Bilibili fall to DRX, Evil Geniuses outlast EDward Gaming

VCT 2023 - Champions has moved into the playoffs phase of the event following the opening day of defeats and triumphs. The second day provided as much as emotions as the first, as VALORANT action is not slowing down in Los Angeles.

The second day of the Champions playoffs saw the following teams face off:

• DRX vs. Bilibili Gaming
• Evil Geniuses vs. EDward Gaming

DRX vs. Bilibili Gaming

Bilibili kicked off on the right foot going into their own map pick. The first half saw the Chinese side go on a tear in the first half with a 10-2 outclass on defense. This all flipped when DRX showed their own defense.

VCT 2023 - Champions

DRX

2

X

0

Bilibili Gaming

Upper Bracket Quarter Final, Best of 3 - August 17, 2023 - 7:00PM

13

Lotus

10

13

Haven

9

DRX

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

MaKo

1.37

216

34/28/32

+6

1.21

86.7%

140.6

30%

83%

5

1

BuZz

1.35

276

41/31/14

+10

1.32

82.2%

187.9

19%

68%

13

6

Zest

1.29

243

38/28/19

+10

1.36

73.5%

149.9

45%

75%

6

2

stax

0.92

159

27/30/17

-3

0.90

71.2%

99.4

31%

33%

3

6

Rb

0.63

130

22/31/7

-9

0.71

71.0%

93.3

21%

33%

1

2

Bilibili Gaming

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

whzy

1.07

237

39/36/3

+3

1.08

64.3%

147.6

21%

37%

7

12

biank

1.05

211

30/32/20

-2

0.94

71.2%

141.7

21%

33%

1

2

Knight

0.93

176

27/29/20

-2

0.93

82.1%

114.8

32%

25%

2

6

rin

0.88

157

27/31/15

-4

0.87

69.3%

85.6

20%

67%

4

2

yosemite

0.79

175

25/34/13

-9

0.74

75.4%

117.2

24%

33%

3

6

A rarely-seen half unfolded where DRX went on to have a flawless half on their defense side. The duo of Myeongkwan "MaKo" Kim and Yu "BuZz" Byung-chul came up big to turn things around and take Lotus for themselves.

The second map, Haven, was much more balanced compared to the first. And yet, DRX triumphed on their own map pick to take the series at a 13-9 scoreline. MaKo was the best player of the series after playing Omen over the course of the two maps with a rating of 1.37.

DRX fight on in the upper bracket of Champions while Bilibili will have to make a deep lower bracket run with no mistakes if they want to reach the Grand Finale.

EG vs. EDG

The second match of the day saw the North American Geniuses take on China's finest, EDward Gaming.

Split, the first match of the series was a tight contest with an overtime in play. Eventually, EDG eventually clinched the map at 14-12.

VCT 2023 - Champions

Evil Geniuses

2

X

1

EDward Gaming

Upper Bracket Quarter Final, Best of 3 - August 17, 2023 - 9:25PM

12

Split

14

13

Ascent

5

13

Pearl

5

Evil Geniuses

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Demon1

1.56

301

67/42/12

+25

1.60

77.9%

190.7

40%

80%

12

3

Ethan

1.42

253

55/37/27

+18

1.49

83.0%

151.6

22%

75%

6

2

jawgemo

0.97

172

35/40/30

-5

0.88

82.5%

112.6

21%

61%

11

7

Boostio

0.95

196

39/42/13

-3

0.93

70.5%

140.0

27%

50%

7

7

C0M

0.94

180

41/37/15

+4

1.11

71.7%

118.5

25%

71%

5

2

EDward Gaming

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Smoggy

0.99

193

46/46/14

0

1.00

73.1%

140.2

31%

46%

6

7

CHICHOO

0.90

199

42/45/16

-3

0.93

66.4%

137.7

26%

20%

1

4

nobody

0.84

189

38/48/20

-10

0.79

66.4%

120.4

21%

39%

9

14

ZmjjKK

0.83

191

42/52/13

-10

0.81

61.4%

126.2

22%

18%

3

14

Haodong

0.81

148

30/46/32

-16

0.65

67.0%

100.3

27%

50%

2

2

Still, EG swiftly took their own map pick on Ascent with a 13-5 scoreline. Max "Demon1" Mazanov went marching on into map 3, Pearl, as yet again, EG out-classed the Chinese giants 13-5 to clinch the series 2-1 after a match full of clutch plays.

Evil Geniuses move on in the upper bracket while EDG will have to rally in the lower bracket to reach the final.

Make sure to check out the VALORANT Champions event page to keep up to date with the schedule, check out the stats, and upcoming matches!

Featured image photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games