Acend win VALORANT Champions after nail-biter with Gambit Esports

VCT 2021 - VALORANT Champions 2021 came to its conclusion today after Acend edged out M3 Champions in a hard-fought 3-2 series. The Europeans were able to replicate their success from VCT 2021 - Stage 1 - Europe Masters and end the year as the best VALORANT team in the world.

The grand final began on Gambit’s map pick of Breeze, a map which they have played against KRÜ Esports, X10 Esports, and Team Secret at Champions and won very convincingly. Acend had different plans however, winning the pistol and anti-eco cleanly, but the Russians fought right back with a rifle round of their own. On the very next round they even found themselves in a 4v2 with the spike planted, but Aleksander "zeek" Zygmunt, who Acend have relied heavily on this tournament, spoiled the party with a fantastic retake and 4k. The European mix rode the wave of momentum from there, winning six more consecutively before giving up two rounds, ending their defending half at 9-3.

When things were looking dire in the Gambit camp, the Russians looked towards no other than Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin. The Viper found his groove this half and took control of the match, and even though Acend stole a couple of rounds to take them to 11, nAts was an absolute wall while anchoring sites, especially on the B site alongside Killjoy Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov, posting a 1.69 rating with 29 kills. From 5-11 down, Gambit didn’t look back and shut down Acend’s attack time and time again, winning eight rounds in a row to seal the map 13-11.

Acend started really well on their home ground of Ascent, in-game leader Santeri "BONECOLD" Sassi leading by example, emphatically winning a thrifty round with a 4k after losing the pistol. This catapulted them to a six round win streak, shocking a Gambit side which is historically strong their defensive side. The Russians were able to show a bit of their expertise by the end of the half, but they were still down 5-7 at the end.

Acend’s dominance continued on their defense, picking up the pistol and holding strong for the first five rounds of the half to race to match point. Gambit did adjust and pull off a couple of good executes on B, but there would be no comeback this time around, and the Europeans closed the map out soon after with a 13-7 scoreline and tied the series at 1-1.

The third map of the matchup took us to Gambit’s choice of Fracture. Between the Russian squad and Acend, the map had only been played once at Champions, and the latter’s lack of experience showed very evidently. On defense, the European mix had no reads on Redgar and co., constantly getting exploited on both sites and feeding the deadly duo of nAts and Chronicle. Acend barely managed a single retake in the half and scrambled to a 1-11 half.

Gambit had no intentions of stopping on their defense, winning out the pistol yet again and claiming map point. Acend got themselves a shimmer of hope by winning the force-buy and then the rifle round after, but it was much too late for their shenanigans, and the Russians wrapped up the map in the very next round at 13-3.

Acend now had their backs against the wall on their pick of Icebox, needing the win just to stay in the series. They managed to win the first two rounds, but Gambit were no pushovers on attack, not allowing their opponents to string together rounds. Chronicle, who so far had excellent impact anchoring and clutching, had to put on the afterburners and pulled Gambit to a close 5-7 half.

The second half was an extension of the first, both teams swinging blows at each other and the scores were level still at 10-10. Every player was coming alive in the server, OPer d3ffo picking up opening kills, zeek breaking apart sites on entry, and nAts was a menace on the B site. There was no separating these sides in regulation, and the map had to go to overtime.

For a clash that was so competitive so far, overtime was a fairly comfortable affair for Gambit. starxo had a creative defensive opening in mid, where he surprised the Russians with his wall, but otherwise it was smooth sailing for the European mix, who took Icebox 14-12 and tied the series for the second time at 2-2.

It all came down to the last map of Split to decide who would get their hands on the first ever Champions trophy. Acend certainly made a very good case for it on their defensive half, winning the pistol and propelling themselves to 7-2 lead thanks to their rock solid B defense. Things were starting to slip out of Gambit’s hands, and they looked to the A site on the thrifty round and picked up a crunching win. It was a huge economic victory for the Russians, who had been battered so far, and they were able to win the rest of the rounds to close the half down 5-7.

Acend quickly took matters into their own hands when the sides switched, grabbing a pistol and anti-eco win on the statistically unfavored attacker side to push to a 9-5 lead. But Gambit looked sharp with their rifles, not even allowing a plant for three rounds in a row to make it 9-8. BONECOLD reached deeper into his stratbook and was able to transform the team’s attack, and the European mix finally cut through the Gambit defense. starxo, who had been unreal in this grand finals, led the team and the scoreboard with a 1.38 rating and 20 kills. Acend were flawless at this point, and won four in a row to top off the map 13-8 and the series 3-2.

The result marks the end of VCT 2021 - VALORANT Champions 2021 and the VCT 2021 season. Riot Games have already announced the VCT 2022 schedule, which will start with Challengers 1 tournaments in February.