The Guard defeat Cloud9 3-0 to qualify for Stage 1 Masters

After almost a month of intense battles between the best teams in the NA region, we are nearing the end of VCT 2022 - North America - Stage 1 - Main Event with less than 24 hours left in the Grand Finals. However, with the conclusion of today’s matchup, the two NA teams to qualify for VCT 2022 - Stage 1 - Masters Reykjavík have been decided: OpTic Gaming and The Guard.

Cloud9 vs The Guard:

VCT 2022 - North America - Stage 1 - Main Event

The Guard

3

X

0

Cloud9

Lower Bracket Final, Best of 5 - March 26, 2022 - 8:00PM

17

Icebox

15

13

Haven

5

13

Split

10

The Guard

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

valyn

1.25

233

61/46/28

+15

1.33

81.4%

145.3

25%

67%

4

2

trent

1.22

244

62/44/18

+18

1.41

79.7%

168.8

39%

50%

6

6

Sayaplayer

1.11

223

60/46/11

+14

1.30

75.7%

135.9

25%

53%

10

9

neT

1.03

216

57/54/10

+3

1.06

68.1%

137.0

29%

45%

10

12

JonahP

0.94

199

49/51/19

-2

0.96

68.3%

127.4

28%

43%

6

8

Cloud9

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

leaf

1.05

248

61/63/11

-2

0.97

64.4%

160.6

22%

50%

14

14

mitch

1.02

219

56/58/16

-2

0.97

75.8%

141.5

22%

60%

9

6

Xeppaa

0.94

192

50/57/22

-7

0.88

66.3%

126.1

26%

25%

2

6

vanity

0.80

161

40/56/27

-16

0.71

70.7%

108.8

14%

56%

9

7

xeta

0.62

136

34/55/10

-21

0.62

70.6%

94.1

21%

50%

3

3

In this first Best-of-five match of the tournament, Cloud9, the winners of Knights Arena VALORAMPAGE - Main Event and the highest placement for NA at VCT 2021 - VALORANT Champions 2021, faced off against the relatively new roster of The Guard with a surprising 4-1 record in the Group Stages despite no significant tournament finishes ever since their signing. Even though Cloud9’s tournament history made them the favorites for this matchup, the Guard had proved their dominance in more recent matchups forcing the Valorant community to acknowledge their potential in the ongoing VCT.

Proceedings commenced on Icebox, which was The Guard’s map of choice and the reason for this pick became evident in the first half of the map itself. Despite taking the pistol and subsequent round, The Guard could not establish momentum and Cloud9 decided to demonstrate their offensive capabilities. However, they weren’t extremely successful either with only five rounds to The Guards’ seven by halftime including a much-needed clutch by Vanity to slow down The Guard in round 8 of the matchup.

Having the lead earlier gave them a greater leeway for failure in the second half, which eventually became crucial to their success when the map proceeded into overtime. Cloud9 was able to take four back-to-back rounds after the half to revive their position in the matchup, but The Guard diffused the lead to reach a 12-10 score. In the concluding rounds of the map, Cloud9 managed key defusals to force overtime not once, not twice, but three times. The way events were unfolding satisfied the community’s desire for more entertaining matches. In fact, this was only the third map in the Playoff stages to go to Overtime. After the third overtime, Cloud9 finally managed to win the initial round, but this attempt was rendered futile by The Guard who forced overtime of their own and closed the map at a 17-15 score.

Losing with this minimal score difference meant that both teams matched up equally, and this matchup would only get more interesting as time progressed. Unfortunately, Cloud9’s chances of winning worsened as The Guard unlocked their ultimate form. Given that Haven was their map pick, it came as no surprise when Cloud9 managed to take the first couple of rounds under their belt. Following those rounds, the momentum changed hands and there wasn’t much that Cloud9 could do to contain The Guard’s, which seemed to have found their rhythm. Halftime approached and the scoreboard read 8-4, a predicament Cloud9 was eager to resolve going into the second half. However, consistent contributions from Ha "Sayaplayer" Jung-woo and Trent "trent" Cairns limited Cloud9s control to a single round, while they finished the map at a 13-5 score.

Unlike the first map, Haven proved to be a disappointment in terms of the intensity of the battle between the rosters despite Cloud9 choosing it as their map pick. With the Guard leading 2-0, Split was extremely important for Cloud9 to stay in the matchup and have a plausible chance at qualifying for Masters Iceland. This realization coupled with the desire for revenge fuelled Cloud9’s 8-4 run in the first half of the map, which included a seven-round streak from the 3rd to 9th round. Before Cloud9 fans had the opportunity to cherish the four-round lead courtesy of Nathan "leaf" Orf’s contributions, The Guard’s roster shot down their hopes by taking 9 rounds to finish the map in the second half including some mind-blowing plays from Jacob "valyn" Batio.