[VCT BR] Group A Week 3 Recap: Favorites prevail.
I wrote this as an application for the VLR writers wanted section, but I figured I might as well upload it here even if it is late. For more updated results see Week 4 Group B and Week 4 Group A. I split this in half because the whole week was too long, so this is group A.
Check out the Post Library for more assorted write ups.
TLDR: Week three of Stage 1: Brazil Challengers opened with Gamelanders Blue keeping their playoff hopes alive against Vikings, and LOUD putting on a show against the underdogs of TBK.
Gamelanders Blue (2-1) Vikings:
After suffering a loss to TBK Esports, Gamelanders came into this match with mounting pressure to turn their season around in order to make the playoffs. This match secured Gamelanders a much needed tally in the wins column, but the underdog Vikings lineup put up their best showing yet. For people who haven’t kept track of the roster moves in Brazil, this Vikings lineup is a new roster with no players from the 2021 Vikings roster that attended VCT 2021 Masters 2 and Champions.
The first map was Vikings’ pick of Haven which started well for them as they got off to a 3-0 round lead. Gamelanders quickly struck back winning eight of the next nine rounds to close the half. Despite winning the second pistol round as well, Vikings lost the map 13-7 having managed to win only two full buy rounds the entire map. A standout performance came from the long time Gamelanders player Nyang who notched 25 kills against 8 deaths while leading the server with 8 multikills including two huge quadra kills.
Gamelanders looked comfortable on their attack side of Icebox finishing with an 8-4 scoreline, however, Vikings ran the table on their own attack side to finish the map 13-8. Swag crested the server for Vikings with 204 ADR on the supportive Sage. After a very rough debut against Liberty where he only managed 12 kills across the two map series, he shook off the rust to put up 50 kill across this three map series.
The deciding map was Ascent where Gamelanders once again got off to a hot start. They won six consecutive rounds before rounding out the half with another 8-4 lead. This time it was their turn to run the tables on the second half finishing the map 13-4. Gamelanders’ Sova player v1nny managed to record a 100% KAST which means he got a kill, got an assist, survived the round, or was immediately traded by his team every single round.
Vikings looked much better in this series than in their debut against Liberty, but their playoff hopes are now decided by other games in group A even if they win out. Gamelanders now have one game remaining against TBK which is likely to decide the 3rd and final playoff spot from Group A.
LOUD (2-0) TBK Esports
This matchup had a sharp rise in attention due to TBK taking down Gamelanders and LOUD looking vulnerable against Liberty in week 2. The outcome of this series was much less interesting as LOUD steamrolled their way into a guaranteed 1st round bye in the playoffs.
LOUD picked Ascent, and on the first pistol round, it looked like TBK were going to take the fight to LOUD until Sacy pulled off a 1v3 ace clutch with a ghost. LOUD took the momentum and ran to a 7-0 before closing their defensive half with a 10-2 advantage. TBK took the second pistol, but LOUD quickly closed the map 13-4.
The second map was over before it began. TBK picked into Bind which has long been a comfort pick for the Saadhak led Vikings and LOUD lineups. Every member of LOUD had a positive kills to deaths +/- in a 13-0 landslide. The youngster Less led the way with 308 ACS while playing viper.
With this win, LOUD are 3-0 and only have 0-2 Vikings left to play. They have head to head tiebreakers over the other three teams in Group A which guarantees them the 1st seed in this group and a critical bye in the playoffs. TBK showed a lot of promise against Gamelanders but looked outclassed here. They have games remaining against Liberty and Vikings, and one win guarantees them at least three-way tiebreaker status for a playoff spot.
Week four has already happened, so I will skip the "Coming up" section for now. See the week 4 articles linked at the top of the page for details.
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