Elimination matches continued today at the VALORANT Game Changers championship tournament in Berlin, where favorites Cloud9 White faced off against GUILD X for their lives in the lower bracket.
After a disappointing loss earlier this week for the tournament favorites, Cloud9 White came back today with vengeance. After losing to G2 and being sent to the lower bracket, the North American team was fired up and ready to go today.
C9 took a dominant victory over EMEA’s top seed GUILD X, winning 2-0 and sending them forward to a regional matchup with Shopify Rebellion.
C9’s signature is their confidence, and the players embody that in everything they do. From interviews to clutch scenarios in-game, they all maintain an attitude fit for the roster that everyone is looking towards to pave the way for women’s VALORANT.
GUILD X opted to start the match on Fracture, but C9 took the opening pistol round and the one to follow.
Alexis quickly set the tone for C9. She had the highest headshot percentage in the game on Fracture, at 34%. Her crisp shots showed that she could step up, even though she is known more as an initiator who fills a utility role. The strength of C9’s roster up and down all of the roles has kept them playing at a high level even when some players have off days.
After alexis warmed up the lobby, Bob came through on KAY/O. C9 opted for a double initiator composition, with alexis on Fade, and GUILD struggled to control their sites with Viper as their only controller. Ness didn’t have a bad game herself, but she was at a disadvantage compositionally. Smurfette was also notable absent on her duelist role, and wasn’t taking up the space she needed to on site.
A key statistic from the first map was that despite such a round deficit, GUILD frequently were able to take the first kill in the round. Even though they brought C9 to that 5-v-4 disadvantage, C9 kept their composure to win out those tough rounds.
C9 easily took Fracture 13-3.
Moving to C9’s map pick, Haven, it looked like the North American squad could only get stronger. Suddenly, Bob was firing on all cylinders with her frog plushie beside her on stage. She netted 10 kills and zero deaths through the first five rounds of Haven, despite GUILD taking the opening pistol round.
Players on the stage were shocked when Bob kept winning rounds for her team over and over again. C9 took the map 13-5, and the match 2-0. Bob’s KDA was 42-12 through two maps.
The story of this match is the confidence that continued to pour out of C9 despite their earlier loss that sent them to the lower bracket.
The team will now have to face their NA rivals, Shopify, in another elimination match. Only one team from NA can move on in the tournament.
Due to local restrictions in Berlin, many matches have had to be rescheduled. C9’s next match will now begin an hour earlier than originally scheduled. C9 vs. Shopify will kick off the day tomorrow, Nov. 19, at approximately 9am CT.
