Evil Geniuses and home-ground favorites LOUD victorious for Americas, while Talon eliminated the locals in MIBR.
The VCT LOCK//IN São Paulo Alpha bracket has finally concluded the first round of eliminations which saw the knockouts of 8 teams, including notable squads such as Paper Rex, KOI, and FunPlus Phoenix.
Day three of the bloodfest saw Talon Esports upset the local MIBR, while North America's hopefuls Evil Geniuses impressed fans with a convincing win against Team Heretics, and the other Brazilian team in LOUD rampaged through Gen.G of South Korea. It is interesting to note that all three victors defeated their opponents with a 2-0 clean sweep.
- Read LOUD’s match rescheduled after losing multiple members to illness
- Read Everything you need to know about VCT LOCK//IN
Evil Geniuses 2 : 0 Team Heretics
In a matchup ideal for two freshly assembled rosters to prove their worth, Evil Geniuses locked in on its starting five and seem to have found a winning formula. On the other hand, Team Heretics has competed in several tournaments prior to São Paulo, but this is their first official VCT international match with this lineup.
In Map 1 at Pearl, EG opted for a surprise Yoru pick for Ethan that saw the team gain momentum in the early rounds. Boostio and jawgemo did exceptionally well in supporting the trio in Yoru, Fade, and Jett to counter flank Heretics' advances.
A lot was on keloqz' shoulders to hard-carry the EMEA representatives. He singlehandedly tied the scoreline to 6-6 with an astonishing 20-6 KD ratio. But EG regrouped and restored their control in the second half by closing Pearl 13-8.
The series ascended to Ascent, where Heretics was replicating the signature EMEA playbook by storming through the first four rounds of the second map with ease. And predictably, they lost steam and conceited the next 5 rounds to EG, thanks again to the dynamic duo of C0M and jowgemo.
With that, it is a tale of the same ending as EG sealed the series shut for Team Heretics with another 13-8.
“Actually this is my first international tournament ever,” Boostio said after the match. “To do that and win the first match against a decent team that played terribly today, was still fun. It was a great match."
Talon Esports 2 : 0 MIBR
The Ginásio do Ibirapuera stadium was electric and filled with thundering cheers as Made in Brazil or MIBR took the stage in front of passionate Brazillian fans. The home-ground team intended to turn up the heat with heat's raze swung aggressively in an attack at Talon Esports's defenses in Haven.
However, even in the absence of key player Pathiphan, the former cores of XERXIA showed that they have more than what it takes to hold their own in the VCT LOCK//IN. New additions in garnetS and JitBoyS were slightly jittery but definitely did not crumple under the pressure. In fact, garnetS' Raze was able to find a couple of effective pickoffs to propel Talon to a comfortable lead, as they were ahead 8-4 in the first half. The Thailand representatives eventually silenced the home crowds by winning the map (13 - 8), despite heat delivering a formidable display, recording a 76% KAST with a 32% headshot percentage.
Transitioning into Fracture's debut in the tournament, Talon rushed through the pistol, econ, and third round with perfect coordination. The Brazilians then switched up their gear as murizzz and jzz led the charge in turning the wind of the game to their side. As they won 5 consecutive rounds at the start of the second half to take the lead.
Unfortunately for MIBR, Sushiboys scored an insane clutch in round 18 to swing the momentum back in Talon's favour. With more help from foxz and JitBoyS, Talon clawed their way back to victory and sent MIBR packing.
LOUD 2 : 0 Gen.G
After witnessing one Brazilian team leave the tournament, the crowd went berserk in supporting their next hope, the 2022's world champions, LOUD. The squad was indeed loud and proud as they square off against Gen.G, the once-North American team that returned to the Pacific League following the franchising.
Featuring an all-Korean stack, Gen.G knew that it was a tall order, to begin with, and they took the challenge by swinging big from minute zero.
The first map at Pearl started buttery smooth for LOUD, as the Brazilians dissected their opponents with surgical precisions and flawless execution. From round 5, after a timeout from coach bail to recompose, it was the Koreans' turn to cause an uproar. Gen.G outplayed the crowd favourites and secured seven consecutive rounds to finish the half with a 7-5 scoreline.
The world champions were unfazed and trusted their star players in saadhak and aspas to pull off numerous picks and clutches. LOUD successfully staged a comeback and conquered Pearl 13 to 9.
Gen.G started Fracture strong by taking the first three rounds, mainly because of k1Ng's incredible display with KAY/O, replicating the type of threat he displayed with Viper in map 1. k1Ng was able to enable Meteor and TS to play their best without worrying too much about LOUD's counterplay.
Having said that, it was all LOUD from round 4 onward, as they continued to prove why they are regarded by analysts and fans as one of the favourites to win it all. Young stars cauanzin and tuyz showed up confidently and showcased clean synergy with the rest of the roster.
Though there were a couple of moments where LOUD looked like they could conceit the map to Gen.G, the team remained calm and claimed the series. It was an intense yet entertaining series for the home fans to cheer on.
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