DRX and FPX survived in lower bracket against Fnatic and XSET

On the fifth day of VCT 2022 - Champions Istanbul playoffs, FunPlus Phoenix managed to dramatic beat against one of the best North America team XSET with 2-1, while Korean representative DRX defeated Fnatic with the same score and survived in the tournament. At the end of the day, Turkish superstar Emir "Alfajer" Ali Beder and his team Fnatic and XSET said goodbye to the tournament.

DRX vs Fnatic

On Fnatic's chosen map, Icebox, the game started. Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev got a 4k in the first pistol round, showing that Fnatic had warmed up. The Chamber player already had his ultimate by round three. Despite having a comfortable four-round advantage at the beginning, DRX and their Jett player Yu "BuZz" Byung-chul gradually began to wake up. They were able to recover from the ominous beginning of the game to trail by only 7-5 at the break. DRX managed only two rounds on their attack side and lost to Icebox 13-7 despite showing some promise. James "Mistic" Orfila, who has been in the finest LAN form of his career during this Champions event, was one of Fnatic's strongest players during this first map. His squad has benefited from his helpful plays on numerous occasions with his Sage barriers on Icebox were both perfect and creative.

On the second and DRX's chosen map, Ascent, both teams decided to use a lineup that included Jett. The majority of teams have been using the chamber on this map to take advantage of the expansive sightlines during VCT Champions rather than the duelist at all. With constant chants of Alfajer's name, the Istanbul fans supported Fnatic the entire way. The 17-year-old Turkish player continued to compete on LAN while performing on stage in his native country and even outperformed Derke, Fnatic's star player. Fnatic put on another impressive performance, but Myeongkwan "MaKo" Kim and BuZz led DRX to victory in overtime, silencing the crowd and winning Ascent with 14-12.

With a decisive pistol round victory on defense, DRX quickly advanced onto Fracture using the first amount of momentum they had so far in the match. BuZz kept up his excellent work, this time on Chamber, and Goo "Rb" Sang-Min came to the fore by playing with assurance and aplomb on Neon. DRX appeared untouchable at one point, but Fnatic did their best to maintain the pace by switching the rounds back and forth in the second half. Alfajer failed to have an effect on Neon in comparison to his opponent Rb, who was soaring about the map with ease. Alfajer's absence was harmful to Fnatic. Rb finished the map with a KDA of 21/15, which is remarkable for someone who continuously took chances. After a chaotic half, DRX won three rounds in a row to win the map 13-9. DRX narrowly prevailed 2-1 in the game.

FPX VS XSET

Even though Ardis "ardiis" Svarenieks outran everyone else on the server, Matthew "Cryocells" Panganiban ended up being more important for his team on the first map of the match, Pearl. On a layout that most people would believe to be defensive-sided, XSET came back despite finishing their attack side half down 7-5. Although Pearl came close, XSET won, and Cryo came through to seal the victory 13-11.

The EMEA team comeback was very remarkable in the first map Bind. FPX had a 7-5 lead at the half despite XSET having a 4-0 lead at the beginning of the map due to a breakdown in their defense. XSET briefly regrouped themselves, but FPX was able to take the lead on the map, 13-10.

The conflict did not appear to be winding down when the game transitioned into Ascent in this remarkably balanced match. With a strong performance on Sage, Dmitry "SUYGETSU" Ilyushin strengthened his reputation as one of the top support players in the Champions competition. On the other hand, Brendan "BcJ" Jensen walked about the locations as Omen and repeatedly stole surprise frags for himself. FPX led 7-5 at the break for the third time in the game. The energy that XSET earned from winning the pistol round in the second half was lost as they started to make sporadic attacks on their offensive side. Due to their cautious attack strategy, they frequently struggled to even place the spike in time. This strategy for countering XSET's attack, along with FPX's consistent accurate reading of every circumstance, proved harmful to XSET's chances of progressing in Champions. In the end FPX delivered the decisive blow even though they were down players and defeated them 13-11 and as a result they managed to win the match 2-1.

*Due to the killjoy bug, the final round of the match was replayed!

The final round of the map had to be replayed due to an issue with Jordan "AYRIN" He's Killjoy turret, tournament administrators announced about an hour after the game had ended. The known bug that prevented the turret from accurately locking on to its target has never adversely affected an international match.

It was 2am in the morning in Istanbul when the game resumed. Contrary to how they had earlier played in this round, XSET launched into an aggressive approach. They sent Ascent into overtime and took the replayed round for themselves. FPX won again despite XSET's obvious resistance, and the NA team had to experience the sorrow of being eliminated twice.