It took every inch of all five maps, but Acend completed the upset over Team Heretics in the VCT EU Masters grand finals today in dramatic fashion.
Three maps into the match, Heretics were up 2-1 and pushing for a final map win that would give them the championship on Icebox. With the score tied 12-12, both teams evenly splitting their attack and defense rounds, Acend took two dominant overtime round wins to push the VALORANT series to a map five.
“When we’re playing Icebox I feel like everything just clicks in place,” Santeri “BONECOLD” Sassi said in a post-match press conference.
Before Ascent, the final map of the series, Acend were calm and collected. Jose “koldamenta” Luis Aranguren was so relaxed, he was “rapping” in their TeamSpeak, according to the team.
Acend raced out to a commanding 9-3 lead in the first half of Ascent and weathered a furious comeback attempt from Heretics to take the 13-11 victory.
Heretics were the champions of EU First Strike, in which they upset many favored teams. They were two rounds away from continuing their recently minted stranglehold to the “best team in EU” claim.
The MVP of the match with a staggering 111 kills over the match was Mehmet “cNed” Yağız İpek. All throughout the match, Acend’s Jett player took home clutches and gave his team advantages with his accurate operator fire.
When it looked like Heretics were the strongest on Ascent, cNed struck with a round-clutching ace. “I’m just playing my game,” cNed said when asked about his stellar performance.
His final kill to deny Heretics’ Ruben “RUBINO” Villarroel the clutch ended up being exactly the boost Acend needed.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘now is the hardest part’,” koldamenta said. Acend are looking forward to their future matches and want to keep their momentum rolling.
The next VALORANT competition will be held on LAN in Reykjavík, Iceland. All of Europe, CIS, and Turkey will compete for a mere two spots dedicated to their region for the event. Acend are on top of Europe for now, but the road ahead to continue their strong play is tough.
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