Giants knock KRÜ out of Champions in 2-0 victory

Giants Gaming Giants Gaming Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Fit1nho Adolfo Gallego nukkye Žygimantas Chmieliauskas hoody Aaro Peltokangas Cloud Kirill Nehozhin have survived the first of two decisive Group A matches at Valorant Champions 2023, besting KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori Klaus Nicolas Ferrari Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro heat Olavo Marcelo 2-0 in the elimination match. As a result, KRÜ are eliminated from this year's Champions.

Giants' next match is against EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) Muggle Tang Shijun (唐时俊) CHICHOO Wan Shunji (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Haodong Guo Haodong (郭浩东) . It will be a rematch of the second Group A opening match, where EDG defeated Giants in 2-1 fashion.

“[EDG] are definitely not top four. That's just coping,” rhyme said.

Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

keznit was determined to keep his team in the running on Pearl, opening the map with a 4K on the pistol round. The two teams went back-and-forth until Giants eventually climbed to a 7-3 lead. keznit put in another two heroic rounds that kept his team within striking distance. While he later fizzled out, his energy was enough to throw KRÜ to a 12-10 map point.

But they couldn't close it out.

“I just said Rush B twice,” pipsoN said to his team's amusement. He went on to explain how passively KRÜ seemed to play around B site takes, which prompted his team to abuse the “turtle playstyle” with rushes.

Giants forced overtime, won the first round and then let Fit1nho take down three to round out the match 14-12.

“[Anxiety] was not the main issue. We didn't really feel like we were in Champions and we didn't have the feeling of giving our all. Concentration and focus were part of the problem. It's hard to go into a match, play it all, deal with the anxiety and give it your best,” DaveeyS said.

Coach Atom later added that the lack of knowledge regarding other regions' playstyle also heavily factored into the team's loss, as the team had to solve previously unseen situations or problems on the fly during a match.

“But I also share the idea that everything happened too fast,” Atom continued. “From going through 0-9 in the regular season, to winning LCQ — we didn't really realize the stage that we were [on] and the situation we were [in].”

Giants were already favored to win the series by the time they entered Pearl with KRÜ, as the former had stolen the LATAM reps' Lotus pick. KRÜ spent half of that map ahead, going 7-5 at halftime, but Giants flipped the script on attack and pummeled their way to a 13-10 win, interrupted only by a few timeouts from KRÜ.

“More than anything, it was our slow reactions. They were able to see that gap and capitalize on it,” Klaus said. “It was a series of decisions and actions that didn't turn out well.”

But even in a game of "slow reactions," one player refused to go slowly: keznit. He put up some of the best numbers the Los Angeles crowd has seen so far, dropping 47 players across the two maps. Most of those kills came on Pearl, where he was an absolute menace to Giants.

Despite the 14-12 scoreline, keznit found 29 kills and was the only player over 300 ACS. His 1.27 rating also accounted for 182 ADR and four entry frags, as he used the Operator to great lengths in stopping Giants' pushes.

“I knew I was going to play well. I played well in scrims, in practice, I played well in the LCQ,” keznit said of his performance. “The whole match was just… a couple of details. But I don't want to discredit Giants, they played well and that's how they got the win.”

keznit's Pearl performance dialed back the entry frags he found on Lotus in favor of more site-based Operator play. On Lotus, his Raze found eight first bloods. Overall, though, it was nukkye who found the most value on that map, trading in the numbers for a higher ADR and KAST, which led to a map-high 1.29 rating.

Time to recharge and think on 2024 for KRÜ. (Photo by Yicun Liu/Riot Games)

For KRÜ, it's the end of the road. They return home after an extremely tough year, where the only wins they found were in the Americas LCQ. Their last-chance run will still remain in history, as the team went from an 0-10 start to the year to a flawless run to qualify to Champions. Now? They have to prepare for 2024.

“It's too early to tell just yet what's going to happen. The vision that KRÜ has is, for sure, to have the most competitive team possible,” Atom said of next year.

“Thanks for the support. There's not much to say but apologize for this Champions. We didn't know how to come into these matches and it's our fault. Sorry,” said Klaus.

It's rematch time, everyone. (Photo by Yicun Liu/Riot Games)

For Giants, though, they are just getting warmed up. A revenge bout against EDward Gaming has been set up in the decider match of Group A.

pipsoN gave a tailored answer regarding their next matchup. According to the coach, Giants need to focus on doing their homework properly with special focus on clutches, as the team lost “12 advantage scenarios with two-men advantages” that ultimately cost them the match.

rhyme, however, has a very strong opinion about EDG.

“EDG made one playoff and after that they're like ‘oh, they're the best team in the world.' Yes, they're overrated. They should have lost to us last time 2-0,” he added. “I'm not saying that they're bad, they're a super good team, but they're definitely not top four.”