Leviatán and NAVI sweep opponents to stay alive at VCT LOCK IN
Another day of VALORANT action straight from the Omega bracket of VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN brought us another pair of matchups. With the pre-determined matches all but behind us, there's just a couple matches left in the Omega group. February 25 saw the following matchups take place:
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NAVI outclass Team Secret
Icebox was the first battleground of the day as Secret picked the snowy map as their pick. At first, the Filipino squad got off to a solid start but it didn't take long before NAVI stepped up. NAVI's Sage, Andrey "Shao" Kiprsky put on a display of a battle healer on Defense with a whopping 18 kills. The half ended 6-6 and it was a matter of time before Secret would end up far behind in the dust.
With Pontus "Zyppan" Eek, Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow, and Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek having more of a showing on the attack of Icebox. Secret's Jessie "JessieVash" Cristy Cucyo brought his side the first two rounds of the half before NAVI said enough and got to work to put together enough rounds to end the match in their favor 13-8. The match saw NAVI work like a well-oiled machine but cNed showed his true colors on the Jett.
While Icebox saw a very strong showing from NAVI, Pearl, their own map pick, saw a total destruction of their opponents. An absolutely incredible performance from the whole NAVI team with Shao leading the charge in terms of ACS only saw Secret take up 4 rounds on the map, with three of them being on their own Attack side. A 13-4 blowout saw Team Secret pack their bags as they have been swiftly eliminated from LOCK IN by a raging NAVI side.
VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN - Quarter Final
Team Secret
Leviatán put on a show of strength against Vitality
The second match of the day brought us to the triple-site Haven first, map pick of the Chilean Leviatán side. The map resulted in a very even matchup across the board leading to a long overtime. The tug of war saw a battle of the Breach players emerge. LEV's Francisco "kiNgg" Alberto Aravena went up against Vitality's Michał "MOLSI" Łącki to test each other's wits on Haven. Following a back-and-forth affair, it was LEV that managed to take back what's theirs with a tall scoreline of 16-14.
Team Vitality were looking to bounce back on their own map pick, Pearl. Instead, the European medley hit an even bigger and harder brick wall. LEV carried over their momentum from Haven and went on to stomp all over their opponents. A brilliant defense half saw Vitality inch close on many rounds, but failing to find the strength to close out a clutch situation. This eventually led to an absolute outclass in the half and saw LEV take up an unexpected 10-2 lead.
The second half was not much different as Vicente "Tacolilla" Compagnon kept on pressuring on Jett, leading to an eventual 13-3 stomp on Pearl. Tacolilla was absolutely on fire with 22 kills, 7 first bloods, and a monstrous ACS of 379.
Team Vitality have been eliminated from VCT LOCK IN while LEV live to see and play another game.
VCT 2023 - LOCK//IN - Quarter Final
Leviatán
A former ESL teacher with a Master’s degree in English Studies that found his drive in esports. Merging a passion for the craft of writing with a never-ending need to out-aim others in the game of VALORANT and Counter-Strike.
Naim began his esports-writing and reporting journey at DailyEsports (now Upcomer), where he was a contributor for CS:GO. More and more enamored with esports, he quickly received a chance to attend IEM Katowice 2019 as press and managed to interview Cath, Lekr0, FalleN, and jkaem, his first dive into covering an event on-site.
With the release of VALORANT, Naim saw potential in Riot Games’ take on a 5v5 competitive shooter and joined Run It Back as a writer. After 3 months, he got promoted to a Managing Editor, managing a team of contributors and held regular brainstorming meetings to get content pumping for 3 years straight. In that time he attended Masters Berlin 2021, as well as VALORANT Champions 2022 as press on-site press.
Now, Naim is a Content Manager & Editor at THESPIKE. He keeps tabs on news, features, and evergreen content production, as well as contributing himself from time to time.
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