Acend and FPX advance to playoffs - VCT EMEA 2022 Group A Recap

In Group A of the VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 2 - Challengers - Main Event, everything is already clear. Last weekend we saw some really interesting matches, but after the wins of FunPlus Phoenix and Acend we know all the teams that advanced to the playoffs.

Acend vs. G2 Esports

The game between G2 Esports and Acend promised to be truly brilliant. If the world champion won, it brought them very close to advancing to the playoffs, but if it was G2 that won, the situation would still be unclear. The situation for Oscar Cañellas "m1xwell" Colocho's team was quite difficult, as they had lost their match against OG LDN Utd the week before, while Acend had also lost against Fnatic, but thanks to two wins against OG LDN UTD and FOKUS, they already had two wins on their account. To the surprise of many fans, the first map was absolutely dominated by G2 Esports. Split was Acend's choice, but as it turned out, the players coached by Daniil "pipsoN" Meshcheryakov definitely felt better there. In brilliant form at the time was his team captain, mixwell, who as Chamber was certainly the best player on the server. It was mainly thanks to the Spaniard that G2 Esports easily won the first map by the score of 13-3, and mixwell himself had 23 eliminations, 4 of which were first bloods. A huge surprise was the poor performance of Acend players at the beginning of the game, and above all the most disappointing was Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek, who through 16 rounds had only 2 eliminations and as many as 14 deaths. The second map was naturally G2 Esports' choice, and it was Icebox. Before this match G2 had played this map once against FOKUS. when they won 13-11, while for Acend this was already the fourth Icebox this season. Before that they had beaten OG LDN UTD and FOKUS, and the week before they had fallen against Fnatic. The first half ended in a 6-6 tie, and in the second installment the pistol round was also won by G2 Esports, putting Acend in a worse and worse situation. When they were finally able to purchase full equipment after the change of sides, they took the lead in the game and Acend won the second map by a score of 13-10.

A huge problem for G2 Esports on this map was the fact that Acend had 9 more first bloods than their opponent, which is a cosmic score on a single map. The deciding arena in this match was Bind, which was an absolute rollercoaster. The biggest surprise was that Patryk "starxo" Kopczynski decided to pick Raze and Aleksander "zeek" Zygmunt played as Omen. As we later found out in the post-match interview, this was due to the fact that zeek felt his friend could play better that day. At one point Acend was leading as much as 5-1, but a lost economy round made G2 Esports win as many as 6 rounds in a row and the first half ended with their victory. The second half was also very close, where the turning point was an eco win by Acend, which eventually allowed the world champions to win Bind by a score of 13-11 and the entire match by a score of 2-1. The swap of roles by the Poles turned out to be a great decision, as both starxo and zeek played a great game, especially Kopczynski, who had the most eliminations, the highest ADR, and the most first bloods on Bind. Because of this result in this match, it was Acend that was very close to advancing to the playoffs with three wins already, while for G2 Esports there was no chance of advancing anymore and they had to settle for staying in the league. In the last round of the VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 2 - Challengers - Main Event Acend will face FunPlus Phoenix and G2 Esports will play against Fnatic, but the results of these matches will not change much.

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

G2 Esports

1

X

2

Acend

Group A, Best of 3 - June 3, 2022 - 2:00PM

13

Split

3

10

Icebox

13

11

Bind

13

G2 Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

nukkye

1.23

264

53/43/21

+10

1.23

83.9%

174.0

17%

53%

8

7

m1xwell

1.21

244

52/49/16

+3

1.06

74.3%

148.4

26%

50%

8

8

hoody

1.16

241

52/46/16

+6

1.13

82.9%

150.1

26%

53%

8

7

Meddo

1.00

182

40/37/22

+3

1.08

80.9%

125.0

24%

33%

2

4

AvovA

0.78

150

34/41/19

-7

0.83

69.0%

90.0

33%

27%

3

8

Acend

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

starxo

0.97

206

45/48/15

-3

0.94

76.0%

130.8

19%

69%

9

4

zeek

0.96

200

43/48/26

-5

0.90

67.0%

132.8

21%

30%

6

14

MONSTEERR

0.94

190

43/40/14

+3

1.08

69.1%

121.6

24%

67%

4

2

vakk

0.90

183

42/47/16

-5

0.89

75.5%

126.7

23%

64%

7

4

cNed

0.80

173

43/48/6

-5

0.90

63.5%

122.5

35%

62%

8

5

FPX vs. OG LDN UTD

The second game last weekend was a clash between FunPlus Phoenix and OG LDN Utd. The team led by Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow was the overwhelming favorite here, but OG LDN UTD had beaten G2 Esports the week before, so we could expect a great match. The first map in this match was Haven, which was Michał "MOLSI" Łącki's team choice. Prior to the start of this competition, the team coached by Tommaso "joYnt" Gavioli had played Haven once before, when they lost against Les Bijoux by a score of 4-13, while FPX had not yet played this map once in this season of the VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 2 - Challengers - Main Event. From the very beginning, however, it was FPX that dominated, and it started by winning the pistol round. In great form were Ardis "ardiis" Svarenieks as Chamber and Dmitry "SUYGETSU" Ilyushin as Sage, who were too difficult a challenge for OG LDN UTD players last Saturday. A few good moments had the Pole, but a few moments were definitely not enough. In the end, Haven was won fairly easily by FPX by a score of 13-6, and the second map in this match was Bind, which was also their choice, so we could expect a difficult challenge for OG LDN UTD.

