BIG with a huge victory, alongside Guild and Liquid
All three games of the VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 2 - Challengers - Main Event Week 4 Group B were full of surprises and competition. BIG pulled out a surprising win over M3 Champions. Guild Esports and Team Liquid are the other winners of the week.
Team Liquid vs Natus Vincere
One of the biggest favorites to make it out of the group stage, Team Liquid, have picked Haven to start the week strongly. It was Aurimas "Dreamas" Zablockis’s first match under the blue and white jersey. Natus Vincere had an awesome start to the game by defending the bomb sites four rounds in a row. Mikhail "Duno" Fokin and Artur "7ssk7" Kyourshin led the game with five kills each on Fade and Chamber. Liquid’s attacking strategies started working after the fifth round. Although they gave away an easy round one time, TL’s dominance kept on going until the very last round of the first half. The European team won seven rounds to close out the first half, 7-5. Natus Vincere’s defending tactics didn’t work after the fifth round and they secured only one more win until the rest of the half. Dom "soulcas" Sulcas, Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom, and Aurimas "Dreamas" Zablockis had 10 kills each to lead their team on the scoreboard. On the other side, Kirill "Cloud" Nehozhin, and Artur "7ssk7" Kyourshin also had 10 kills each but they failed to properly defend the sites at the end. Just like the beginning of the match, Natus Vincere held a 4-round winning streak, with the insane ace of 7ssk7 on Chamber. However, Team Liquid had the same recipe and started to dominate the map by preventing Na’Vi’s attacks. After the 20th round, Natus Vincere started to keep up with the pace of the game and won two rounds. Team Liquid closed out the first map after winning their 13th round in the game, 13-11. ScreaM’s 23-kill Raze performance decided the winning side of the first map. Apart from the One Tap God, soulcas and Nivera also had 40 kills combined. Na’Vi’s 7ssk7 had a stand-out Chamber performance with 21 kills to his name and a 1.21 rating but it wasn’t enough for the CIS side as he was the only player with a positive K/D.
Natus Vincere selected Bind to stay in the series and prevent a possible loss. Looking at their previous performance on Haven, they were capable of taking down Liquid in the series. TL made an impressive start on the defending side, winning the first three rounds by eliminating all the opposing members and preventing a possible bomb plant. Elias "Jamppi" Olkkonen had a magnificent performance as he was at the top of the scoreboard with 6 kills on Omen. Natus Vincere figured TL’s defending strategies and started a winning streak, after managing to plant the bomb in round four. The CIS representatives held a 6-round winning streak before TL’s successful defense in round ten. During the 6-round winning streak, Nikolai "zeddy" Lapko’s supremacy led the game as he grabbed 12 kills with Omen in his hands. Na’Vi had the lead after the first half, 7-5. zeddy had 18 kills and 7ssk7 was the closest teammate to him with only 9 kills. It was a battle of the Omens as Jamppi on the other side also had 18 kills to his name. However, the closest teammate on the scoreboard was Nivera who only had 7 kills. Both teams had close performances in the second half. Jamppi grabbed 3 first bloods on the attacking side but the defender, 7ssk7, had 4 first bloods. After a close battle between the two teams, Natus Vincere put an end to their map-pick by winning their 13th round, 13-11. Interestingly, Jamppi and zeddy had the same amount of kills and deaths but the Finnish star had 7 assists more. Despite losing the Omen battle, zeddy was the winner of the map. Na’Vi forced another game in the series to win the game.
The last pick of the matchup was Split. Natus Vincere won the opening rounds but TL immediately answered back by winning three rounds in a row. Jamppi was the leader of the streak again with 5 kills on Omen. The first half was very close as both teams had close performances in each consecutive round. None of the teams had the lead as it was a tie, 6-6. TL’s Nivera and solucas had 14 kills each on the defending side. Moreover, Nivera had 4 first bloods, which was very important for Liquid's successful defending rounds. Kirill "Cloud" Nehozhin led the team in kills for Na’Vi with 12 kills with Sage in his hands. The second half started with Team Liquid’s incredible dominance on the attacking side. soulcas’ Astra played a huge role with 6 kills and also the tactical utility of it. Na’Vi got back into the game after 7ssk7’s incredible Raze plays, grabbing 9 kills in 3 rounds. The CIS representatives were bak in the competition after winning 6 rounds in a row. They got close to the victory but Liquid players had different plans. Jamppi, ScreaM, and Nivera played superbly in the last two rounds and carried their teams to overtime. After 6 rounds of overtime, Team Liquid won the series and grabbed maybe the hardest victory for them this season. ScreaM had a great performance by holding a 1.26 rating, 1.65 K/D, and 28 kills.
