VCT Japan - Stage 1 - Challengers Week 2 - Open Qualifier Recap

Instead of having both open qualifiers consecutively and transitioning into the main event, the Challenger events in Japan were designed to feature a week of open qualifiers, followed by a week of Main Event matches. With the conclusion of VCT 2022 - Japan - Stage 1 - Challengers Week 1, four teams were able to advance to VCT 2022 - Japan - Stage 1 - Challengers Playoffs, while the remaining teams were directly invited to the Week 2 Challengers.

VCT 2022 - Japan - Stage 1 - Challengers Week 2 - Open Qualifier consisted of a total of 64 teams divided into 4 groups with only the winning team from each group advancing to the Main Event. Here is a brief recap of how each of the 4 teams managed to secure a spot at the Main Event. It is worth noting that three of the four qualified teams this week had reached the final match of their respective groups in VCT 2022 - Japan - Stage 1 - Challengers Week 1 - Open Qualifier, but were unfortunately defeated by their opponents.

Crest Gaming Zst

They were the only team to not have made their group’s finals match courtesy of Hexad. This time, however, they were a dominant force throughout the event. The only real threat they faced in the tournament was against Jadeite, one of the finalists in the previous qualifiers. Even though, the decider map was forced by jadeite after an intense battle on Haven, Crest Gaming did not delay their victory by taking Bind with a final score of 13-4. Being only two maps away from a guaranteed spot at the Challengers Main Event, limiting SCARZ became a necessity, task they were able to accomplish without much difficulty as they ended the matchup by executing a perfect sweep with 13-6, and 13-8 scores on Bind and Icebox respectively.

Reignite

Reignite’s run in the tournament was quite similar to that of Crest Gaming except that the former was able to defeat their opponents with greater ease. Starting the tournament with two sweeps elevated their morale and boosted their confidence, but Hexad presented itself as a potential obstacle by being the only team to force the decider against them. However, Hexad’s were able to maintain consistency in their performance and lost the decider 0-13 allowing Reignite to reach the finals and face off against DetonatioN Gaming, which was relatively uneventful. On Haven, DetonatioN Gaming’s map pick, Reignite was able to reach 11-1 with halftime. DetonatioN Gaming was able to delay their win in a desperate attempt to comeback, but Reignite was able to finish the map with a 13-5 score on Icebox and 13-7 on Haven.

DeToNator

In contrast to its counterparts, DeToNator encountered greater difficulty while qualifying and were extremely close to being eliminated especially since the finals’ decider went into overtime. Their start to the tournament was flawless with an easy win against Genius. Even though, their next opponents, Serpens E-sports, managed to put up a considerable challenge and force the decider, DeToNator had no difficulty pummeling through and making the groups finals against Insomnia. Proceedings began on Bind and despite it being Insomnia’s map pick,

DeToNator was able to take the map 13-6 and gain the upper hand in the matchup only momentarily though as Insomnia answered back on the following map and secured it 13-11, being only a couple of rounds away from being eliminated. Being tied 1-1, both teams left the gate with strong intent to win and alternated control of momentum equally during both the halves such that each finished with 12-12 score after round 24 symbolizing overtime. Both teams looked to turn the momentum in their favour, which ended up delaying the match to a double overtime. In those moment, Mayo "K1llgrave" Fujisawa came to aid and turned the match around winning the matchup and Main Event spot for DeToNator.

FAV gaming

This team had arguably the easiest path to qualifying with their first two opponents forfeiting the match before proceedings even began and the remaining two teams facing a 2-0 defeat. To further prove their dominance, they were able to restrict Storks Phalanx from taking more than a total of 12 rounds in the two maps the final was played on. Daiki "Minty" Kato’s usage of Jett and Raze was commendable throughout the event, especially in the finals when he finished with a 1.64 rating and 307 ACS. FAV gaming are definitely worth keeping their eyes on in the upcoming VCT 2022 - Japan - Stage 1 - Challengers Week 2.