Guild, Liquid, and BBL start with wins - VCT EMEA Week 1 Group B Recap

The first week of VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 2 - Challengers - Main Event is behind us now and we have seen many surprising results in both groups. Guild Esports, Team Liquid, and BBL Esports won their opening games in Group B and they are now sharing the leadership spot.

Natus Vincere vs BBL Esports

The first game of Group B was the battle between CIS and Turkey. Natus Vincere’s first pick of the tournament was Ascent. The Belarusian duo, Artur "7ssk7" Kyourshin and Nikolai "zeddy" Lapko carried the first round of the game with four kills in total. Despite losing the second round, BBL’s Doğukan "QutionerX" Dural grabbed two important kills and hurt Na’Vi before the upcoming round. As a result, BBL won the third round, again mainly with Quti’s efforts as he grabbed three kills on Chamber. Natus Vincere still showed dominance on the attacking side as they grabbed 9 rounds in the first half of the competition. Kirill "Cloud" Nehozhin’s Sova played a huge role in their supremacy. Ali Osman "AsLanM4shadoW" Balta’s 11-kill KAY/O performance kept BBL Esports in the game but only with three-round wins. The second half started with Melih "pAura" Karaduran and QutionerX’s four-kill contribution. BBL won two rounds and showed momentum but Na’Vi were the superior side on Ascent. The CIS representatives closed out the first map with a score of 13-6 and grabbed the advantage in the series. Cloud and Denis "dinkzj" Tkachev carried their team with 41 kills combined. Aslan and Quti tried their best and secured 30 kills together but it only helped BBL with 6 wins in total.

BBL picked Icebox as the second map but the match started with Na’Vi’s 3-round winning streak. The CIS team put on a show before BBL’s rise in the last three maps of the round. The Turkish side grabbed the last three rounds of the first half to keep the gap close and the first half ended with a score of 7-5, in favor of Natus Vincere. The same scenario happened in the second half but this time BBL Esports were the superior side. Hüseyin "aimDLL" Kabişteke grabbed 25 kills on defense with Viper in his hands and QutionerX was there to help him with 22 kills. Na’Vi won the last round of the map to force overtime. As a result, BBL Esports won the map after 34 rounds, 18-16, and kept their win hopes alive. Quti had 44 kills at the end of the game while holding a 1.77 rating and a 1.91 K/D.

Lastly, both teams collided on Fracture. BBL Esports had a monstrous first-half performance with AsLanM4shadoW stepping up with 19 kills on his Chamber pick. The Turkish star held a 2.06 rating and a 3.9 K/D in the first half. On the other side, it looked like Natus Vincere players were not ready to play Fracture yet as BBL literally destroyed their opponents. The first half ended 10-2, in favor of the Turkish team. Although Na’Vi won the first three maps of the second half, BBL Esports only needed three rounds and they completed the task in seven rounds. The Turkish side started the tournament with an important win against their opponents. Aslan ended the last map with 26 kills and Quti had 20. Moreover, QutionerX had great performances in all three maps as he completed the series with a total of 78 kills and a 1.70 K/D.

VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 2 - Challengers - Main Event

