Image credit: Bruno Alvares/VALORANT Esports
Team SMG fell to G2 Gozen in the tournament's first series to go to all three games.
The series between G2 Gozen and Team SMG would undoubtedly be the best the VCT Game Changers Championship has seen so far, being the first to go to all three maps. It was SMG who struck first but G2 managed to come back swinging in the next two games to secure themselves an upper bracket final spot.
They will play the victor between Shopify Rebellion and BBL Queens. As for SMG, they got dropped to the lower bracket quarter-finals where they will also have to wait for the victor from the round before. That will be between KRÜ Blaze and Chao Hui EDG, who will be playing later tonight.
Game one between the two sides was a back-and-forth match-up on Bind with neither team being able to maintain a consistent lead. G2 would take the pistol and subsequent round for a quick 2-0 lead before SMG came back with three straight rounds on the bounce. This included a 3K from Abigail “Kohaibi” Kong in the third round that kickstarted SMG's streak as well as a 4K from Alexandria “Alexy” Francisco in the fifth.
SMG would go on to win seven of the 12 first-half rounds, giving them a slight edge over G2. And at the start of the second, SMG would take two more rounds in a row, leaving them with just four more wins to seal game one. But G2 played some exceptional defence as the likes of Petra “Petra” Stocker and Vivian “roxi” Schilling were able to win their 1v1s in the 15th and 16th rounds to give G2 the edge in what was a three-round win streak to keep it 9-8.
And in the last four rounds, it was SMG who took back control of the match as Odella “enerii” Abraham was able to land herself a 4K in the 19th round to add further misery to G2. Even Kelly “shirazi” Jaudian got in on the action with a 3K in the 20th round, which all but sealed G2's fate in the first map. But it was game two on Split where things started to go wrong for SMG. While they would take the first two rounds to start the second match, G2 managed to respond in kind on more than one occasion.
G2 won eight of the 12 rounds of the first half, which was marked by a crucial 1v4 for roxi, who managed to not only stick the diffuse but also add a 4K to her record. G2 then won the first two of the second half, which gave them a 10-4 lead to secure the second game. However, SMG was not going to let that happen as they rallied back with a seven-round win streak that included four diffuses to go along with some exceptional bomb site defence.
SMG even managed to deny G2 the straight victory as they won the last and final round to force the match into overtime. But even then it wasn't enough for the APAC squad as G2 managed to take two straight rounds to win the second map and take it into the third and final game. On Haven, it was G2 who got the ball rolling with the first two-round wins in a row, which was started by Petra's 3K during the pistol round.
The EMEA squad was able to dominate the first-half with eight-round wins compared to SMG's four, who only showed brief flashes of brilliance like enerii's 4K in the eighth round. Even Camille “Kamiyu” Enriquez got involved with a 3K of her own in the 12th round but it still wasn't enough to keep SMG's hopes up for the second-half. And in five straight rounds, G2 proved why they are one of the best in the business.
Petra has been one of the team's best player's during the tournament and she showed just why with a 4K in the 15th round to put G2 within two rounds of winning the series. And to add some extra flavour to the mix, she went on to ace the entire SMG squad in the final round to give G2 an upper bracket final spot.
