Luminosity and EG get shock wins, FaZe eliminate Sentinels in Week 4
OpTic Gaming were handed their first loss of VCT 2022 - North America - Stage 2 - Main Event as Evil Geniuses took them down, while FaZe Clan and Luminosity Gaming put Sentinels and Cloud9 respectively out of playoff contention.
_1611007730948.png&w=64&q=75 "VCT 2022 - North America - Stage 2 - Main Event")
Marved
yay
The biggest upset of the weekend saw Evil Geniuses take a hard-fought 2-1 victory over OpTic Gaming. The loss means that first place in the group is open for the taking as both teams remain toward the top of the table.
Bind is a map OpTic have been really solid on, even beating the likes of LOUD on it in the grand finals of VCT 2022 - Stage 1 - Masters Reykjavík. Evil Geniuses started on the front foot however, thwarting two B hits on pistol and anti-eco rounds. With the rifles in hand, OpTic went to A and found success, their double controller composition with Viper and Brimstone allowing them to flourish in post-plant situations. Alexander "jawgemo" Mor took things in his own hands, shutting down Pujan "FNS" Mehta and co. with a huge 4k on A and shifting the momentum to EG. The American was phenomenal with Raze, putting up 23 kills and a 1.47 rating and was crucial to disrupting OpTic’s A executes. Even though Evil Geniuses were dominant for the rest of the half, OpTic were able to grab a couple of rounds towards the end of the half to make it 5-7 at the break.
EG had an even better start to the second half than the first, not only winning the initial two rounds but then converting the bonus, allowing them to take an 11-5 lead. OpTic were able to fashion a few more rounds back to make it look competitive, but with such a large deficit to recover, it was only a matter of time before a mistake was made. Eventually in the 21st round, with EG on a Stinger light buy, they took the A site with Nightfall and held off OpTic’s retake to claim Bind 13-8.
With their own map pick lost, FNS’s side found themselves on Split, a map EG had not played at this event and were perhaps vulnerable on. The latter won the pistol yet again, 3/3 for the series so far, and even picked up the bonus thanks to a well-coordinated B split. OpTic had now lost a number of important rounds to weaker weaponry, but were able to win a thrifty themselves the very next round and take reigns over the map. Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker’s Chamber was a constant threat on A, with his relentless aggression catching EG off guard and allowing him to go 7-2 in opening duels. OpTic were able to win six out of the next seven rounds and put themselves in a good spot going into halftime.
After EG won yet another pistol, you’d be forgiven for thinking they would run away with Split, given the defender-sided nature of the map. But FNS put up a masterful attacking half, applying pressure on all parts of the map with his defaults and keeping EG on their toes. With Austin "crashies" Roberts and Jimmy "Marved" Nguyen hitting their shots, combining for 38 kills between them, and site hits that left no scope for retakes, OpTic rose to an 11-8 lead. Finally, a multikill by Corbin Daniel "C0M" Lee allowed his team to pull off a favorable retake and put a few rounds on the board, but OpTic subsequently closed the map out with a B split at 13-11 to level the series 1-1.
Ascent was the final map of this grueling series, and it certainly delivered. Even though OpTic managed to win their first pistol of the series, Evil Geniuses were the first to stack up rifle rounds, taking a 3-2 lead. Marved, who was having a great series so far, was once again the one to make a difference, using From The Shadows to net himself two kills and effectively win out the round. From there on it was all OpTic Gaming, who won six of the remaining seven rounds and made it look easy, with the cast of yay and Marved being the catalysts for an 8-4 half.
Evil Geniuses found a way back into the map with a pistol round and anti-eco win, but Marved fought back with two big rounds of his own. OpTic hit double digits and were well ahead of the opponents, and things were not looking good for EG. The solution came after a couple of opening kills went their way and EG were able to close out the round and make their way back. But OpTic didn’t make it easy, always killing at least 2 or 3 players and having rounds come down to the wire, but EG were up to the task and were able to clutch them out. The last two rounds saw rare desperation plays by OpTic, trying to execute early onto B but they were shut down with ease by Kelden "Boostio" Pupello, and EG won the map 13-11 and the match 2-1.
On the second day of Week 4, FaZe Clan were able to take down Sentinels in a close-fought 2-0 series. The result confirms that the latter will not be in contention for playoffs, and instead will be fighting for their pride next week, while the former sit tight in the middle of group B.
