KOI KOI Europe Rank #44 grubinho Grzegorz Ryczko sheydos Bogdan Naumov have upset Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Rank #18 ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky in a decisive 2-0 during the upper semifinals of the EMEA Last Chance Qualifier. KOI advance to the upper bracket final to face the winner of Karmine Corp Karmine Corp Europe Rank #30 tomaszy Tomás Machado marteen Martin Pátek and Giants Gaming Giants Gaming Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Fit1nho Adolfo Gallego nukkye Žygimantas Chmieliauskas hoody Aaro Peltokangas Cloud Kirill Nehozhin , while NAVI drop down to the lower bracket.
KOI carried their momentum from yesterday's win against Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius to convincingly take Split 13-6. They then moved to NAVI's Pearl pick, where they made light work of the Masters Copenhagen winners and took the map 13-3.
koldamenta 's squad only managed to win two matches throughout their regular season, but one of them was a 2-0 upset against NAVI in the first week of play. This early loss ended up being just a blip on the radar in NAVI's season as they comfortably secured second place in the final standings, but for KOI, this result was nigh-on the only bright spot in their season.
ANGE1 and his squad had a chance to rectify the early-season result in this LCQ rematch, but found themselves at the wrong end of a beating instead.
It all comes crumbling down for NAVI at the hands of trexx .Split's first half was closely contested by both teams, which put the halftime score level at 6-6. However, once KOI switched sides and got onto defense, they firmly shut the door in NAVI's faces, winning every remaining round to take the map 13-6.
Over on Lotus, KOI put up another strong defensive performance, this time in their opening half. They had built up a 9-3 lead by halftime, and a NAVI comeback was made more unlikely after KOI took the pistol and anti-eco. Subsequent 1v2 clutches from koldamenta and trexx were the cherry on top of a dominant map, which KOI claimed 13-3.
In addition to the series-winning clutch, trexx topped the scoreboard on both maps and ended the series with a 1.48 rating and 311 ACS. Not to be overshadowed by trexx's show-stopping performance on Raze, both Wolfen and starxo put up high numbers as well, with 1.34 and 1.29 ratings respectively.
One more win and KOI are going to Champions. (Photo by: Hara Amorós / Riot Games / LVP)
Just one more match separates KOI from a ticket to Champions 2023. They will play the winner of Giants and KCorp tomorrow, with the winner securing the first ticket to Los Angeles. Unlike their previous two opponents, KOI do not have a previous win under their belt against these teams, so they will need an extra step up if they want to overcome the last hurdle.
NAVI were favored the entire tournament to win by over 70% of all VLR pickems, but now stare down the barrel of elimination in the lower bracket. To secure a ticket to Champions, they will need to win two games in a row, with no further slip-ups permitted.