bracket run ahead of them.

Kouji "Laz" Ushida and co. got us started on Split, a rather surprising pick given their poor performance on it against Ninjas in Pyjamas earlier on and having only played it 17 times throughout their history. They did have a great first few rounds on the attack, however, winning the pistol and anti-eco with two good A site executes and then making the bonus round very expensive for G2 to deal with. In an economically crucial fourth round, Auni "AvovA" Chahade came up with a great 3k anchor to give his team the momentum swing. They continued to win three out of the next four to move to a 5-3 lead, stopped only by Shota "SugarZ3ro" Watanabe’s clutch. The half was rounded out by two important round wins by G2 Esports as they held a narrow 7-5 advantage at the break.

The Europeans were looking really good after they managed to pick up the pistol and anti-eco in the second half, as they now were up 9-5. A heroic 4k by Yuma "Dep" Hisamoto, who was ZETA DIVISION’s best performing player this map with a 1.21 rating, helped salvage a round back, but AvovA responded with a huge post-plant multi kill of his own to put G2 in the driving seat again. The rounds got scrappy as Laz reached deep into his playbook but to no avail, with G2 Esports always seeming to perform in the crucial moments. One of those moments was at map point with the Europeans on a low buy, but Žygimantas "nukkye" Chmieliauskas popped up with a multikill to put the final nail in the coffin and seal the map 13-7.

This was the first time we got to see ZETA DIVISION’s Bind at Iceland, with the Japanese side starting on the defense. Despite losing the pistol, they came right back once they had a full buy, winning three in a row on the back of good teamplay and positioning. G2 Esports relied a lot on their star individuals and that talent was in full display as m1xwell’s post-plant triple kill was followed by hoody’s 4k to give the squad some much-needed rounds. But the Japanese were dominant towards the end, winning four out of the last five rounds to hold a 7-5 lead at halftime.

ZETA DIVISION were looking trickier to handle so far than nukkye would have expected, but the Lithuanian put up a stellar defensive half on Bind. Confidence was high after the team not only won the pistol and anti-eco, but also the bonus round with a great B site retake to take back the lead. The Japanese answered back with a handful of rounds where they shut down G2’s retakes, but the Europeans adapted and started to contest the bomb plant which worked wonders. m1xwell came alive these last few rounds, being extremely mobile on both sites with his Chamber operator and helped close out the map 13-10 and the series 2-0.

VCT 2022 - Stage 1 - Masters Reykjavík

LOUD

2

X

1

Team Liquid

Upper Bracket Quarter Final, Best of 3 - April 14, 2022 - 7:45PM

13

Icebox

10

3

Haven

13

13

Ascent

10

LOUD

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

aspas

1.16

259

56/42/7

+14

1.33

70.9%

154.5

27%

39%

9

14

Sacy

1.10

231

50/44/16

+6

1.14

74.3%

157.2

32%

75%

3

1

pANcada

0.99

194

44/48/17

-4

0.92

72.0%

118.8

41%

50%

4

4

Saadhak

0.76

151

32/48/20

-16

0.67

63.7%

97.7

24%

43%

6

8

Less

0.74

168

35/43/18

-8

0.81

67.4%

123.4

15%

23%

3

10

Team Liquid

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Jamppi

1.23

255

59/46/9

+13

1.28

77.2%

169.6

33%

65%

13

7

ScreaM

1.21

257

51/44/15

+7

1.16

69.1%

156.0

36%

64%

9

5

Nivera

1.03

213

45/44/7

+1

1.02

72.0%

130.2

33%

77%

10

3

soulcas

0.86

170

34/41/21

-7

0.83

64.8%

109.5

24%

10%

1

9

L1NK

0.79

157

36/42/15

-6

0.86

80.5%

104.0

40%

80%

4

1

The second Upper Bracket quarter final saw a much closer fight between Team Liquid and LOUD, the latter edging out the former in a 2-1 series. The two sides relied on their individual star power and chaos on the server but in the end, the Brazilians were the ones to book their spot in the Upper Bracket semi finals.

Map 1 brought us to chilly Icebox, a decent pick for either side. The pistol saw a chaotic 5v5 retake go the way of Liquid, thanks to a Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom 4k. Gustavo "Sacy" Rossi, not to be outdone, popped up with a 4k spraydown of his own in the rifle round, and his team drove forward with that momentum, winning five in a row to go to a 5-2 lead. Other than a few heroic rounds by Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom that allowed them to come back a little, LOUD looked the better team as they went into the half with a 7-5 advantage.

Team Liquid got off to the start they needed with a pistol round and anti-eco win, albeit an expensive one, to equal the score at 7-7. They paid the price soon, as LOUD ran them over once the Brazilians had rifles in hand, barely even losing players as they applied huge pressure on the European camp. Elias "Jamppi" Olkkonen and co. were down 11-7 when they finally found the breakthrough on the less popular A site, with ScreaM providing the entries and pulling a round back. Liquid were slowly crawling back as they went to a 10-12 scoreline, but Sacy killed any comeback hopes with a post-plant triple as LOUD pulled off a retake with just seconds left.

LOUD’s pick of Haven did not begin too well for them, with some absolutely ridiculous multi kills early on by Nivera, who switched to Chamber, sending them to a 6-2 lead. The map became extremely brawly, with either team looking to take aggressive fights and ScreaM flourished in that scenario, destroying the opposition’s confidence and economy. The A site became their playground, with the two cousins and soulcas dismantling any push and being perfect on retakes. It was a stark difference from the first half of Icebox, as the Europeans led 10-2 at the half.

Team Liquid continued their incredible form in the second half, with an easy pistol round win on the C site to take a commanding lead. LOUD forced back and Erick "aspas" Santos found impact, giving his team a glimmer of hope to mount a comeback. But Nivera was simply in stellar form, investing in a hero Vandal and pegging LOUD right back, and ScreaM wrapped things up in poetic fashion on the last round to tie the series 1-1. The Belgian duo had 41 kills between them on that map and combined for 9 unanswered opening kills.

Ascent is a map both teams have been really good on and fans could expect a really competitive clash here. Team Liquid swung first, winning the pistol and the anti-eco, but LOUD answered back in style, executing well on the A site a number of times and getting right back to a 4-2 advantage. Things began to get real scrappy, with either team picking up multiple eco wins and preventing each other from really gaining any stability. A random and entertaining half came to a close with Liquid mounting a successful A site defense as both teams stayed level at 6-6.

The Brazilian side won the pistol in flawless fashion on the back of a Bryan "pANcada" Luna 3k, but Jamppi fought back with a ridiculous Marshall post-plant to win out the thrifty round. LOUD found their groove once they were able to pick up the rifles, stringing four rounds in a row to move to 11-8. Liquid did win a couple on the back of good ultimate usage and Jamppi popping off again, but as was the theme across this series, LOUD stole a thrifty round to be the first to reach match point, and then claimed the series 2-1 with a clean A site retake.

The schedule for Day 6 is as follows:

Upper Bracket Quarter Final: Paper Rex vs DRX VS at 7:00 PM CET / 10:00 AM PDT

Upper Bracket Quarter Final: The Guard vs OpTic Gaming at 10:00 PM CET / 1:00 PM PDT