FaZe started us off on Fracture, a map they have played a lot at Stage 2 Challengers and have had mixed results on, including a 13-5 win against Cloud9 and an 11-13 loss against Luminosity. It was a question of which FaZe would show up today and it certainly started off looking like it was the former, as Xavier "flyuh" Carison and co. raced to a 4-0 lead, with Andrej "babybay" Francisty up to his usual antics on Neon that gave his team a ton of space and openings to work with early in rounds. Stars Eric "Kanpeki" Xu and Tyson "TenZ" Ngo, playing Chamber and Yoru respectively, came up big to put Sentinels on the board, but the collective firepower of their opponents was far too much to handle, as FaZe took a 8-4 lead at the half.
It was deja vu for flyuh and co., as Sentinels were the ones this time around to start off the half with four straight rounds and tie the score at 8-8. FaZe, not to be outdone, grabbed a round back with a light buy, and converted that into a four round streak of their own to reach map point. Back against the wall, Sentinels fended off three retakes in a row from FaZe, and just when it looked like Fracture would go to overtime, the combo of babybay and dicey made found two picks and their team was able to close out the 3v5 with ease and seal the map 13-11.
Fracture might have gone the distance, but Sentinels’ choice of Haven was about to go even farther. The first half of the first half was dominated by Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan and co., taking a dominant 6-1 lead on their attack, despite losing the anti-eco due to a blunder. A multi kill by dicey broke that streak and gave some momentum back to FaZe, who managed to salvage a few rounds towards the end of the half to make it 5-7 at the break.
Sentinels were back in business, winning the pistol and then holding off FaZe’s force buy, moving to a 11-5 lead early in the second half. ShahZam’s side moved onto match point just a couple rounds later, meaning FaZe would have to win five in a row to take it to overtime. flyuh’s team did just that, led by babybay’s monster 31 kill and 327 ACS performance, and brought it all the way to 12-12 to force overtime.
The match couldn’t get any tighter, with both teams canceling each other out in overtime as well. Finally, in the third set of OT, FaZe managed to retake the C site and then despite being in an early 4v5, shut down Sentinels in the post-plant without losing a single player and closed out Haven 16-14 and took the series 2-0.
The last day of Week 4 saw Cloud9 suffer a devastating 0-2 loss to Luminosity Gaming that puts an end to their run at Stage 2 Challengers. The latter, on the other hand, cemented their place in the playoffs and could climb even higher in the group next week.
Luminosity looked to continue their great form on Fracture at the event, having previously beaten FaZe Clan and Sentinels on it. They definitely looked the part, dominating with their attack with eight of the first ten rounds. It was a case of every player on the LG team stepping up, especially the likes of Will "dazzLe" Loafman and Kaleb "moose" Jayne, who combined for 45 kills on Fracture, and kept the momentum in their team’s favor. The couple of rounds at the end of the half seemed like just a consolation for Cloud9, who looked down and out in that half.
Things only got worse as LG won yet another pistol and got to double figures, but Anthony "vanity" Malaspina finally started showing some venom on their attack with rifles in hand. Rahul "curry" Nemani was looking more comfortable than last week and was crucial on Breach in post-plants, while Mitch "mitch" Semago had some important moments and key kills that didn’t reflect on the scoreboard. C9 went on to win seven of the next eight, and were right on the tails of their opponents at 11-11. At that moment where Fracture could go either way, moose was on hand at Sand to shut down Erick "Xeppaa" Bach, who was having a very poor map, and his partner in crime dazzLe locked down A site at map point to give Luminosity the map with a 13-11 scoreline.
Even though the loss on Fracture was rough for Cloud9, fans could rest easy knowing their pick of Icebox was one C9 had beaten the likes of OpTic Gaming and Evil Geniuses on, while LG’s only Icebox results this event were a 7-13 loss to EG and a narrow 14-12 win against FaZe. vanity’s side kicked off on fire, winning a chaotic pistol thanks to the in-game leader’s heroic 3k. That certainly instilled confidence in them, as they went on to win three more in a row, including a bonus round conversion. dazzLe and co. put themselves on the board with a B retake were looking much more proactive on the defense, with moose, playing Viper, being a real menace on A. LG leveled things up at 5-5, but C9 grabbed the last two rounds on the back of a timeout and led 7-5 at halftime.
Luminosity put themselves right back with a pistol and anti-eco win, and save for the bonus round, looked clocked in with rifles. Tanner "TiGG" Spanu, who usually plays controllers but was on Sova here, was in top form, dropping 24 kills with a 1.59 rating and was unplayable in post-plant situations. The news of Luminosity Gaming leaving the VALORANT scene did not seem to be a hindrance to what was an excellent attacking half, and the squad put together five in a row to wrap up Icebox with an impressive 13-9 scoreline and take the series 2-0.
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