Masters Reykjavik: NUTURN complete comeback versus YNG Sharks

After a drawn out match 2 between Version1 and Crazy Raccoon, that saw Version1 come out victorious in a nail-biting 2 map match, it was time for the 3rd and final match of the day. This time, one of the Brazil qualifiers yng Sharks would face off with the Korean qualifier NUTURN.

Generally known as two of the most underrated regions in Counter-Strike, it was time for their VALORANT counterparts to show what they have in the FPS gaming world. When looking at the teams, the first thing to notice would be the age of Nuturn's 2 veterans, Jung "peri" Bum-gi and Kang "solo" Keun-chul, 30 and 33 respectively. This veteran leadership can provide a mental fortitude for a LAN environment that many teams may not have on their roster.

The match began on Haven, YNG's map pick and arguably one of their most successful maps. With an 86% win rate across 7 matches, not many teams in the Brazilian region have had success defeating them. The first round one that was, well, interesting to say the least as we saw Nuturn push up long A on defense, effectively trapping YNG in the T side of the map. Despite this, a lurk from Winicius Alves "light" César proved to be the difference as he got info that C site was open.

In the end, it would be YNG who ended up with a 10-2 first half, as the battle Sage of Gabriel "gaabxx" Carli and the Raze of Wallacy "prozin" Sales came out with a blistering start, finishing with 16 total kills each in the first 12 rounds combined.

With an underwhelming first half in the book, Nuturn would look to turn the pages, coming back to win both pistol rounds on their attack side. Despite winning 3 rounds on their attack side, the odds were not in Nuturn's favor, it appeared as if they were somewhat shaky, including this..... arrow? That could have something to do with a LAN environment, but the Sharks aim was on point as it seemed it was headshot after headshot, defeating Nuturn in a 13-5 win.

Heading into Nuturn's map pick, Bind, YNG had everything going for them that would lead to a 2-0 sweep, just as the previous 2 matches on the day had finished. After a first round victory, momentum could not have been more in the favor of the Sharks, however Nuturn eco'd them in round 2. That round win would set YNG back at least 2 more rounds as their economy had been decimated. After the first few rounds where Peri had many multi-kill rounds, eyes turned to Seo "Suggest" Jae-young as he would finish the attack side with 10 kills, including this incredible 3K where the enemies lined up in his crosshair.

With the first half behind them, YNG needed to make a comeback on their own attack side in order to avoid a 3rd map on Ascent. After winning both pistol rounds, they would fall in the follow up round to end up with an 11-4 lead for Nuturn. In round 16, after eliminating the flank, it seemed as if Sharks would end up winning the round, however, once again Peri would wind up being the ultimate difference. Nuturn would go to win their map pick 13-5, leading us to a decisive map 3 on Ascent.

When it comes to the statistics of Ascent and familiarity of the map, Nuturn had the upper hand, playing map 24 times across all official matches, while YNG had only played it 12 times, both coming away with win percentages in the 70's.

From the opening round where Nuturn pushed into B main, getting 3 eliminations of their own, this map was all theirs. Solo proved to be one of the best players in VALORANT at the moment, with some ABSURD aim.

After 9 disheartening round losses that included many flawless rounds for Nuturn, YNG would claw their way back to finish their attack side with 2 rounds. After winning both pistol rounds, YNG was making a comeback of their own, but Nuturn shut the book on that in the 16th round. In the end, the aggressiveness of Nuturn proved to be a breaking point for YNG, as they were down just one too many rounds.

With this victory, Korea's representative Nuturn Gaming have won their opening round match, while Brazil's qualifier YNG Sharks will move on to the lower round. After his battle Sage performance on Haven, gaabxx was the standout player with an impressive 238 ACS, while Peri had the highest rating for his team at 1.16 going 45-31-12 on the Omen and Astra agents.

YNG Sharks will now move onto face KRÜ Esports in the lower bracket, and Nuturn will move on to face the winner of Version1 and Team Liquid in the upper bracket semi-finals.