VCT Champions Berlin: Two Southeast Asian teams join KRU Esports and Cloud9 Blue in playoffs

Team Secret and X10 Crit defeated two of the biggest teams in their respective regions.

The end of the Group Stages is here and the top eight teams playing in the playoffs have been decided. In the Decider Matches, a big surprise happened that shocked many fans. On the flip side, two big teams from Southeast Asia have qualified to the quarterfinals – a first for VCT.

Four Decider matches were played in the last 24 hours, with the first from Group B, followed by Group D, Group C and Group A.

Group B Decider - Sentinels vs KRÜ Esports

The first decider match was between the previous Masters winners Sentinels, and one of the top teams in South America, KRU Esports. Plenty of fans were looking forward to this match as it will decide if Sentinels will move on to the next stage or not.

The two teams played three maps. In the first map, Fracture, Sentinels flexed their muscle and effectively dominated the map and won it easily 13-7. Map two, Haven also saw both sides played to their max. Sentinels were leading in the first half, but KRU managed to claw back in the second half to eventually come from behind and win the match 13-11. The third map, Split, is almost a carbon copy to Haven as Sentinels led the first half, but KRU managed to equalise in the second half fairly quickly and grabbed the last two wins to secure their victory in no time.

KRU Esports won 2-1.

Group D Decider - Cloud9 vs Vision Strikers

The wildcard team went against one of the strongest teams in Asia to decide who will grab the second spot for Group D. Cloud9 started the ball rolling in Ascent, where they steamrolled VS in the first half, and while the Koreans managed to close the points gap, Cloud9 easily picked the last two wins for their victory in map number one 13-10.

In Split, both teams played at par, with neither side conceding points in the first half of the play. In the second half, however, VS took the initiative and powered through to eventually win the map 13-9. The last map, Breeze, is where the pedal meets the metal. Cloud9 rebounded and managed to win the first half of the map with ease, and while VS was so close in the last few minutes of the second half. Cloud9 Blue managed to steal the win away from VS to win 13-11.

Cloud9 Blue won 2-1.

Group C Decider - Team Vikings vs Team Secret

Team Secret showed why they should be in the Champions in their deciding match versus Team Vikings. The Thai team showed their domination in the two maps in this match. In the first map, Haven, TS led the first half with a 6-point advantage over Vikings. A quick 4-win string gave them the victory over Team Vikings 13-6.

In the second map, Icebox, Team Secret just copied and pasted their performance from the first map and won the map again with not so much resistance from Team Vikings, 13-7.

Team Secret won 2-0.

Group A Decider - Team Envy vs X10 CRIT

The final decider match saw Team Envy go against X10 Crit. Team Envy started strong in the first map, Icebox, where they managed to come back from behind for a win in the second half of the match with a 13-10 points win.

In Split, however, X10 took the lead in the second half of the map after both teams played to a tie till the switch. X10 Crit then dominated in the second half to win the match 13-8. In the last map, Haven. Both teams played to a tie even at the end of the second half, forcing the match to additional time. In the two rounds of additional time, X10 Crit showed that they have the mettle to continue in this Championship by winning the two matches without breaking too much of a sweat.

X10 Crit won 2-1.

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With that, the eight teams playing in the playoffs have been decided. The four matches for Quarter Finals are:

• Acend vs Team Secret
• Team Liquid vs Cloud9
• Gambit Esports vs X10 CRIT
• Fnatic vs KRÜ Esports

The playoffs for the first official tournament circuit by Riot Games, Valorant Champions Tour, will be starting in 12 hours from the publication date, with the first match between Acend and Team Secret. The eight teams will be fighting to reach the grand finale, where the winner will be walking away with the official trophy, and $350,000 in cash prize money. Stay tuned to the VCT Champions hub on Gosugamers, right HERE.