Natus Vincere

1

X

2

BBL Esports

Group B, Best of 3 - May 13, 2022 - 2:00PM

13

Ascent

6

16

Icebox

18

6

Fracture

13

Natus Vincere

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Cloud

1.21

240

60/55/22

+5

1.09

76.2%

158.8

28%

70%

14

6

Duno

1.05

200

44/50/36

-6

0.88

77.9%

127.1

15%

55%

6

5

dinkzj

0.94

191

48/52/16

-4

0.92

67.4%

119.4

19%

50%

5

5

7ssk7

0.88

183

47/54/12

-7

0.87

68.0%

130.1

29%

62%

8

5

zeddy

0.82

168

42/58/27

-16

0.72

63.1%

114.8

27%

39%

7

11

BBL Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

QutionerX

1.37

274

78/46/9

+32

1.70

81.6%

183.9

28%

63%

15

9

AsLanM4shadoW

1.28

287

66/52/13

+14

1.27

82.8%

190.4

25%

47%

7

8

aimDLL

1.03

205

52/49/27

+3

1.06

71.9%

146.6

28%

40%

6

9

TURKO

0.74

152

40/44/15

-4

0.91

79.3%

105.8

25%

29%

2

5

pAura

0.66

138

33/50/18

-17

0.66

74.2%

95.1

30%

18%

2

9

Team Liquid vs BIG

After competing at VCT 2022 - Stage 1 - Masters Reykjavík, Team Liquid had a chance to show their potentials regionally, this time against BIG. As you may remember, Liquid’s flexibility came in handy for them during the tournament, especially with agents. Dom "soulcas" Sulcas picked Fade, his first official showing at the tournament. Moreover, Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom Raze pick was not something we had seen so much, and apparently BIG players weren’t also ready for this. The German team chose Icebox as the first map of the series but Liquid’s performance during the first half was phenomenal. They grabbed 9 rounds on the defending side, denying BIG players to complete their tasks and jobs. All five players on the Liquid side grabbed 10 kills or above but none of the BIG players had 10 kills in the first half. Niels "luckeRRR" Jasiek tried his best to open up bomb sites for his teammates by grabbing 3 first bloods but they felt TL’s dominance beginning with the first half and until the last half. The second half started with BIG’s back-to-back wins but ScreaM’s brother, Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom’s Viper performance was on another level. The Belgian player grabbed 10 kills in the second half, and held a 2.21 rating and 5 K/D. His incredible performance decided the winner as Liquid won the map in 18 rounds, 13-5. Three of the BIG players didn’t even have the number of kills that Nivera had during the second half.

Team Liquid picked Split as the second map of the series. Despite winning the first round, thanks to Dom "soulcas" Sulcas and Elias "Jamppi" Olkkonen, TL made big mistakes in the second round, resulting in a 2-round winning streak for the side of BIG. Somehow, TL got back in the game and the competition rose between the two teams. BIG evened the scoreboard with two consecutive defuses and the game was tied, 5-5. Team Liquid put incredible effort into the last two rounds of the first half and had the lead before the second half. The Finnish star, Jamppi had 13 kills in the first half and he held a 1.53 rating. soulcas’ Astra was the biggest helper of Jamppi with 11 kills. The smokers of Liquid came in handy for them and BIG’s Karel "Twisten" Ašenbrener kept his team in the game with a 13-kill Raze performance in the first half. Team Liquid played a very dominant defensive side in the first half. They started by winning the first three rounds of the second half, reaching 10 wins in total. BIG’s efforts were insufficient as they only completed their task for only two times. TL closed out the map with a clean 6-2 second-half performance. soulcas’ 19-kill Astra performance worked both on defense and offense which created huge space for other Liquid players to dominate the map. Liquid’s second-stage run started with a dominant win.

VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 2 - Challengers - Main Event

