VCT EMEA Challengers opening day - Gambit Esports & Fnatic victorious

The first day of VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event has come to an end with Fnatic and M3 Champions winning their first games over G2 Esports and Team Liquid, respectively.

Gambit Esports vs Team Liquid

In the opening game of the tournament, Gambit Esports picked Icebox to start things positive for themselves. The CIS representatives managed to win nine rounds on the attacking side while giving away only three rounds. Gambit’s defence was also at a high level as they stole four rounds to win the first map. Despite Igor "Redgar" Vlasov’s score-wise unproductive Sova performance, Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov held a 1.42 rating and 271 ACS with Viper in his hands to carry his team to glory. Normally, we don’t see Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin with Sage so much but he made his entrance to the tournament with her.

The second map, Breeze, was Team Liquid’s choice and the European team gave away five rounds on the defending side which cost them the series. On the other side, Gambit won eight rounds and only lost one to reach the 13-round mark. Just like the first game. Chronicle stepped up for his team, holding a 1.81 rating and 347 ACS with Chamber. The Russian player had a monstrous first day at the VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event. On the other hand, no one really showed a notable performance on the Team Liquid side and the European team had a bad showing on their first day.

Fnatic vs G2 Esports

The competition between these European giants started on Fnatic’s choice, Icebox. As expected, FNC demolished their opponents on the defending side to close out the game in 21 rounds, 13-8. Today was Viper players’ day, Fnatic’s James "Mistic" Orfila held a 1.48 rating and 282 ACS to win the game for his team. On top of these statistics, Mistic’s K/D was 2.20.

In their pick, Ascent, G2 Esports showed that it won’t be easy for Fnatic to win the series in only two games. Thanks to Žygimantas "nukkye" Chmieliauskas’s 25-kill Sova performance, G2 Esports held on to dear life with a 13-11 win in the second game. G2’s newest addition, Aaro "hoody" Peltokangas helped his teammate all around the map by holding a 1.21 rating and 239 ACS on KAY/O.

However, Fnatic managed to put an end to the series after a 13-8 win on Split. This time, the star player, Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev, stepped up for his team with a clutch Raze performance. The Finnish player outperformed G2’s duelist, Cista "keloqz" Wassim to secure his team the first win in the first match.

The competition will continue tomorrow with BIG versus FunPlus Phoenix and Acend against Papara SuperMassive. You can find detailed information about the upcoming games on the events page.