Bind started very similarly to Haven, as FunPlus Phoenix controlled the flow of the game from the very start. Despite OG LDN Utd winning the pistol round, FPX quickly responded by winning the economy round to later win the next five rounds in a row. By the end of the first half OG LDN UTD combined managed to win just three rounds, and after the sides were switched all of them fell to FunPlus Phoenix as well, meaning that the game ended with a score of 13-3 and the whole match with a score of 2-0. The result of this match also meant that Acend and FPX have secured their promotion to the playoffs, and there is no longer any chance for OG LDN UTD, just like for G2 Esports or FOKUS. In the final round in Group A, FPX will face Acend in a direct clash for a higher position, while OG LDN UTD will play against FOKUS.

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

FunPlus Phoenix

2

X

0

OG LDN Utd

Group A, Best of 3 - June 4, 2022 - 4:20PM

13

Haven

6

13

Bind

3

FunPlus Phoenix

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

ardiis

1.63

280

39/17/12

+22

2.29

91.6%

169.6

23%

80%

8

2

SUYGETSU

1.59

285

39/21/12

+18

1.86

86.4%

191.5

32%

100%

5

0

Zyppan

1.33

264

34/22/8

+12

1.55

83.2%

165.6

28%

83%

5

1

ANGE1

1.00

190

20/20/18

0

1.00

83.2%

109.1

19%

50%

5

5

Shao

0.91

163

21/18/10

+3

1.17

79.6%

111.5

39%

75%

3

1

OG LDN Utd

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

MOLSI

0.99

210

26/30/9

-4

0.87

60.9%

137.9

26%

38%

3

5

Boo

0.68

163

18/32/7

-14

0.56

50.8%

109.5

45%

0%

0

6

feqew

0.68

174

21/31/1

-10

0.68

49.2%

111.2

25%

38%

3

5

hype

0.60

148

16/31/10

-15

0.52

53.9%

101.5

22%

20%

2

8

Destrian

0.59

152

17/29/5

-12

0.59

50.3%

107.3

25%

33%

1

2

Fnatic vs. FOKUS

In last weekend's final game in Group A, Fnatic faced off against FOKUS. The favorite of this match could only be one and naturally it was Fnatic. The team led by Jake "Boaster" Howlett after the transfers of Emir "Alfajer" Ali Beder and Enzo "Enzo" Mestari is looking really great, as evidenced by the three wins in the VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 2 - Challengers - Main Event against Acend, OG LDN Utd and FunPlus Phoenix. Winning this match for Fnatic meant that they will definitely take the first place in their group regardless of the result in the last round. For FOKUS, on the other hand, there was no chance for the playoffs, but certainly the team that in the previous split played in the VRL - DACH: Evolution - Stage 1 - Main Event would like to finally win a match after three defeats against G2 Esports, Acend and FPX. This was a clash between a previously undefeated team and a team that has yet to have any wins. The first map in this game was Split, which Fnatic opted for. FOKUS surprised their opponent quite a bit in the beginning by winning four rounds in a row, but then Fnatic began their domination. Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev as Chamber once again played a great game where he was too difficult a challenge for his opponents. The first half ended with Fnatic leading by a score of 7-5, although after the switch sides again the FOKUS players were better in the pistol round.

Unluckily for them, the pistol round and later the economy round played by the rival were the last points for FOKUS, because by the time Fnatic played fullbuy, they didn't lose a single round. In the end Split ended with Fnatic winning by a score of 13-7. After the break the players moved onto Bind, which FOKUS has shown already this season that they really have a very good one. Proof of these words would be the victory against Acend on this map with a result of 13-7. On the sandy arena, however, FOKUS didn't have much to say. Fnatic got off to a great start by winning the pistol round, as at one point the orange and black team led 8-0. Such a huge lead created by Fnatic players was already a nail in FOKUS' coffin. A few individual flashes of Jakob "JUGi" Rask Hansen were definitely not enough for Fnatic, which played so well that Bind ended up with an easy win with a score of 13-4, and the whole game with a score of 2-0. Once again, the best player of the match was Derke, who had a total of 42 eliminations with 20 deaths, 9 first bloods and the highest ADR in the two maps. This victory ensured that regardless of the result in the last round against G2 Esports, Fnatic takes the first place in Group A, while FOKUS will face OG LDN Utd in their last match to win at least one game in the group stage.

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

Fnatic

2

X

0

FOKUS

Group A, Best of 3 - June 5, 2022 - 5:15PM

13

Split

7

13

Bind

4

Fnatic

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Derke

1.58

326

42/20/6

+22

2.10

84.1%

207.5

22%

77%

10

3

Enzo

1.13

173

23/16/20

+7

1.44

87.1%

115.2

37%

67%

2

1

Mistic

1.10

207

27/23/12

+4

1.17

73.7%

135.1

29%

71%

5

2

Alfajer

1.09

230

28/22/9

+6

1.27

79.1%

151.4

25%

33%

2

4

Boaster

0.98

192

28/23/5

+5

1.22

76.2%

109.9

19%

44%

4

5

FOKUS

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

JUGi

0.87

206

27/30/3

-3

0.90

65.7%

119.2

23%

50%

5

5

vong

0.83

169

22/27/11

-5

0.81

69.4%

110.8

43%

0%

0

3

bucher

0.74

172

23/30/3

-7

0.77

59.4%

122.5

26%

60%

3

2

iluri

0.57

129

15/28/8

-13

0.54

59.4%

76.5

39%

50%

3

3

YaBoiLewis

0.50

149

17/33/2

-16

0.52

46.0%

94.8

23%

29%

4

10