Team Liquid

2

X

0

BIG

Group B, Best of 3 - May 14, 2022 - 5:00PM

13

Icebox

5

13

Split

7

Team Liquid

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Jamppi

1.31

260

35/21/9

+14

1.67

88.9%

159.8

19%

69%

9

4

soulcas

1.29

225

30/21/22

+9

1.43

86.9%

143.6

24%

67%

2

1

Nivera

1.29

231

35/14/8

+21

2.50

87.2%

143.4

29%

100%

2

0

ScreaM

1.20

254

32/28/14

+4

1.14

78.9%

173.2

25%

54%

7

6

L1NK

1.00

178

26/18/11

+8

1.44

87.5%

107.4

19%

67%

4

2

BIG

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Twisten

0.91

206

26/29/4

-3

0.90

65.8%

131.7

15%

60%

6

4

musashi

0.91

198

25/33/10

-8

0.76

62.8%

128.6

28%

67%

2

1

Obnoks

0.73

154

23/31/3

-8

0.74

47.5%

104.3

25%

0%

0

7

luckeRRR

0.56

132

15/33/8

-18

0.45

55.6%

81.2

27%

50%

4

4

AslaN

0.49

108

13/32/9

-19

0.41

44.7%

74.7

34%

11%

1

8

Guild Esports vs M3 Champions

The expectation from the ex-Gambit Esports roster, M3 Champions, was pretty high considering they were the winning side of our community predictions poll with %88 against %12. However, Guild Esports may be the most unpredictable team in the tournament. The first map of the series was Ascent, per M3 Champions’ choice. The competition started with Guild Esports’ three-round winning streak. The European team used the advantages of the defending side on Ascent and picked up 8 rounds before going into halftime. Guild’s team effort on the defending side was undeniably great but Nikita "trexx" Cherednichenko’s insane 18-kill Killjoy performance was the most important aspect. The Russian player used Killjoy’s defending abilities at the finest level to contribute to his team’s success in the first half. On the other side of the competition, Nikita "d3ffo" Sudakov’s 6-kill Jett performance wasn’t what the Russian team was looking for. Despite grabbing 2 first bloods, d3ffo’s efforts weren’t optimal. Guild’s Jett, Saif "Sayf" Jibraeel grabbed the microphone in the second half to have the stage all for himself. He secured 10 kills to close out the game in 21 rounds and grab the advantage in the opening game of Group B. The Killjoy-Jett duo of Guild Esports stepped up in the first map both on defense and offense. M3’s Bogdan "sheydos" Naumov was the only player to grab 20 kills on his team and it wasn’t enough.

Guild Esports picked Haven as the first map pick of theirs in the tournament. Guild were the attacking side in the first half and the map started with a five-round winning streak in favor of them. Leo "Leo" Jannesson’s 3-kill Sova performance in the first round opened the gates for the European side. Helping him with 2 kills, trexx was the key point again with Jett in his hands. The duo kept on dominating the map and carried their team until the fourth round in which Jose Luis "koldamenta" Aranguren’s Omen decided the round. M3 Champions’ first-round win came in the fifth round and they fell into silence for another five rounds. Guild Esports picked up 10 rounds on the attacking side and only lost two which made it easier for them to close out the game in the second half. It looked like they were ready for this Haven pick and M3C looked lost on the defending side. Leo and trexx ended the first half with 36 kill combined. On M3C’s side, Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov was the top-fragger with only 9 kills. The first half ended with a score of 10-2, in favor of Guild. They started the second half with the momentum behind them and won the opening round. However, M3C had to do something in the second round or they were going to lose the game without even trying. Luckily, the Russian team won the second round and even won three more rounds to catch their opponents but their run didn’t last long. Guild Esports picked up the last two rounds they needed to close the game with a score of 13-6. Leo and trexx were the main factors of the game as the duo ended the map with 43 kills combined. Guild’s run started with a victory whereas M3C’s surprised their fans with poor performance.

VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 2 - Challengers - Main Event

Guild Esports

2

X

0

M3 Champions

Group B, Best of 3 - May 15, 2022 - 2:00PM

13

Ascent

9

13

Haven

6

Guild Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

trexx

1.54

305

46/28/10

+18

1.64

85.3%

197.4

23%

60%

9

6

Leo

1.44

248

36/19/22

+17

1.89

90.6%

162.8

23%

60%

3

2

Sayf

1.01

195

32/26/6

+6

1.23

77.8%

121.1

26%

57%

4

3

Russ

0.89

161

22/26/18

-4

0.85

73.2%

104.4

24%

67%

6

3

koldamenta

0.66

112

16/24/16

-8

0.67

90.2%

72.6

18%

40%

2

3

M3 Champions

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

sheydos

0.95

200

29/30/9

-1

0.97

67.6%

131.4

22%

100%

1

0

Chronicle

0.91

218

30/28/3

+2

1.07

51.3%

136.4

19%

43%

6

8

nAts

0.84

172

25/30/11

-5

0.83

68.7%

121.6

35%

40%

2

3

d3ffo

0.72

172

22/33/9

-11

0.67

66.0%

112.0

21%

42%

5

7

Redgar

0.60

131

17/31/14

-14

0.55

61.1%

81.0

25%

33%

3

6

The upcoming matches will start on the 20th of this month. You can find more information on the events page.