Leading up VALORANT’s first LAN in Iceland, the margin of error was paper thin in this first day of games.
The Challengers Final started off with heated matches between all eight qualified teams. With Masters Reykjavik on the line, the tension in every map was palpable. Day one saw the pack thin out as both Andbox and Xset dropped out of Masters contention.
Version1 manage to survive
Verson1 was one of the tier two organizations many players had sung the praises of prior to their first match. Known as strong competition in scrims, many waited in anticipation to see if V1 could translate this success into a Masters spot. Starting off against Sentinels and with a recent roster change in the addition of Wippie to the roster, V1 certainly had a tall task in front of them for day one.
New IGL, Vanity, had an impressive showing in map one against Sentinels that facilitated their 13-4 win on Ascent. Beginning with an explosive 11 kill streak, Vanity ultimately finished with 3.0 KD and showed just how dominant this lineup could be. Unfortunately for V1, Sentinels rallied in games 2 & 3, their duelists and IGL, ShahZam having highlight reel performances as V1 only picked up a collective 9 rounds across the following two maps.
Knocked into the lower bracket early on, a competitive matchup against Andbox ended in V1’s favor. Once again starting with an impressive map one, Version1 stumbled in game 2 before taking a nail-biting final game on Split.
Cloud9 knock Envy into the lower bracket
Though falling at the final hurdle, Cloud9 had one of their strongest showings yet in the closed qualifier leading up to the Challenger Finals. Finding a formidable opponent off the bat in Envy, C9 proved that this was more than just a one-off performance. Starting off Haven with a 6 round win streak, an incredible play by Xeta showed in individual prowess of C9 that landed them a 1-0 start.
Cloud9 finished out the series by taking Envy’s map pick of Ascent in a slightly more competitive matchup. Leaf’s performance on Reina however landed Cloud9 an optimal start to the Challenger Finals and a shot against NRG in the semis.
Also read:
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- If you want to get better at VALORANT: Aim Lab now offers custom maps
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Image credit: Cloud9