_1611007730948.png&w=64&q=75 "VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 2 - Challengers - Main Event")
soulcas
Jamppi
Dreamas
7ssk7
Cloud
Duno
M3 Champions vs BIG
BIG were the only team without a single win in Group B and M3 Champions had a better chance to make it to the playoffs. The Russian team picked Ascent to make a strong start to the series. BIG had a miraculous performance in the first half. They were the defending side and the Germany-based team started the map with a 4-round winning streak. Ceyhun "AslaN" Aslan and Niels "luckeRRR" Jasiek were the main heroes in the first four rounds of the competition. M3C got their first win in the fifth round and they could only grab two more until the end of the first half. BIG won 9 rounds in the first half and demolished their strong opponents with great defense. AslaN had a 16-kill Omen performance and he also held a 1.89 rating and 4 K/D. luckeRRR and Twisten joined him with 12 kills each but M3 Champions had an awful half. Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin was the only player with a positive K/D with a 1.23 rating. Despite making a dominant start to the second half, BIG were the better side in the entirety of the game. nAts tried everything he could to keep his team in the game but BIG won the game with a score of 13-9. The heroes of the first half also carried their team in the second half to get this very important win.
The Germany-based organization picked Bind as the second map of the series. They had an awful performance on Ascent and now it was time for them to show their true capacity and force another map. They made a great start to the map by winning the first four rounds of the map. However, BIG players played their hearts out in the next 7 rounds and held a streak, surprising almost everyone. They had great attacking strategies and executed them very well to lead the game in the first half, 7-5. Alessio "musashi" Xhaferi’s Chamber secured 14 kills and held a 1.53 rating on the top of 2 K/D. He and AslaN were the dominant players in the first half as AslaN had 11 kills on Brimstone. M3 Champions played like a different team and also BIG had one of the best performances of them in the second stage. They also started the second half with a 4-round winning streak. Despite trying to get back in the game by winning a couple of rounds, M3C players weren’t on their day. They tried to force another map and prevent getting swept but BIG were again the superior side. Karel "Twisten" Ašenbrener joined his teammates on the scoreboard and matched AslaN with 21 kills. BIG secured their first win of the stage.
AslaN
TwistenBBL Esports vs Guild Esports
Guild Esports haven’t lost a single match in Group B and BBL Esports were trying to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Turkish side’s chance of reaching the playoffs was very high if they had won. The competition started with Guild’s Bind pick. Despite having a great start to the map by winning the first two rounds, Guild Esports somehow found a way to dominate the game for 5 consecutive rounds. BBL managed to stay in the game by winning the last two rounds of the half. Nevertheless, Guild had the lead after the first 12 rounds, 7-5. Jose Luis "koldamenta" Aranguren and Nikita "trexx" Cherednichenko popped off in the first half with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Doğukan "QutionerX" Dural’s 13-kill Chamber performance was the main factor that kept BBL in the race. The Turkish duelist held a 1.58 rating and a 1.44 K/D. The Turkish team made a marvelous start to the second half by winning 4 rounds in a row. Melih "pAura" Karaduran directed the strategies as the IGL and they executed their attacking tactics almost perfectly. However, Saif "Sayf" Jibraeel had a spectacular Viper performance with 17 kills to his name and a 1.78 rating. The second half ended with a score of 7-5 and it was time for overtime. Guild Esports won the first two rounds of overtime and won the game without any more delays. At the end of the game, Sayf had 26 kills and he held a 1.52 rating on the top of 2.36 K/D. The Swedish smoker was the MVP, especially on the defending side. On the other hand, QutionerX had 11 first bloods, 8 on the attacking side.
BBL Esports picked Ascent to keep their playoff hopes alive and force the third map in the series. Despite winning the pistol round, BBL lost the second round as Leo "Leo" Jannesson found 3 kills with Frenzy. Guild Esports kept the momentum and finished the first half with a score of 8-4. The Swedish Sova was feeling it as he ended the first half with 18 kills while holding an insane 2.32 rating and 3 K/D. Even more interesting, he held a 388 ACS while BBL’s duelist Quti only had 91 ACS. Just like every other pistol round in the series, BBL won the pistol round, making it four in the series. Despite dominating the game in pistol rounds, BBL failed to impress their fans by making many mistakes. Guild used these gaps and protected their lead. Leo’s impressive performance continued and the European team closed out the series after 23 rounds, 13-10. Leo finished the game with 31 kills and a 2.09 rating. Guild’s winning streak has improved to four games and BBL are out of the playoffs race now.
Leo
koldamenta
QutionerXOne more week is left until the playoffs and next week’s matches will start on June 10. You can find more information about the tournament on our events page
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