In VALORANT, it’s not often the case where a single player can determine whether a squad books a ticket to the biggest event of the year—which makes Zyppan’s performance for NAVI today all the more special.
Heading into the lower bracket finals of the VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA Last Chance Qualifier, a rematch between KOI and NAVI would determine who made it to Champions 2023 thanks to the two slots offered after Fnatic’s Masters Tokyo victory. Despite KOI’s dominance over NAVI earlier in the tournament, the script was flipped thanks to one man: Pontus “Zyppan” Eek.
Related: Fnatic capture back-to-back world titles with VCT Masters Tokyo victory
His play on the Raze helped NAVI sweep KOI 3-0 in the best-of-five final as the team got their revenge for their regular season loss to the Spanish organization on July 20. Part of it was a better team composition on maps that seemed more favorable to NAVI, but it’s hard to ignore how crucial Zyppan and his clutches were to stomping any momentum KOI built.
Starting on Split, which has been KOI’s playground in this matchup in the past, NAVI got right to work. Zyppan was already proving to be a handful for KOI, hitting 16 kills in the half alone and leading the lobby by five despite a two-round deficit at the half. Veteran Ukrainian Kyrylo “ANGE1” Karasov, who recorded just one kill in the first half, stepped up with Zyppan on defense finishing regulation with 18 kills.
It reached overtime thanks to some KOI heroics, but two clean OT round wins for NAVI wrapped up Split and forced KOI into a response. It didn’t seem like they’d be able to, however, following a NAVI 10-2 wipeout in the first half. Zyppan was less effective on the KAY/O here compared to his Raze in the series opener, but with Mehmet “cNed” İpek firing on all cylinders, NAVI held off a KOI fightback to win 13-10 and set up for a series sweep.
Fracture marked the return of the Zyppan Raze as NAVI shaped to close the series without dropping a map. Partnered with the Omen of ANGE1, the team kept the game close, highlighted by this stout A hold.
After trading at A main, Zyppan held a long angle to prevent enemies from pushing onto the site. Then, when a Breach ult hit his teammate, he used his grenade to prevent any enemies from pushing. After that, it was all aim, dodging utility and mowing down his opposition with precision.
Zyppan once again led the way with a monster first half despite being down a round, with 15 kills and an average of 209 damage per round. Typically, Raze players are known for their aggressive playstyle thanks to the Blast Packs, allowing players to cover a lot of distance and surprise enemies.
Zyppan’s more methodical gameplay was centered around using Paint Shells to their fullest. Partnering with an ally who could provide info to Zyppan, he would hold his Paint Shell grenades as late as possible to deny peeks that the enemy would find favorable.
What his grenades couldn’t do damage-wise, Zyppan made up for himself–his cracked aim punished anyone who dared get ahead of the Paint Shell for a peek, stifling KOI. NAVI closed out the series 13-7, only losing two rounds on their attack side.
Related: All teams qualified for VALORANT Champions 2023
Thanks to this win, NAVI has secured the second spot to Champions 2023 in Los Angeles. EMEA was the only region to get two LCQ slots after Fnatic won Masters Tokyo, meaning they will join Giants Gaming for the first major North American LAN in VCT history.
Just one match remains for the VCT EMEA LCQ: NAVI will play Giants on July 23 to determine the event’s winner and who enters Champions as the top seed.
