Masters Reykjavík: Vikings dismiss X10 Esports

Following the first day of the long awaited VCT 2021 - Stage 2 - Masters Reykjavík, day two brings three highly anticipated matches that see Brazil’s Team Vikings take on Thailand’s X10 Esports, along with two matches between North America and European teams.

Coming into the first match of the day, Team Vikings were the favorites to take the series in dominant fashion by both fan vote and the analysts. Team Vikings were the dominant champions in the VCT 2021 - Stage 2 - Brazil - Challengers Finals, defeating yng Sharks 3-1. On the other side, X10 had a dominant showing on their side of the VCT 2021 - Stage 2 - SEA - Challengers Finals with a 3-1 victory over FULL SENSE.

The match began on Icebox which was the pick of X10. Starting on the attacking side, Team Vikings came in hot, picking up the pistol and the following round with two slow approaches to taking the A-bomb site from the side of X10. However, X10 was able to get on the board in round 3 following a great B-site hold from Itthirit "Foxz" Ngamsaard and co.

However, after picking up another win in round 5, X10 would struggle to stop the attack of Team Vikings as they picked up three consecutive rounds putting them up 6-2. X10 would proceed to pick up their third round following a 1v1 clutch by Foxz in the 9th round and proceed to win the 10th round as well. After a short technical timeout, the teams would trade rounds with the final round of the half ending in a 1v3 clutch by Matias "Saadhak" Delipetro using his positioning and utility to close out the half 7-5 in favor of Team Vikings.

Vikings started off strong picking up both the pistol and following round to move up 9-5, setting themselves up to take the map quickly if X10 wasn’t able to answer back soon. X10 took a tactical timeout to discuss their gameplan, and this timeout paid off as they were able to close out the following round to make the scoreline 9-6 before a lengthy technical timeout. Following this timeout, X10 were able to mount a comeback to bring the scoreline to a close 10-9 midway through the half. However, despite the attempt to bring the game back, including a near Ace-clutch by Patiphan "patt" Chaiwong in round 17, Vikings and X10 would proceed to trade rounds until Vikings ultimately took the map at 13-11, moving us to our second map of Ascent.

Moving into Ascent, Team Vikings were still the heavy favorites on their map pick, however there were now more questions as X10 put up much more of a fight than most expected on the first map. The map kicked off with X10 riding the momentum they had found on Icebox, taking their defensive pistol and moving up 2-0 in back-to-back flawless rounds before Team Vikings were able to answer back in round three.

The two teams kept rounds close up to round six when Team Vikings picked up the round only losing one player, leading into a string of three consecutive rounds to bring the scoreline to an even 4-4. The first half could not separate these teams, as the scoreline moving into the half ended 6-6.

Heading into the second half we saw Team Vikings striking back, taking their own defensive side pistol and putting up a flawless anti-eco immediately after. Once again the teams kept rounds close up until Team Vikings shut down X10 in two consecutive rounds to bring the scoreline to 12-8. With their backs against the wall, X10 then proceeded to put up four rounds in a row, including a massive performance by Patiphan as he put up 7 kills in the last four rounds, to take Ascent into overtime - the first overtime of VCT Masters: Reykjavík.

Despite the heroic efforts of X10, Team Vikings immediately shut down the overtime on Ascent by taking both the attacker and defender rounds in dominant fashion - only losing one player in both rounds and winning the map 14-12, making Team Vikings the winners of this matchup in a very closely contested 2-0.

With this result, Team Vikings will move on to face the winner of Sentinels vs. Fnatic on Wednesday, May 26th. X10 Esports moves into the lower bracket where they will face Crazy Raccoon in the first elimination match of VCT Masters: Reykjavík on Wednesday, May 26th. Despite a massive performance by Patiphan, X10 was unable to close out two close maps in a matchup where they were considered the underdogs. While they are moving into the loser’s bracket, they definitely put up much more of a fight than was expected and we look forward to their future matches to see if they can make a miracle lower-bracket run.