After splitting a couple of shaky maps to start the series, The Guard punctuated their victory against 100 Thieves with a flawless showing on Ascent. The Guard’s 13-0 win on map three secures the newly formed roster a 2-0 record so far in 2022 VCT NA Challengers One main event.
The Guard looked in control early in the series, jumping out to a 10-2 lead after their attack side on Haven off big performances from Sayaplayer and trent. But an 100T rally on their own attack side saw them take a 12-11 lead. A Sayaplayer clutch then sent it to overtime. The Guard’s Jett main delivered two double kills in each of the overtime rounds to finally push his team over the finish line on Haven, 14-12.
100T bounced back on Split, answering the first four rounds from The Guard with 13 of the next 15 rounds with numerous multi-kill rounds. Ethan punctuated a 13-6 win on Split with a 4K of his own.
Finally, the series arrived (and ended) on Ascent. 100T didn’t do themselves many favors with their interesting agent comp, opting to go with double-initiator, double-sentinel, and no duelist. With The Guard opting to select Sage and starting on defense, they made entries next to impossible for 100T, who went 4/13 on opening duels as a team. Not a single member of 100T notched more than five kills, and they couldn’t keep The Guard off the site in the second half pistol.
Not only do The Guard move to a 2-0 record, they also now own the two biggest map wins of the event so far over two weeks. Earlier this tournament they clocked up a lopsided 13-1 Haven win over Luminosity.
The Guard will look to continue their momentum with a possible 3-0 start, if they can overcome XSET next week. 100 Thieves, now sitting 0-2 and at risk of missing playoffs, needs to answer back next week with a win against Luminosity (1-1).
