SuperMassive Blaze and Acend had an intense match today, but Acend came out with the victory in the end and will move on to face 100 Thieves in the bracket playoffs of VCT Masters Berlin.
With Acend’s win, they’ve increased their chances of an automatic spot at VCT Champions. If they can make it far in this VALORANT tournament, they could win Circuit Points to put them through to Champions. They also now have a shot at winning the whole thing and getting a spot that way. The three teams left in the running for the two EMEA spots via Circuit Points are Gambit Esports, G2, and Acend.
The first map on Ascent had SMB looking fantastic. Acend had a hard time getting anything done. SMB won almost every peek and were able to read Acend so well that the map ended 13-6 in favor of SMB. Whether Acend were having a bad map and underperforming or if SMB are just that good at Ascent was a conversation the casters had throughout the first map.
Acend were able to turn it around on Bind. They ran away with the first six rounds of the match, ending the half 9-3. Mehmet “cNed” Yağız İpek and IGL Patryk “starxo” Kopczynski had a standout performance on the second map with a K/D/A of 21/11/10 and 20/12/8, respectively. The map ended 13-7 in favor of Acend, which sent them to a third map.
Split was where things got serious. Map one was a stomp for SMB and map two was a stomp for Acend, but Split was a fierce battle that the players had to fight to its bitter end. SMB were able to win a few rounds that weren’t in their favor and Acend answered back with some of their own clutch plays.
The score was 9-8 when Batuhan “russ” Malgaç tore apart Acend. Vlad “Kiles” Shvets found himself in a one-vs-two situation but got the double kill to close out the round.
The map ended 13-10, which sends Acend to the bracket playoffs that were seeded last night. Now, Acend know that they’ll go up against 100 Thieves and they have just one day to prepare for them after their win today.
Because there are still three teams in the running for Champions, the spots for the EMEA region are up in the air. Gambit can secure a spot if they win against Crazy Raccoon in their match today, but G2 and Acend still have some work to do if they want a spot at Champions.
Make sure to follow us on YouTube for more esports news and analysis.
